An article on 'celebrating the ordinary' for February editions of parish magazines from Diocesan Secretary, Andy Todd.
February is neatly bookended this year by two important points in the Church’s calendar – Candlemas at the beginning, bringing to a close the season of Epiphany, and Ash Wednesday at the end, leading us into Lent. Between those points, February is largely – in the Church’s language – “ordinary time”.
Contemporary culture, which tends to value the spectacular and the novel, often looks down its nose at “ordinary” things. But common sense tells you that most of life is, by definition, ordinary. Much of what is best in life – good relationships, satisfying activity, personal development – is nurtured by the everyday.
And so it is with our lives of Christian discipleship, too. Let’s be honest: it can at times seem boring or frustrating to develop and sustain the spiritual habits which nurture our faith – especially prayer. But sometimes the real value is created when we, as the expression goes, “keep on keeping on.”
I was very struck when I first read the nun, Sr Joan Chittister, relating her own experiences of struggling with her search for God, in ways which sound remarkably familiar to me. It has reminded me, as I’m sure I already knew deep down, that prayer and holy living are a struggle for pretty much everyone, pretty much all the time.
She found that one of the best lessons on prayer she ever received was while learning to write books, where she developed the discipline of returning to the same place, at the same time every day, often to the same sheet of paper, even when no words came.
“All the great things of life, the holy things… need time to grow; they need regular, steady, daily presence…. What we give time to creates us.”
Nothing is more important than cultivating our ability to be present to God, and to allow Him to be present to us. That is the truest, deepest work of our lives.
It can be the greatest gift of “ordinary” time, and I hope and pray you will discover that gift in the weeks ahead.
