Quotidian Mysticism

It's been a while since I last posted, mostly because the quotidean busyness is so crazy that I haven't had time to do much else, but work, family time and sleep. But, I came across this quote which gives me the hope that, perhaps, I can still be in touch with what is real, even amid the everyday (thus, quotidian) hustle and bustle. Not there yet, but hope is always good:

"Perhaps our most valuable mystics are those of the quotidian, people who do not contemplate holiness in isolation, or devote themselves to the pursuit of spiritual arcana accessible only to a select few, or reach their illumination in serene silence. Instead, they search for God in a life filled with noise, the demands of other people, and the duties that can submerge the self. They may be young parents juggling child-rearing and making a living, or nuns in a small community who have to wear three or four hats because there are more jobs than people to fill them. And they may find whatever spiritual strength they have arises out of weariness and frustration."

Kathleen Norris, Acedia And Me: A Marriage, Monks and A Writer's Life

A review of this superb book will follow after next week (my traditional, semi-annual mark-like-a-crazed-person event). Kathleen Norris has always been an inspiration to me and led me to Benedictine spirituality as a way of grounding myself in the now and living a vowed life (in my case and hers, a marriage) in real time. This little paragraph is at the root of what I've learned from her and at the root of the way I try to live my life. So, I can only say, for now, Amen and Amen.

Peace,
Phil