From our tiny mission, St. Alphonsus, settled on the dusty high plains of western Kansas, baptisms, though rare, were celebrated within the context of the Mass. After Mass, potluck dinners served our entire 34 family mission.With the enormous size of parishes today, shortages of priests, and societal changes, the Catholic seven Sacraments don’t receive the extension they deserve. These signs of sacred reality seem to have been encapsulated into brief celebrations rather than rooted in our daily processes of living. As St. Augustine wrote, “there is nothing that cannot become a sacramental encounter.” Ever one of the finest paradoxes, from God’s transcendence is God’s pervasive presence, God’s accessibility to us.
Radio waves constantly pass through space loaded with information that remains hidden unless we tune into the correct frequency. Like radio waves, the Sacred is interwoven into our life’s fabric. We must tune in, be receptive. The Sacred is not somewhere “out there,” but in our human experiences, a mystery, an action of God. Do we ignore the sacraments with the small “s” as Kathy Coffey, an author and presenter refers? These are the events, spaces, relationships, symbols through life that nourish our deepest hungers; quench our longing thirst for something more in relationship to Christ. We all come in contact with them, but do we recognize them, allow them to penetrate us as the sacraments they are … and then do we seek them, nurture them in grace? Initially these sacraments may occur in unexpected places. If we cultivate them, I recommend with awareness, invested in the moment, we can ignite the small sacraments with expectation throughout life.
As an eight year old, I had an intense longing for the mountains. Today, passionate about their sanctity in my life, I made and will make conscious decisions to explore, share, immerse myself in their sacred space. I inhale the exquisite beauty in the purple columbine known to grow only between 9000-11000 feet in elevation. I find mystery in a powerful bull moose uprooting water grass from a small bog. I pause in awe as thunder shakes my core from a Spring avalanche I witness miles in the distance. Deeper meaning rests in the reality here. What other peoples have walked these paths? Journeyed here? Slept peacefully beneath the infinite canopy of stars we call the universe? Enjoyed light and warmth from a fire casting shadows dancing among timbers felled due to weather, insect infestation, or age? 
How many times does God reveal his grandeur in the mountains? (trivia: the word for mountains appears over 500 times in the Old Testament alone.) Jesus ascends Mt. Tabor for his transfiguration fulfilling his promise to Moses for his climb to Mt. Sinai. Jesus delivers his beatitudes from the mount. He suffered agony on the Mount of Olives. He ascends from the mountain of Galilee.
The promised land presented to Moses exists here and now.
Though the air lacks oxygen and my legs must lift my weight countless steps, exhaustion does not set until the day ends. I am drawn by the Spirit, energized by those present on this journey, a gift, tantalized by the magnificence and aroma of the waterfalls, wildlife, and wildflowers ushering my footsteps. No cell phones only the roar of the wind and whitewater crashing through the timbers, cold rain refreshing if prepared, threatening if I've lacked reverence.
What gives greater meaning to these sacred moments? Our capacity to translate them, to enter them in new environments, and to share them with others in community with us.
After a hard day’s work, I felt like a man, as Dad and I, a teenager, closed the day dangling our legs over the 152 foot landing atop the grain elevator overlooking the vast western plains beneath the midnight harvest moon. I longed for these infrequent, special moments. Dad shared wisdom from his childhood in the orphanage and beyond.
I’ve brought the mountain space home to translate forward to related places such as Castle wood's bluffs, Greensfelder’s valleys, … even my stroll through the neighborhood on a crisp, cold night with my infant daughter cooing over my shoulder bubbling her gratitude I bundled her and carried her gently in my backpack. Christmas decorations tantalized her attentive eyes. Her breathing whispered Emmanuel in the silent forming frost. By hike’s end, she slept peacefully with her head nestled upon my shoulder. Giving thanks draws my broadest smile. Fifteen years later along the same sacred route, I still hear her gurgles and guttural exclamations! New life, a gift of a child to me. Being with her suspended time … on a night I never wanted to end. The Kingdom of God is here and now. Today, when my teenage daughter is in the presence of Christmas lights, the breadth of their illumination spreads like the scent of incense creating sacred space. I take care to sprinkle strings of lights around our hotel room on our overnight travels west to be with family during the holidays. Such simple moments have profound impacts to move us beyond the moment! There are no limits! No boundaries!
Discover sacred spaces. Create them. Relish them. Share them at home in silence, in reflection, reading, or playing a family game. Advent and Lent have special themes, but we’re not relegated to those seasons alone.
Are you getting enough of the “s”acraments in your life?
In what places do you experience God’s presence?
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