At our Living Room this past Tuesday we were revisiting our practice of the Sacrament of the Ordinary. I think it would be fair to say that this has become one of the defining practices of our community. That being said, it is not always easy to grasp either. Let me review what we have learned so far about that which undergirds the practice, and then add a couple of thoughts which may help our understanding.
When we share the sacrament of the ordinary, we are encouraged to reflect upon:
• where you were alerted to the glory of being fully human – either in great wonder and delight, or, in great sorrow and pain
• where you caught a glimpse of the luminous in the common
• where love has captured your attention
It occurs to me that to participate in the Sacrament of the Ordinary requires an enchanted view of the universe and the world. Simply put, it understands that there is more going on beneath the surface of things and that there are spiritual realities that animate the physical world which humans can access and intuit. Sometimes these things catch us by surprise, and we're not sure how to categorize what we have experienced; but over time, we can learn to tune our senses to these possibilities, which requires cultivating the art of noticing and paying attention to the ordinary details of our days. Finally, faith invites us to see the Triune God of grace as the source and content of those encounters, the ineffable mystery of God-with-us, inexorably revealing the heart of love. GS