32 of 34 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
This review is from: The Sacrament of the Present Moment (Paperback)
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!
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The simplicity of surrendering to God's Will, May 18, 2005
This review is from: The Sacrament of the Present Moment (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.
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