Holy in the Ordinary

“O lord, make this Lenten season different from the other ones. Let me find you again. Amen.” – Henry Nouwen

“Lent is a time of going very deeply into ourselves… What is it that stands between us and God? Between us and our brothers and sisters? Between us and life, the life of the Spirit? Whatever it is, let us relentlessly tear it out, without a moment’s hesitation.” – Catherine Doherty

No rules.
No judgment.
No lecture.
No guilt.
No condemnation.
Allow inquiry.
A call, a whisper, an invitation to all.
Open to possibility.
Enter reflection, to slowing, to sacred.
Unknowing and mystery.
Witness and validate.
40 days.
Find the holy in the ordinary.
Without a moment’s hesitation.

The Holy in the Ordinary by Ann Weems

“Holy is the time and holy is this place,
And there are holy things that must be said.

Let us say to one another what our souls whisper…
O Holy One, cast your tent among us;
come into our ordinary lives and bless the living!

Forty days stretch before us,
forty days of hungering after faithfulness,
forty days of trying to understand the story,
and then, Holy Week…
O God, if every week were holy…

These forty days stretch before us,
and those of us who believe
yearn to feel Your presence,
yearn to be Your people;
and yet, the days fill with ordinary things
with no time left
for seeking the holy,

Spiritual contemplation is all right
for those who have the time,
but most of us have to make a living.

Most of us have to live in the real world
where profanity splashes and blots out
anything holy.

Where, O Holy One, can we find you in this unholy mess?

How, O God, can we find the holy in the ordinary?”