I was wisely told by my preaching professor, “Do not Easter my Lent!” In other words, do not rush to the Resurrection, empty tomb, or eternal life. Instead, stay at the foot of the cross for a while. I’ve always liked that advice especially when I juxtaposed it next to our Salesian emphasis on living the present moment.
Following his spiritual crisis of predestination, a young Francis de Sales determines that his life will be spent loving God today in this moment. Convinced that our God was a God of the present, he cultivated a life directed towards God in the present moment.
I love the practice of the present moment especially when I find myself doing the things I like. Next to beauty, peace, and comfort, I have no trouble loving God now, while here, doing this. But, what about at the foot of the cross? How do I live in the present moment there?
This is a hard story, but now is the right time to tell it. As I wrote in a previous article, my middle brother, John, died very suddenly of a pulmonary embolism in 2020. On August 24th, I received a call from my mom to rush over to John’s house. My parents were away but received an urgent message from John and called 911. When I arrived at his house, I was informed by the paramedics that John was already dead. The person in charge asked if I wanted to see the body. I went into the house, up the stairs to his bedroom, and prayed over John.
I’ve prayed at the moment of death before, and I can say it’s a sacred moment. You are in the place where… and so close to the moment when… eternity touches time and embraces us. It was a sacred moment. At the same time, this was my brother, and it was a traumatic moment. For weeks I tried to reconcile in my mind, “Was this a sacred moment or a traumatic moment?” That crisis lasted until another Oblate, Fr. Ken McKenna, listened to me and said, “Joe, it’s both - sacred and traumatic.” It’s true. Moments can be both sacred and traumatic. I use those same words as we sit at the foot of the cross in our Lenten season.
Living in the present moment even at the foot of the cross shows us a God who does not run away from us, and who leans over and whispers, “I will take hold of you, and not let go.” This moment, the next, and for all time.
Fr. Joe Newman, OSFS
Provincial
Toledo-Detroit Province
