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As C. S. Lewis puts it, we are called to attend to "eternity itself, and to that point of time which [we] call the present. For the present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience which God has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered to us."

Today is the time of salvation. In learning attentiveness toward him now, in putting aside all the distractions, memories, fears, and keen anticipations that crowd our minds, we become more fully what we are meant to be. We are on the way to becoming "prayer" before God, allowing his Spirit to pray within us where we are too weak or too simple to know how to pray.

In this way, we do not lose attentiveness toward the world, and toward others, paralyzed in a spiritual disconnection. Strangely, in seeking him, or rather in being sought, we find ourselves at home in the world in a new way, yearning and working for its renewal, which will be fulfilled when the time is ripe.

Part of our attentiveness today must surely mean that we take note of the new openness toward those things that could be considered "spiritual." Love will also dictate that in a well-meaning desire to build bridges we do not accept everything called "spiritual" and do not acquiesce to the malformed, underdeveloped, or human-centered approaches to "spirituality" we see everywhere.

Rather, may it be that we ourselves "acquire peace, and a multitude will be saved" (Seraphim of Sarov) as we live, speak, refrain from speaking, act, and pray in such a manner that the very Spirit of God is seen pointing toward the One who has loved us.

When we have the mind of Christ, the world itself, and especially every human person in it, becomes a window to us of his presence, his love, his peace, his power. In the words of Ephrem the Syrian, "Wherever we turn our eyes, there is God's symbol."

Christian spirituality is becoming present to the Lord, as he is always present to us. "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon us sinners, your very own, and upon the whole world that you have made and have come to renew."

Edith M. Humphrey is professor of Scripture at Augustine College, Ottawa. This essay is adapted from a talk originally given at St. Paul University, Ottawa, in a session bringing together supporters of Augustine College, Redeemer College, and St. Paul University. An abbreviated version has appeared in the Dallas Morning News.

Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

A ready-to-download Bible Study on this article is available at ChristianBibleStudies.com. These unique Bible studies use articles from current issues of Christianity Today to prompt thought-provoking discussions in adult Sunday school classes or small groups.

See more on Christian spirituality in Christianity Today's prayer and spirituality area.

Augustine College offers a short biographical sketch of Humphrey, or there's a somewhat outdated one at IOUDAIOS-L.

Humphrey also regularly writes for Canada's Anglican Journal.

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April 2 2001, Vol. 45, No. 5