TAKE THE PRESENT SERIOUSLY

I thank God for His endless graces which guide me until today. I am happy that I am in the “Canonical Year” of my novitiate, in which one important lesson I am learning is to “take the present seriously.”

I am very happy that everything has been planned and organized well in the community. We have proper schedule during the day which guides me, practically like “what to do and where to go”. Since enjoy an organized set up every day, I apply also this tool to myself setting it from the planned community schedule. I practice and make my personal schedule which trains me to accomplish “my guided timetable” and not go with the day unless I accomplish the timetable that I set for each day. Here, I begin to discover that such attitude in organizing time needs commitment and discipline otherwise, I will not be able to learn and achieve anything.

Our formators lead us towards training our way of organizing our days. Remind me “how can I come to know God if my focus is elsewhere?” So, all I need is right here. I take my present seriously with being present to myself:  to learn, enjoy and live in the present moment (in the now of time) in order not to let the opportunity that life has to offer pass me by.

Henry Nouwen says: “God is a God of the present. God is always in the moment, be that moment hard or easy, joyful or painful.” We all know that life is not all the time good, sometimes we feel sad, bored and frustrated. However, those feelings are not obstacles for me to go on with the day, they bring lessons to learn. These feelings are means to bring me on to God since I have a God who is faithful and never gives up on me.

By being present, it enables me to cultivate a special space to be aware, such attentiveness to the blessings that come to me day after day.

Furthermore, I am grateful also that in this Canonical Year, I have the chance to stay and learn with the different cultures of my co-novices, of different nationalities. It is true that diversity is a good thing as it makes the community a much more fascinating place. Mixing with my sisters who are different from me, gives me both the chance to grow with and a sense of connection with them. I learn and become more conscious about their uniqueness and my own life in the process, growing together intellectually, emotionally and spiritually.

Rosita Carvalho da Costa

Asian-Con Novitiate,

Quezon City