The Extraordinary in the Ordinary

In the Catholic Church, we have the season of Ordinary Time. Until recently, I’ve regarded that time as well, ordinary.  I thought of it as a time to just be, to look for the good and celebrate the day for the miracle of every day.

However, there is something I’ve come to know about God. I’m not an expert, but this seems to be true. When we enter into a relationship with Him and enter His world, endings are new beginnings and when we think we have a grasp or understanding of something faith related God often will reveal new levels for us to consider.  So it is with me and my understanding of Ordinary Time.

I feel as if I’ve already received the best Christmas gift ever. Since Thanksgiving, at least three events have happened to me that were perfectly ordinary yet these very ordinary encounters were extraordinary and miraculous.

Two of these encounters with others were direct answers to prayers. In both cases, what happened was very ordinary but knowing that they were answered prayers filled me with a sense of internal joy and peace. Which, also happens to be another answered prayer? And the timing and location of these natural, everyday moments were perfectly inspired.

The third encounter happened right before the beginning of Advent. It was a gift that I would never have thought to ask for, yet, God surprised me with it and I will hold its memory close and ponder it often.  That memory is of something as ordinary as a glimpse of a smile but the extraordinary comes from the moment, the person, the consequences, the insights and new hope and from what had to happen in order for that moment to occur and in the realization that every moment is like that moment-extraordinarily ordinary. It was a moment of layers of transformations.

In that moment, my soul exclaimed, “O joyful moment, stay close to my heart, stay and fill the ordinary with your hope. For even I can see that your hope is in love, in God.”

Pope Francis recently said, “You have never heard of a sad or gloomy-faced saint. That would be a contradiction. Rather, the heart of a Christian is “full of peace because he knows to place his joy in the Lord, even in life’s difficult moments.”

Perhaps, it is also possible that somehow saints through Christ, experience and see in every moment the extraordinary because in doing so it is impossible to be sad.

Extraordinary in the Ordinary…it is like a mother’s pondering of her child’s first smile, step or word spoken.  It is like the gift of a flower from a child to another. It is like the times when you lose track of time and don’t care. It is in the unexpected meeting of a friend and in the embrace of acceptance. It is more than “it is what it is” it is love in the ordinary.  It is in the giving and receiving of a secret gift.

The extraordinary in the ordinary is in every smile, every tear, every moment and everyone.  Sometimes, you may have to look for it and at other times it is there, winking and slapping you in the face saying, smile for heaven’s sake, smile. This life thing…it is good.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope and pray that you too, may experience the extraordinary in the ordinary in all of your days.

In Christ’s Peace and Joy!