St. Francis de Sales
St. Francis de Sales has been called a Christian existentialist because of his emphasis on the present. His advice is: ” Live one day at a time, leaving the rest in God’s care..go along with confidence in Divine Providence, worrying only about the present day and leaving your heart in the Lord’s care.”
The past and future are to be surrendered in confidence into the hands of the Lord who will forgive our past failings and be our sure hope in the future. That leaves only the present moment in which we are called to be actively united to God’s will for us. St. Francis would have us direct our intention to whatever God wants for us in the moment at hand. If the past is over and the future not yet, then only the present, temporarily and existentially, can be a realistic locus for the Divine will. St. Francis has little time for people who live in “what might have been” or in “what might be”. The present moment provides the only possibility for encounter with the living God through an active embrace of God’s will.