Sanctifying the everyday in the age of YOLO

            As we begin the season of Easter, I reflect on my Lenten experience and optimistically bring new habits and insights into this new self that has risen with Christ. Now, if you were to ask me to share a profound moment of my Lenten journey that left me flabbergasted and radically changed, I would be unable to rise to this challenge and illustrate such a moment. This is not to say, however, my journey was “ordinary.” Though tempted, I stray from such a label because “ordinary” carries such a bland and insignificant connotation. It would imply that this season of Lent was just another period of time in my life, “filler” time if you will, that left no lasting impact and simply led me from point A to point B. I would argue that, in the past, my own concept of “ordinary” carried such a tone. I regarded different seasons of my life as “normal” and “with no special or distinctive features” that did not fit into my vision and pursuit of holiness or the “best-version-of-myself.” I was just wasting time to get where I needed to be. This Lent, however, my own concept of “ordinary” was challenged. I was invited by a spiritual guide to not simply walk through life from “extraordinary” moment to “extraordinary” moment, trudging in the “ordinary” in between, but to sanctify each and every moment.  

            Venerable Fulton J. Sheen shared this idea of sanctifying moments when he said, “[One] remedy for the ills that come to us from thinking about time is what might be called the sanctification of the moment—or the Now. Our Lord laid down the rule for us in these words: “Do not fret, then, over tomorrow; leave tomorrow to fret over its own needs; for today, today’s troubles are enough.” (Matt. 6:34) In other words, don’t worry too much about the future or become dazed by futuristic dreams that you forget to live in the now. One could possibly argue that Sheen was a proponent of our present culture’s “YOLO” mantra, but with some extra flair. While "YOLO" is a great battle cry to live in the here and now (or, as some would deem, an excuse to do something perhaps not recommended), sanctifying the moment does not ask that we only simply live in the here and now. Rather, it also challenges us to make a decision; to live in the here and now, through all the so-called “ordinariness,” AND choose to make it holy. It challenges us to receive each encounter and experience, however small or significant, as an opportunity to be present AND glorify God.  Once we can sanctify the moment, each second, minute, hour, day, etc. becomes that much more important. The idea that we are living in “filler” time seems almost irreverent because all time is a sanctified opportunity. Even the idea of holiness becomes unpacked and taken off the high, far off pedestal, where only the great saints of the past and present could reach. It becomes real, simple, tangible, and, well, “ordinary.” Matthew Kelly, in his new book “Rediscover Jesus,” echoes this concept of holiness. He writes, “A holy moment is a moment when you are being the person God created you to be, and you are doing what you feel God is calling you to do in that moment.” So wait a minute! I can live a holy life, or even be the person God created me to be, if I don’t yet have my vocation, graduate degree, career, or, let’s be real, life figured out? OR not currently doing something deemed “extraordinary”? You heard right. Holiness isn’t confined to solitary moments of achievement, status, or success. While knowing our vocation or mission in life can help us be holy, it doesn’t mean that in the time we are waiting to discover these parts of ourselves, holiness cannot be achieved or that the time in between is just the means to an end. No. We are not living in “filler” time. We are living in the NOW and right now God is calling us to be holy; to sanctify everything we do.

            So what do sanctified moments look like? They are the moments when we make the conscious decision to begin each day in grateful prayer, offer the least enjoyable parts of the day in prayer for someone, strike a conversation with someone new, ask how someone is and actually listen to the response, resist irritation when someone asks you for the hundredth time how to do something, control your anger when someone cuts you off on the road, stray away from gossip-like conversation, go out of your way to do something for someone else, and the list goes on. These moments are everywhere and available to all, BUT to the untrained heart, they will pass us by if we choose to be unaware. It takes time and practice to train our hearts to see opportunities for sanctification. How I see it, however, is I don’t want to go through my days, dreaming of my future and what I will be able to do once I figure out a, b, and c and feeling unfulfilled because I am not there yet. I want to be holy now. Do you? Let’s sanctify the present moment and be the people God is calling us to be, just as we are.

This post was written and submitted by first-time blogger Natalie Kathol.