Every Moment is a Graceful One

Last weekend I had the pleasure of traveling south to Tucson, Arizona to attend a friend’s wedding. I must admit that with the exception of an excuse to dress up and eat fancy cake, weddings don’t do a lot for me. But I was slightly more excited to attend this wedding because it was the first Catholic wedding I would get to attend as a fully initiated Catholic. It was also only the second Mass I’ve attended since being baptized.

The ceremony began and immediately lapsed into the traditional readings from 1^st Corinthians and such. I could feel my attention beginning to wane. But then the priest, who also happened to be the bride’s uncle, got up to deliver the homily. It wasn’t until he was well into his reflection that he finally said something that jolted me out of my stupor.

He said that every moment, whether it be filled with sadness, pain, happiness, love, etc., is a sacrament. It is a sacrament because every moment contains God’s presence and grace. Something about those words really struck me and have left me reflecting on them a week after hearing them. 

I had it explained to me once that a sacrament is “an outward sign of inward grace.” Having just been initiated into the Church through some of the most beautiful sacraments, I can certainly understand that definition. And there I was in the middle of a wedding ceremony, which is another beautiful sacrament to witness or participate in. But I have never thought of anything else as being sacramental outside of the traditional 7 sacraments at church. But upon hearing the priest’s words, it made total sense to me. Every moment in our lives truly is a sacrament. 

It is easy to feel God’s presence and grace in our lives during the good moments----when a child is born, when we land that dream job we’ve always wanted, when we meet someone we think might really be “the one”, when a song comes on the radio that seems to speak to our exact situation in that moment. Those are the easy moments to have faith and to feel like God is watching over you.

But I don’t believe those are the moments where we should most concern ourselves with and look for God’s presence in. 

When the priest was delivering his homily and listing off all of the types of moments that are sacramental, he mentioned those where we are suffering or are in pain. He turned slightly when  speaking as though gesturing to the crucifix behind the altar. Even in that most terrible moment of Christ’s crucifixion and death, God was present. For Christians, the crucifixion is undoubtedly a sacramental moment. And yet, when we are shouldered with our own crosses to bear in life, we often rage against God for allowing the bad things to happen. We question why. We fall into hopelessness and despair. But the priest’s words made me reconsider how to view such moments.

Grace is poured onto us during every moment of our lives----either in joyful ways to remind us of how blessed we are….or in painful, burdensome ways to test us and strengthen our souls. But good or bad, every moment deserves to be respected and treated as something sacred. We are never abandoned in this life----even in our loneliest times. If we could only learn to appreciate the bad moments more and try to feel the grace inside that they leave us with, we might learn to trust more in their purpose for us. 

Every moment is a sacrament…..because every moment is filled with grace.