Now

March 27, 2023

“Look, now is the right time! Look, now is the day of salvation!” ~ 2 Corinthians 6:2 CEB

Now.  I heard the word in a reading on the first night of last week’s retreat. And it stuck. Even now, the word ‘now’ resonates and rings true in my gut. I wonder how often I miss ‘now’ by focusing on the past or anticipating the future. I wonder what moments I miss because I am not fully present right now.

But every once in a while, for whatever reason, I am present in the now, the present moment, and catch a glimpse of something amazing. Something that only moments earlier or moments later would not have been visible. Jean-Pierre De Caussade calls this “the sacrament of the present moment… which holds infinite riches beyond your wildest dreams.” It becomes what I think of as The Holy Now. In reality, it is the only moment any of us can count on, a precious gift that never was before and never will be again.

The picture below is one of those moments, the rising sun causing drops of water to look like rows of pearls strung on fence wire, framing grapevines in the morning mist. If I’d been there  just a few minutes earlier or later, I would have missed it.

St. Paul said, “Look, now is the right time! Look, now is the day of salvation!” He was right. ~ Anne