Book Review: Three Moments of the Day

Three Moments of the Day: Praying with the Heart of Jesus

by Christopher S. Collins, S.J.
Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 2014

In the Foreward to Three Moments of the Day by Fr. Christopher Collins, Fr. James Kubicki reminds us that “every precious moment of time has eternal significance, either contributing to the salvation of our neighbor or not.” Given that each moment of our life has this eternal value, how do we make the most of them? The answer, as Fr. Collins will explain, is to offer our days to God.

The first moment of the day is the beginning when we make a morning offering, “a simple act of faith, hope, and love,” in order to unite our joys and sufferings with those of others throughout the world and offer them up to God.

The second moment is the day itself, united with the sacrifice of the Eucharist throughout the world. “The Mass is God’s perfect attempt to get to us, to get into our heart, in order to bring us to life and ultimately to bring us home to live forever with his own Heart.” God is present in every moment of our day and by offering our day to Him, whether we can attend Mass that particular day or not, our day is part of that Eucharistic sacrifice. Our day is our gift to God.

The last moment of the day is the Examen, in which we look over the events of the day. During this time, we offer thanks to God, ask for insight from the Holy Spirit, talk over our day with the Lord, repent for harm done, and ask for help in the coming day. This exercise can help both with healing our souls of wounds from the past and discernment for the future.

Fr. Christopher Collins is a retreat master who in Three Moments of the Day offers a do-it-yourself approach to Sacred Heart devotion and Ignatian Spirituality. This is a very helpful, practical guide to enhancing one’s relationship with God and giving increased meaning to one’s days, whatever they may hold.