The Sacrament of the Present Moment is the three hundred-year-old classic of spiritual guidance and enlightenment by Jean-Pierre de Caussade, ordained member of the Society of Jesus. In this wise, hopeful, and powerfully stirring masterwork of Christian thought and daily practice, de Caussade encourages a selfless abandonment to God as a means of achieving grace and conquering pride and ego. Each day is a sacrament, the author assures us, and the lessons and wisdom of The Sacrament of the Present Moment can better enable us to hear God’s voice as He speaks to us, always, with love.
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From the Back Cover
In this superb new translation of the celebrated spiritual classic of wisdom, hope, and inspiration, Jean-Pierre de Caussade offers guidance for daily living in communion with God. This exemplary devotional work summons readers to holiness, reveals ways to conquer self-love and pride, and points the way for experiencing each moment as a sacrament.
The author shows how God speaks to us through every moment of every day. He encourages a joyous, affirming, selfless abandonment to God. By entering into such active contemplation and facing ourselves honestly and openly, the author assures us, we can achieve the comfort and fulfillment of a life suffused with grace.
These timeless spiritual reflections probe the mystery of faith, illuminate the nature of authentic contemplation, and help us recognize and carry out God's purpose in our own lives. They stand as powerful testimony to de Caussade's conviction "that there is nothing easier, more ordinary, more available to all than saintliness."
About the Author
Jean-Pierre de Caussade was born in Toulouse, France, and was ordained a member of the Society of Jesus in 1708. In 1731, he was appointed spiritual director of the Jesuit retreat house in Nancy, where he undertook the spiritual direction of the Nuns of the Visitation. It is the notes of his addresses to the nuns that form this book.
Kitty Muggeridge, the wife of author and journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, is well-known as a translator.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 41 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Embrace the Present Moment as an Ever-flowing Source of Holiness
October 26, 2006
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Each moment is another opportunity to surrender your heart to God. The Holy Spirit is ever about and within us, and time is simply the unfolding of His grace. The Sacrament of the Present Moment.
As another Jesuit, Fr. G.M. Hopkins, once wrote: "The world is charged with the Grandeur of God: it shines out like shining from shook foil, it gathers to a greatness like the ooze of oil crushed.."
This book is a manifesto reminding us that it is God in whom we live & move and have our being. He is intimately with us always, unto all time. Peace, then. Cultivate awareness of His presence. You cannot be harmed. Neither death nor sin can separate us from the love of God. Only our eternal refusal to seek His mercy & embrace Him can do that.
It's my theologumena that hell is simply the inescapable flame of that Love which the damned desperately wish to flee.
Some might catch a whiff of quietism in this book. It's true that the Quietists were all the rage in France at the time, but it's unfair to tar Fr. Caussade with that brush. Because the essence of his teaching is cooperation with grace, infused action on behalf of Christ. Even if it is humble, even if you don't understand what the point of it is, even if it seems futile or inconsequential. If it is good, even the simplest things are sweet in the eyes of God.
For it is not the act that makes us holy, but His grace. The act is is simply our little gift to God, proof of our love for Him. Like a child doing something simple & inconsequential for her parent, anything we can do is likewise pleasing to Him. This, as I'm sure you know, is also the teaching of our Little Flower, Dear St. Therese, one of the most luminous saints of Carmel, and Doctor of the Church.
The key to holiness, which is to say happiness & peace, is to pay attention to Him and love Him. We will inevitably be moved to do what He would have us do, which usually is something quite simple. Like our chores, loving our enemies, caring for our neighbors, and adoring Him.
When you love someone, you seek to please him. Love & you will be saved.
There's another book from the same place & era (early 18th century France) that is very similar, which I love deeply as well: 'The Practice of the Presence of God' by Brother Lawrence, another French Carmelite. Both of these books are sublime. Only Frere Laurent is even simpler and more limpid than Fr. Caussade, if that is possible (Fr. Caussade, though saintly and so obviously influenced by Carmel and Holy Francis, was still a Jesuit after all..)
I always picture Brother Lawrence enraptured, laying cruciform before the oven on the floor of his kitchen, slain by the mystery of the baking bread.. (Taste and see the LORD is good..) It's an arbitrary image, but I feel it catches what he was like. Blessed Sweetness, everywhere found, in my heart dwell most profound!
Anyway, these books always make me tearfully glad. Just thinking about them, and the men who wrote them.. The God who let it all happen. We are so blessed to be alive. To be given such a faith. I pray for all of you who read this. Blessings. Read these books.
Chers Pere Caussade, Frere Laurent et Ste. Therese, priez pour nous!
As another Jesuit, Fr. G.M. Hopkins, once wrote: "The world is charged with the Grandeur of God: it shines out like shining from shook foil, it gathers to a greatness like the ooze of oil crushed.."
This book is a manifesto reminding us that it is God in whom we live & move and have our being. He is intimately with us always, unto all time. Peace, then. Cultivate awareness of His presence. You cannot be harmed. Neither death nor sin can separate us from the love of God. Only our eternal refusal to seek His mercy & embrace Him can do that.
It's my theologumena that hell is simply the inescapable flame of that Love which the damned desperately wish to flee.
Some might catch a whiff of quietism in this book. It's true that the Quietists were all the rage in France at the time, but it's unfair to tar Fr. Caussade with that brush. Because the essence of his teaching is cooperation with grace, infused action on behalf of Christ. Even if it is humble, even if you don't understand what the point of it is, even if it seems futile or inconsequential. If it is good, even the simplest things are sweet in the eyes of God.
For it is not the act that makes us holy, but His grace. The act is is simply our little gift to God, proof of our love for Him. Like a child doing something simple & inconsequential for her parent, anything we can do is likewise pleasing to Him. This, as I'm sure you know, is also the teaching of our Little Flower, Dear St. Therese, one of the most luminous saints of Carmel, and Doctor of the Church.
The key to holiness, which is to say happiness & peace, is to pay attention to Him and love Him. We will inevitably be moved to do what He would have us do, which usually is something quite simple. Like our chores, loving our enemies, caring for our neighbors, and adoring Him.
When you love someone, you seek to please him. Love & you will be saved.
There's another book from the same place & era (early 18th century France) that is very similar, which I love deeply as well: 'The Practice of the Presence of God' by Brother Lawrence, another French Carmelite. Both of these books are sublime. Only Frere Laurent is even simpler and more limpid than Fr. Caussade, if that is possible (Fr. Caussade, though saintly and so obviously influenced by Carmel and Holy Francis, was still a Jesuit after all..)
I always picture Brother Lawrence enraptured, laying cruciform before the oven on the floor of his kitchen, slain by the mystery of the baking bread.. (Taste and see the LORD is good..) It's an arbitrary image, but I feel it catches what he was like. Blessed Sweetness, everywhere found, in my heart dwell most profound!
Anyway, these books always make me tearfully glad. Just thinking about them, and the men who wrote them.. The God who let it all happen. We are so blessed to be alive. To be given such a faith. I pray for all of you who read this. Blessings. Read these books.
Chers Pere Caussade, Frere Laurent et Ste. Therese, priez pour nous!
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book, translated by Katie Muggeridge, and with an introduction by Richard J. Foster, is an easy read, and it advocates a practice that I found simple and natural, though not always easy. Christians from all traditions should be able to engage his message.
Richard Foster sums it up well in the introduction when he says, "Cutting through the maze of religious obligations that so often encrust the gospel, he declared, `There remains one single duty. It is to keep one's gaze fixed on the master one has chosen and to be constantly listening so as to understand and hear and immediately obey his will.' And again, `the only condition necessary for this state of self-surrender is the present moment in which the soul, light as a feather, fluid as water, innocent as a child, responds to every movement of grace like a floating balloon." (p. xiii-xiv)
This is what "The Sacrament of the Present Moment" is all about. Implied is a sense of reflection, holy listening, of being aware of God's will and guidance. As we are aware of this will, we then surrender ourselves to it. Hence, the earlier title, "Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence." We are engaging God in the process, and he is engaging us. In so doing, we live in faith, abide in His love, and become like Him.
The other aspect of de Caussade's message that I liked is that it can be applied by anyone, not just monastic. He sees God's providence in our duties, our trials, or joys. He also realizes that it goes beyond formulas - that God's will often leads us to the unexpected. This mitigates against the risk of turning the contemplative life and spiritual disciplines into another list of "do's and don'ts."
I found this book to be life-changing, and is rapidly becoming one of my all-time favorites.
Richard Foster sums it up well in the introduction when he says, "Cutting through the maze of religious obligations that so often encrust the gospel, he declared, `There remains one single duty. It is to keep one's gaze fixed on the master one has chosen and to be constantly listening so as to understand and hear and immediately obey his will.' And again, `the only condition necessary for this state of self-surrender is the present moment in which the soul, light as a feather, fluid as water, innocent as a child, responds to every movement of grace like a floating balloon." (p. xiii-xiv)
This is what "The Sacrament of the Present Moment" is all about. Implied is a sense of reflection, holy listening, of being aware of God's will and guidance. As we are aware of this will, we then surrender ourselves to it. Hence, the earlier title, "Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence." We are engaging God in the process, and he is engaging us. In so doing, we live in faith, abide in His love, and become like Him.
The other aspect of de Caussade's message that I liked is that it can be applied by anyone, not just monastic. He sees God's providence in our duties, our trials, or joys. He also realizes that it goes beyond formulas - that God's will often leads us to the unexpected. This mitigates against the risk of turning the contemplative life and spiritual disciplines into another list of "do's and don'ts."
I found this book to be life-changing, and is rapidly becoming one of my all-time favorites.
33 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the first "how-to" book on the "spiritual" life I have ever seen. My life changed by the end of chapter 1. But the title should have been left as "Self-abandonment to Divine Providence" or been changed to "Let go, let God!"
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Different translation
I had a hard time comprehending all the ideas in this newer translation. Then I downloaded the free version from the 1700's called Abandonment to Divine Providence and have had... Read more
Published 2 days ago by Alyssa Tallentire
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good spiritual read
Not for everyone but good to see that the search for a closer union with God goes on generation after generation and there is nothing new under the sun.
Published 1 month ago by Luke Beckman
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not the Christian-Buddhist cross-over you might be tempted to assume
This book has been re-titled from its original of "Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence," I assume to take advantage of the growing interest in mindfulness and other... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Rik Jespersen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book for those serious about prayer
This is a very concise book on the Present Moment. A lot to digest and it is refreshing as well.
Published 2 months ago by Grace and Charity
3.0 out of 5 stars
Early Mystics a challenge
As is often the case with older writings, it is a discipline to slow oneself down enough to absorb de Caussade's message. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Patricia Collins
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best book I've ever read
This is my favorite book of all time. It's definitely my "Desert Island" book, one that I would never be without. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Peppermint Patty
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must Read for Catholics who is seeking deeper communion with God.
I recommend this book to every Catholics. Present moment gives a deeper meaning in our lives. God speaks in the very present moment. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Catechist4Life
4.0 out of 5 stars
happy to have read this
This is a pithy book full of aphorisms and insights that continue to slowly unfold long after you have read them. Read more
Published 16 months ago by lost on the southern tier
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book
This book is for mature Christians. I have enjoyed reading about what faith in Jesus 'looks like' in reference to past forefathers. Read more
Published on January 15, 2011 by Mr Clean
5.0 out of 5 stars
my simple understanding of this book
All souls are capable of becoming Saintly. Each person's soul, complex or simple, has this ability. We have but to walk in God's Grace, his chosen path for us. Read more
Published on September 3, 2010 by sharon bass
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