The Sacrament of Existence

At one point or another in our lives we all wonder what we are doing here. Why were we created? Why were we born? What is the point of our continued existence? How come when I had my tonsils out, caught mumps or measles or chicken pox as a kid, I didn’t die? Why did I fall out of that tree and walk away with only a couple scratches? How did I make it across that busy city street without becoming another statistic?

Whether we were bullied or the school bully, the smart kid in class or an average kid who got along, we grew up asking ourselves what was the story behind our lives. We wanted to know why our parents and teachers behaved the strange ways they did. And, parents, aunts, uncles and the adult on the street, I have news for you one and all. In the eyes of children we are all strange and, at some time or another, strangely dangerous.

Underlying any and all of our convictions there is the question: What am I doing in this uncertain place called life? How did I get here? What does it take to make it through all of life in one piece? Sometimes our overwhelming question becomes how do I get out of this?

All of us are at work.

The experts in spirituality tell us that we need to be humbly grateful for our lives and everything and everybody in them. I tell those experts that there are large stretches in my life when I am mumbly grumbly. Gratitude is great when life is working out for us. Gratitude is fine when we have the best seats in the theater and the sports arena. Life is fine when we have the best view of the world from our windows and everything in our corner of the world is bubbling right along just the way we want it to go. That, however, is not all of the time. Rich or middle class or poor, I have known humans who are happy with whatever life gives them or, at the very least, when times are not good, know how to make it through with their heads up.

However, for those of us who have a view into the frightening and harrowing bizarreness of how humans are making a spiritual mess of themselves and their lives, after our long years of trudging through life and presenting humans the incredibly wondrous options clearly waiting for them if only they take the slightest step forward, some of us are just plain tired of it all.

We are thrilled with the surprising beauties of existence.

It’s humans who get us down.

When are humans — you — going to pay attention to the miracles of existence?

What day, what year, what century or millennium are you going to return to your original state? Have you the courage, the unmitigated gall, to see all that humanity is now and keep walking past it? Dare you see who you are, who you really are in the depths of your soul? And, seeing all you have become thus far, have you the guts to gamble with your physical being to become an even greater spiritual being?

It’s all very well and good that we have begun Anno Domini 2025. It’s not enough. More important to everyone’s’ spiritual welfare than beginning a new year or a new decade is beginning a new day.

Every day you wake up and get out of bed it’s a big deal. Giving up the luxury of sheet therapy to venture out into the new world of a new day is an enormous achievement. It takes not only takes courage. It takes daring. To willingly walk out into the world each day is a bold move. It is proof that we are affirming the sacrament of our existence.

What is the sacrament of our existence?

It is looking deep into our souls and daring to see our God. It is nurturing the preternatural animation of our person. It is the gumption and the backbone to affirm who and what we are at each moment of our physical and spiritual existence.

It is, as the Spanish say, having cajónes. Yes, we all have our faults and failures, but looking deep into the abyss that is inside our souls requires courage. It demands the confidence to examine ourselves that we may become more ourselves. To become more the persons we were born to become.

It is taking our lives in our hands and daring to affirm ourselves to ourselves and the world.

In the sacrament of existence we have the ability to move forward with our spiritual explorations. If we are the most recent iteration of the human species on this planet, imagine what more we may become. Each day that we step out of bed we have stepped beyond the crossroads.

We are beginning.

We are beginning again.

We hold precious who we are, each and every one of us. We see and acknowledge the sadness and horrors both within our souls and the world in general. Yet — and this is a big yet — we meet the universal provocation that challenges us. We are taunted by our own demons every step of the way.

It is our choice to venture forward with courage and dignity.

And, for those of you who are wondering if you dare meet this challenge, let me offer you my experience. Each day I slap the satans in the face. I dare the demons to come for me because I have something none of them will ever again possess.

In the sacrament of my existence God is forever at my side.