No Day Like Today...

“I will not wait…I will live every present moment, filling it to the brim with love” – Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan

Have you ever wished away time? I have done it before. If you have ever found yourself saying one of the following lines you have also done so.

“I wish I was done with high school!” “
"I wish it were three years down the line so we could get married”
“I can’t wait till my freshman year is over!”
“I am tired of being a teenager!”

So often I get caught up in thinking about what is going to happen in my life. We all look forward to the future and have the attitude: “oh I can’t wait till that happens,” or “I can’t wait till God gives me in my life.” Our excitement or fear of what is to come is a natural part of growing up and becoming who we fully are.

Today I start another year of seminary. I am humbled and blessed to be a seminarian studying for the priesthood. Building up to the start of the year, I found myself acting like my life is a waiting room at the doctors’ office. I am here waiting for the Lord to do His thing, to call me back to his office to show me who I am and what I am called to do and that will be it. Somehow I don’t think it works that way. All of us, whether we are in middle school, high school, college, or out of school, can have the attitude of always seeming to be waiting on something else to come. Since we are waiting, we miss the truth of our lives that is right in front of us. Oh how much we miss! How much there is to learn in the present moment!

Bishop Francis Xavier was a bishop from Vietnam who came to understand this concept in a clear way. He was put in a prison camp in Vietnam shortly after becoming bishop. He missed his people very much and was in deep distress over being taken away from his ministry. After coming to terms with what the Lord was calling him to, he embraced the grace of each moment to live for the Lord and give his love and service to others. He reflected that his whole life was different after he started to live that way. How much we can learn!

Most likely there will be no prison for us or any experience that dangerous, but we are still called to live like the humble bishop from Vietnam! How often do we think school is boring? How often do we think work or practice is boring? How often do we not enjoy being with our family? Every moment is a gift from the Lord to be embraced and lived! Every moment and experience can help us to become more fully who God made us to be only if we choose to live them with great passion and love. Just imagine if we took each moment at school as if it was an opportunity to enter into the gift of life that God has given us. To learn, meet people, be challenged, and overcome all that is before us for the greater glory of God and to become who we were created to be. Just imagine if work was a time where we looked forward to the labor of the moment, the task at hand, and the satisfaction of a job well done in order to give God glory for the ability to work and serve all people. Just imagine!

My friends, life does not have to be a series of moments that we pass over because we are constantly longing for something different or something to come. Right now at this very moment, you are who you are, where you are, and doing what you are doing, because Jesus loves you and in His great mystery you are living out His plan. Live each moment, embrace each moment and live for the Lord!

No more waiting or looking for something in the future. The perfect will of the Lord is now…Just look around and see how beautiful it is…

God Bless You,
Rusty