Day 28
Daily Life Matters
There cannot be two parallel lives in their existence: on the one hand, the so-called “spiritual” life, with its values and demands; and on the other, the so-called “secular” life, that is, life in a family, at work, in social relationships, in the responsibilities of public life and in culture. The branch, engrafted to the vine which is Christ, bears its fruit in every sphere of existence and activity.
— St. John Paul II, Christifideles Laici
Jesus lived for about thirty-three years here on earth. He spent the first thirty of those years in obscurity. He lived most of that period in a small town off the beaten path, Nazareth. He spent his days learning from his mother, Mary, and his foster father, Joseph, who ran a carpenter shop and probably served as the village handyman. For thirty years the Savior of the world, the Son of God, the incarnate second person of the Blessed Trinity lived the most normal of human lives. No miracles, no extraordinary manifestations of anything, no special privileges, no prodigious signs after the amazing night of his birth. Just normal daily life.
The Value of the Present Moment
Why? Why did Jesus choose this path? Did he spend those thirty years twiddling his thumbs and waiting around for the moment when he would begin to preach and teach and redeem the world? Not at all. Everything Jesus did and said was part of God’s divine revelation. It all has a lesson for us. It teaches us about how God sees the world, and about how we are created and called to live our lives. And the thirty years during which Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary lived outside the spotlight teaches us that daily life matters.
The relationships, experiences, and activities of daily life construct the primary arena where we love our neighbors as ourselves, where we fulfill our mission. Too often we overlook this. Too often we fantasize about different circumstances that, or so we think, would give us a chance to live life to the full and be all we can be. Too often we think that “mission” necessarily implies going to far-off places. Too often we forget the wise irony contained in the proverbial phrase “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.”
Living in a state of perpetual regret and self-pity because of the challenges of our daily circumstances — thinking that “real life” is actually waiting somewhere around the corner and off in the future — distracts the soul. In fact, it can blind us to the real graces and opportunities that the Lord never ceases to present to us: “At every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength,” the Catechism reminds us. “He never ceases to call every man to seek him, so as to find life and happiness . . . God never ceases to draw man to himself” (CCC, 1, 30, 27). Jesus didn’t wait until he left Nazareth to redeem the world; the redemption of the world, in fact, necessarily passed through those thirty years in Nazareth. And our contribution to that work of redemption necessarily passes through our Nazareth.
Not All Saints Are Supernovas
We see this truth reflected in the lives of the saints. The most well-known saints are those who were called by God to truly extraordinary lives and missions. St. Francis of Assisi received the stigmata and preached miraculously even to wild animals. St. Faustina Kowalska received mystical visions and had mystical conversations with the Lord on a regular basis throughout her entire consecrated life. St. Patrick exercised such spiritual force — in his preaching, leadership, and miracles — that he converted the entire Irish people to Christianity in his own lifetime. . . . Because of their dramatic character, these extraordinary manifestations of grace capture our attention and can make us think that holiness consists in being like them.
And yet plenty of other saints reached the pinnacle of holiness and fulfilled their mission on earth without ever leaving the confines of their Nazareth. St. Bede entered the monastery as a seven-year-old boy when his parents entrusted his education to the monks. He died there more than sixty years later, having never left the borders of the double monastery in Jarrow, England. St. Thérèse of Lisieux, whose autobiography led to her being named a Doctor of the Church, died at the young age of twenty-four. At the time of her death, the sisters in her convent were at a loss as to what they should put into the death notice that was customary to send to the other convents — that’s how normal and unremarkable her brief consecrated life had been, at least from the outside.
St. Gianna Beretta Molla was an Italian wife, mother, and pediatrician. She liked skiing and fashion and lived amid the normal hustle and bustle of family life. Her holiness took root and flourished there, in her Nazareth. And of course St. Joseph himself, patron saint of the Universal Church, lived and died in the dusty obscurity of the literal Nazareth, speaking nary a single word in the Scriptures.
Redemption Is Rooted in Nazareth
The extraordinary manifestations of grace that capture our attention are gifts God gives to the Church in order to boost our faith. But they are not the substance of holiness and happiness. They are not necessary ingredients in the recipe for Christian faithfulness. Rather, they are simply providential works of grace overflowing from daily lives lived in communion with God. To discover and fulfill our mission in life, to love our neighbor as ourselves and thereby build up the kingdom of God, we must not seek first what is extraordinary and dramatic. We must not vainly hanker after spectacular shows of spiritual power. Rather we must strive to be authentic Christians, fully present and engaged in each duty and interaction that meets us in our Nazareth, where redemption is truly rooted. What flows from that, whether dramatic or not, is up to God.
Moses put it well in his last sermon before the Chosen People of Israel crossed into the Promised Land:
For this command which I am giving you today is not too wondrous or remote for you. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who will go up to the heavens to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may do it?” Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross the sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may do it?” No, it is something very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it. (Deuteronomy 30:11–14)
The principles, virtues, and activities explored in these reflections are all related to how we can help love our neighbors by spreading Christ’s kingdom. But they can all be applied — indeed, they must be applied — first and foremost in our daily lives. God’s providence has placed us there. God’s love longs to meet us there. God’s grace will flow through us there, leading us step-by-step to the fullness of our calling.
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion
What idea in this reflection struck you most and why?
Describe the circumstances of your Nazareth: the duties, relationships, and activities that form the warp and woof of your daily life. Where is God inviting you to love more in them?
How easy or hard is it for you to believe that God is at work through you in those daily circumstances? Speak to God right now and express your faith that he is present and active in your Nazareth. Ask for the grace to find and follow him there.
Hypocrisy is one of the biggest obstacles to building up the kingdom of Christ. When we profess to be Christians, followers of Christ, we are claiming to have certain standards of behavior. When we habitually fail to live up to those standards, or when we habitually make no effort to do so, we create a disconnect between what we say and what we do. When people notice that, it makes them doubt the authenticity of the Christian faith. If Jesus were real, they think to themselves, then his followers would be more coherent.
What will you do today to root out any remnants of hypocrisy in your life?
- I will go to confession as a concrete expression of my sincere desire to let God’s grace root out my self-centered tendencies.
- I will pay special attention to one relationship that is challenging for me, asking God to help me see that person as he does, and to help me “love my neighbor as myself” in that particular case.
- I will ask forgiveness from someone I may have offended, consciously or not.
- (Write your own resolution) I will
Concluding Prayer
O God, who cause the minds of the faithful to unite in a single purpose, grant your people to love what you command and to desire what you promise, that, amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found.
May your grace, O Lord, we pray, at all times go before us and follow after and make us always determined to carry out good works.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
— Roman Missal, Collects for the Twenty-First and Twenty-Eighth Sundays in Ordinary Time
