I thought I would begin to today with a very small demonstration of what Matthew Kelly meant by a Holy Moment. Owning the reality that each of us are called to holiness the way to realize that is through the practice of Holy Moments….so here is what I would like you to do:
Look at the Crucifix here in church
Just be aware of what God did for you
You just had a holy moment. The neat thing is that we can develop the practice of having these all through out the day. Notice I said the word: practice. St Clare of Assisi told her sisters to do this mediation for the first five minutes of every day and reflect on Christ’s total poverty on the Cross.
This is what Jesus is talking about in Luke’s version of the Beatitudes. When we are see our poverty thought out the day, that is a holy moment. Poverty is more than a lack of money. It could be the realization that we won’t get a promotion, or we failed a test, get a cold, or cannot afford something. The holy moment of our hunger is when we know we need God. He is the only one who will fill the void in our lives. Weeping holy moments are when we need to grief the losses of life or maybe the times we see the pain of this world. Being persecuted is something that needs no explanation: to stand up for our faith is a holy moment
Even the woes can be Holy Moments because they are the times of conversion. Jesus reaches into our lives and shows us what is getting in the way. These holy moments are the tough ones. For example, I was with some friends the other night and we were talking about the water main break that happened at the foot of their driveway and how this would be an inconvenience. As we talked, all three of us came to the conclusion: this was a first world problem. It was fixable and there were people who have never had water coming into their house. There were people living in drought stricken areas. A Holy Moment for the three of us!
As we begin to prepare for Lent in just over three week, I would offer this suggestion: Each one of us begins the practice of having Holy Moments. Let us pray for the grace to open our eyes and our hearts to those many moments every day when God is present to us.
