Be Here Now

Benedictines take a vow of stability, which is an especially handy practice during the first week of Advent, when we are encouraged to be watchful and alert. How does stability help us stay alert? Christine Valtners Paintner shed some light on this phenomenon when she said:

“Moving about from place to place can be a form of distraction…. We do this in our minds as well; even when the body is still, we let our minds carry us far back into the past or the future.”

Before I read this quote, I hadn’t connected mindfulness, or being present to the present moment, with stability. Yet being where we are includes body, mind, and spirit; when we are preoccupied with reliving hurtful or happy moments or anticipating dreaded or dreamed about events, we are not practicing stability —that is, we are not grounded where we are this very moment.

Now, what does that have to do with being watchful and alert? When our mind is elsewhere, we are not alert to what is happening now, so we can easily miss the ways God is currently present to us. As Jacob said in Genesis 28: 16 after awakening from a dream, “The Lord is here! He is in this place, and I didn’t know it!”

Sr. Imogene Baker, OSB, taught the value of stability when she said, “Be where you are and do what you’re doing!” Her advice can help us be watchful and alert for God’s coming not just during Advent but every day we awaken from sleep. Then we can join our ancestor Jacob in saying, “The Lord is here! He is in this place!” without needing to add, “And I didn’t know it!”