Many of us imagine that if we just had more time, more quiet, fewer responsibilities, or a different schedule, we would have a better spiritual life.
Yet the saints often point in a different direction.
Instead of looking somewhere else for God, they encourage us to find Him right where we are.
Servant of God Catherine Doherty called this the "duty of the moment." In other words, whatever God has placed in front of us right now is often the very place where He is inviting us to meet Him. She wrote:
"The duty of the moment is what you should be doing at any given time, in whatever place God has put you."
That duty will likely not feel particularly spiritual. It may be answering emails, creating a spreadsheet, preparing dinner, folding laundry, helping a child with homework, changing a diaper, or caring for an aging parent, or just completing another ordinary day at work.
Yet Catherine Doherty (and the saints) insists that these moments matter.
"You don't just change the diaper, you change it to the best of your ability, with great love for God and the child."
This is one of the most practical ways to invite Christ into our daily routines.
We sometimes think holiness is found in extraordinary moments. But most of our lives are made up of ordinary ones. The daily routine of work, family life, errands, and responsibilities is where we spend the majority of our time. The saints remind us that these ordinary moments are precisely where Christ wants to meet us.The temptation is to overlook those duties in search of something more.
St. Francis de Sales warned against this tendency when he wrote:
"God wants you to serve him as you are, and by the exercises and virtuous deeds that accord with your state in life."
God is not waiting for us somewhere else; He is present in the life we are living right now.
Brother Lawrence, famous for practicing the presence of God in the monastery kitchen, recommended pausing briefly throughout the day to turn our attention toward the Lord. Even a simple moment of gratitude, a short prayer, or an interior act of praise can transform ordinary work into an encounter with God.
The next time you find yourself wishing for a different set of circumstances, consider whether God might be inviting you to something simpler.
Perhaps He is asking you to embrace the duty of the moment. One simple way to do that is to offer Him the task immediately before you. And to trust that He is present there and to perform it well.
As Catherine Doherty beautifully observed:
"The duty of the moment done for God is glamorous, exciting, wondrous—if only we can see it for what it truly is!"
While the little moments of our day hold treasures to be shared with Our Lord, every healthy relationship requires dedicated time together and our relationship with Christ grows when we intentionally step away from our responsibilities to pray.
Adoration is one of the most beautiful ways to do this. Spending time before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament gives us strength for all of the ordinary tasks that make up our lives. Those who regularly visit Christ in Adoration know the value of simply sitting with Him in silence. Time spent in His presence teaches us to recognize Him more readily throughout the rest of the day and to offer even our smallest actions back to Him.
The goal is not to choose between prayer or adoration and daily responsibilities. Rather, prayer gives meaning to our work, and our work becomes an offering back to God. We offer it back in little ways, and also to make it a priority to spend intentional time in prayer with Him.
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