Do ordinary things with extraordinary love.
+St. Therese Senior Care
Mission Statement
The great lesson from the true mystics…is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one’s daily life, in one’s neighbors, friends, and family, in one’s back yard.
+Abraham H. Maslow
WOULD YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF a mystic, someone who sees things on a deeper level? Years ago, I had the privilege of teaching a Theology of Aging class with a retired Lutheran minister, Rev. Umhau Wolf, a well-respected spiritual guide in the Toledo area. He began class one Saturday morning by asking the students if they were theologians. They weren’t sure what a theologian was let alone if they could identify themselves as theologians. As we reflected on what a theologian did, Dr. Wolf suggested that one who acknowledges God and reflects on God in some way is indeed a theologian in a broad sense of the word.
I think Abraham Maslow has quite the insight about what it means to be a mystic and that there is a parallel between a mystic and a theologian. They both spend valuable time reflecting on the ordinary in order to reach the extraordinary, and some do so by reflecting on the extraordinary and end up reaching the ordinary. How does this happen?
How does one find the sacred, which may be considered the extraordinary, in the ordinary things in daily life?
If you are a gardener, you have the opportunity to become aware of the sacredness of the earth as you till the soil, plant the seeds, water them, weed around them, enjoy the beauty of the flowers, and literally enjoy the fruit and vegetables of your labor. Indeed, even as you perform all that is required to put in a garden, you may be aware of the privilege and gift it is to even be able to do such a project. Such ordinary activity may lead you to an appreciation of how nature is so beautifully, wonderfully made, and it becomes an extraordinary privilege and purpose—a sacred lesson.
As I reflect on conversations I’ve had with family members and friends, I am aware of how sacred these ordinary conversations can become as a nephew shares his joy over his son’s taking time to make a retreat in order to come closer to God and become a better husband and father. A dear friend sharing her need for my prayers and those of the Sisters in my community because she truly believes that our ordinary prayers for healing will indeed lead to her extraordinary healing process. It’s not just words we share, we also share ourselves with our words and I think that is what really makes the ordinary sacred and extraordinary. That is how we know that there are mystics and theologians in our midst.
I personally like to think of all of creation—people, plants and animals, forests and deserts, mountains and valleys, literally all of creation—as sacred in its very ordinariness because it brings me to my belief in God who is in charge of it all and helps me to have hope in these challenging times. It’s not easy to be a mystic or a theologian these days, and I’m pretty sure that has always been the case. I pray that we appreciate them and support them in any way we can. I also pray that you have met or will meet such a person and may discover that you are one and that you will have the courage to walk the sacred journey with them.
Sister Mary Thill is a Sylvania Franciscan Sister. She can be reached at mthill@sistersosf.org. ✲
