The Sacrament of the Present Moment by Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675–1751)
- Mar 4
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 5
Learning to Receive Today and each Moment from the Hand of God
Last week we concluded our short series on Søren Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling, where Abraham stands before God in radical obedience. Kierkegaard’s message is simple and searching: faith means trusting God even when we cannot see the whole picture.
But once we say yes to God, another question arises:
How do we actually live that faith day by day?
A wise Christian from another century offers an answer.
Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675–1751), a French Jesuit priest and spiritual writer, wrote a small but powerful book called The Sacrament of the Present Moment. Its message is beautifully simple:
God meets us in the duties and circumstances of the present moment.
Not in yesterday.
Not in tomorrow.
But in today.
God’s Will Is Usually Ordinary
Many Christians imagine that God’s will must appear as something dramatic—some great mission, heroic sacrifice, or spectacular calling.
But most of life is not like that.
Most of life is made up of ordinary things:
work to do, people to love, responsibilities to carry, prayers to say, problems to face.
Caussade reminds us that these ordinary moments are not obstacles to spiritual life—they are the place where God meets us.
What comes to us each day—duties, interruptions, joys, frustrations—can become a kind of “sacrament,” a visible way through which God’s grace reaches us.
Scripture points us in the same direction:
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
(Matthew 6:11, KJV)
Jesus teaches us to trust God one day at a time.
Faith Lives in the Present
We cannot obey God yesterday.
And we cannot obey Him tomorrow.
Faith is always lived now.
The apostle James puts it plainly:
“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow… For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”
(James 4:14–15, KJV)
The future belongs to God.
Our calling is simply to receive the present moment from His hand and be faithful in it.
The Quiet Holiness of Everyday Life
Caussade saw something many of us miss: God is often at work in ways that look very small.
A conversation.
A task faithfully done.
A moment of patience.
A prayer whispered in difficulty.
These things may seem insignificant to us, but they are not small to God.
Jesus Himself lived most of His earthly life this way.
For thirty years in Nazareth, before His public ministry began, He lived an ordinary life—working, praying, loving, obeying His Father.
That hidden life reminds us that holiness is not measured by visibility.
It is measured by faithfulness.
“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.”
(Luke 16:10, KJV)
Receiving Today from the Hand of God
What would happen if we began each day with a simple prayer like this?
“Lord, whatever comes today, help me receive it from Your hand and be faithful in it.”
That attitude changes everything.
Difficulties become opportunities for patience.
Interruptions become opportunities for love.
Ordinary work becomes an act of obedience.
Life itself becomes a place of meeting with God.
And slowly we learn the quiet secret of the Christian life:
God is already present in the moment we are living.
Looking Ahead
Over the next few weeks, we will walk slowly through the wisdom of The Sacrament of the Present Moment. It is not a long book, but it carries a deep and liberating message:
God does not ask us to manage the whole future.
He simply asks us to trust Him one moment at a time.
Closing Prayer
Lord,
Teach us to receive each day from Your hand.
Give us grace to be faithful in the small things, patient in difficulty, and grateful in blessing.
Help us to trust You in the present moment, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
***********************
Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;
Living with Jesus, a new life divine;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
Refrain
Moment by moment I’m kept in His love;
Moment by moment I’ve life from above;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
Never a trial that He is not there,
Never a burden that He doth not bear,
Never a sorrow that He doth not share,
Moment by moment, I’m under His care.
Refrain
Never a heartache, and never a groan,
Never a teardrop and never a moan;
Never a danger but there on the throne,
Moment by moment He thinks of His own.
Refrain
Never a weakness that He doth not feel,
Never a sickness that He cannot heal;
Moment by moment, in woe or in weal,
Jesus my Savior, abides with me still.
Refrain
Daniel W. Whittle, 1893
And, lo,I am with you ALWAY, even unto the end
of the world. Matthew 28:20