“If we see all of time as one, then the present moment contains both past and future. It is all. The whole of our being is in the present; there is not part of it regretfully wrapped up in the past, nor is there part of it anxiously constrained by thought of the future. The spiritual practice of living like this has been called the sacrament of the present moment. A sacrament is a means by which God makes Himself present to us. It is fitting to call the present moment a sacrament because it is in this moment that God is present to us.”
– Luke Bell, OSB, ‘The Meaning of Blue’
Faith
Happy Easter!
Left-footer alert! With Archbishop Malcolm McMahon at the Easter Vigil in Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.
Easter
[Written by Gerard Manley Hopkins in 1866 the year of his conversion.]
Break the box and shed the nard;
Stop not now to count the cost;
Hither bring pearl, opal, sard;
Reck not what the poor have lost;
Upon Christ throw all away:
Know ye, this is Easter Day.
Build His church and deck His shrine,
Empty though it be on earth;
Ye have kept your choicest wine—
Let it flow for heavenly mirth;
Pluck the harp and breathe the horn:
Know ye not ’tis Easter morn?
Gather gladness from the skies;
Take a lesson from the ground;
Flowers do ope their heavenward eyes
And a Spring-time joy have found;
Earth throws Winter’s robes away,
Decks herself for Easter Day.
Beauty now for ashes wear,
Perfumes for the garb of woe,
Chaplets for dishevelled hair,
Dances for sad footsteps slow;
Open wide your hearts that they
Let in joy this Easter Day.
Seek God’s house in happy throng;
Crowded let His table be;
Mingle praises, prayer, and song,
Singing to the Trinity.
Henceforth let your souls always
Make each morn an Easter Day.