Mulling the Density of the Instant

As summer slipped away and I spent my days shopping for school supplies for our sons and taking one last visit to the beach, I've been contemplating what difference the existence of the Eucharist makes in my life.

How long exactly, does it take to receive communion? Maybe a few seconds, yes? In that act, we unite with eternity. This is what Father Luigi Giussani, founder of the Communion and Liberation movement, refers to the "density of the instant." How many instants comprise our  lives? Each one is an opportunity to fix our gaze on God.

Fr. Giussani puts it this way: "the Eucharist becomes the beginning of Christ’s triumph in time and space, in history,"  Amazing.  And here is something astonishing: the density of the instant begins, not ends, with the Eucharist. We enter eternity every time we lift our thoughts to heaven.When we pray, no matter what we are doing (driving, chatting, shopping, making dinner) while we are praying, we are communicating with God, who exists beyond space and time. We pray for the souls among us, and souls who have gone before us. We pray for them; they pray for us.

This is what we Catholics call the Communion of Saints.

Realizing this, I remember the days, full of instants wasted with worry, impatience and regret. The challenge before me is to recognize that every moment holds the possibility for transcendence.

I like what Saint Claire of Assisi had to say about that:

Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! 

Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! 

And transform your entire being into the image 

of the Godhead Itself through contemplation.