LIVING IN THE PRESENT
OUR Lord said, at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount: "Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof;" and He went on to explain the practical application of His words: "Be not therefore solicitous for tomorrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for itself."
By this He does not encourage carelessness, or want of foresight; He does not condemn thrift and prudence; He only warns us against the commonest source of all our vainest anxieties, the imaginary fear of what may be.
Of all the many kindnesses of God to man, is there any kindness greater than the permission to live each day as a life apart, to make of each day a perfect thing, unspoiled by what may have been, still more by what may be? And yet is there any kindness of God more commonly neglected, more recklessly thrown away?
We human beings are strange creatures. We are for ever crying for the moon, and neglect the solid earth on which we stand. We make nothing of that which is in our hands; our eyes are for ever wandering abroad, seeing phantoms through the mist, turning life into a nightmare, paralysing action by the fear of that which is not....
[continued tomorrow]
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From The School of Love and Other Essays
by The Most Reverend Alban Goodier, S.J.
Burns, Oates, & Washburn, Ltd. 1918
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