Saints of the Present Moment

Today it is not enough merely to be a saint; but we must have the saintliness demanded by the present moment (Simone Weil --1909-1943).

And who are the "Saints of the Present Moment"?  I meet them every day: 

• the father who continues to work at a demanding and stressful job so his children can go to college;
• the retired grandmother who relinquishes her leisure to care for an infant grandson so her daughter can work to support the family;
• the family member who stays all night in the hospital with a sick relative.

In Galatians 6:2, Paul writes: Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the whole law of Christ.  And Jesus said, Love one another as I have loved you.  Jesus loves us by taking up "all the causes of our lives" (Lamentations 3:58) and staying with us, even to the end, even to death on a cross.  He does not leave us when the road is steep and the way is long, but remains with us always.  And His strength He shares with us in some mysterious and invisible communion. 

In the Book of Lamentations, Jeremiah gives us the cry of someone in great need:

Those who were my enemies without cause

hunted me like a bird.

They tried to end my life in a pit

and threw stones at me;

the waters closed over my head,

and I thought I was about to be cut off.

I called on your name, O Lord,

from the depths of the pit.

You heard my plea: "Do not close your years

to my cry for relief."

You came near when I called you,

and you said, "Do not fear."

So too with the "Saints of the Present Moment."  In our distress, in our need, we know they are with us, and their presence calms our fears.  The child of a good father knows that he need not fear when the father is near, when the father carries the burdens of need.  The daughter who needs to leave her infant knows that she need not fear because the grandmother will take good care of her infant child, and the patient in the hospital knows that she can sleep in safety while a family member keeps watch through the night.

These are the saints of the present moment, who say, "Do not fear; I am with you always."  This is Jesus continuing His mission today in those who love and obey Him. 

Simone Weil took up factory work because she could not bear to separate herself from "the immense and unfortunate multitude of unbelievers."  Her ministry may not be for all of us, but all of us have family, friends, and neighbors who are carrying burdens too heavy for them to carry alone.  As Simon of Cyrene participated in the carrying of Jesus' cross, so too, we willingly lift our share in the sufferings and daily burdens of others.  When we do it with prayer, in partnership with Christ, who carries our burdens, we are the Saints of the Present Moment.