Each Day Is a Holy Place

Summer 2021 is half over!  Sure, we could soothe ourselves by saying summer is until September 21^st, but we all know the truth: Labour Day Weekend is the end of summer.

Walmart is filling the shelves with notebooks, binders and markers.  Both teachers and parents are listening closely to hear the Ford government’s back to school plan, while pumpkin spice candles and autumn wreaths are beginning to fill the Dollar Stores.

If only we could slow down time long enough to linger among the summer flowers, to enjoy the early morning birdsong, or even spend the evening star gazing. Is there enough time left for one more campfire, one more bike ride and one more day at the beach?

We tend to fill our days with “to do lists” and commitments of all kinds. We rush about until, before we know it, an entire month has passed. And before we catch up with ourselves, an entire season is left behind.

Life wasn’t meant to be lived this way.

Rev. Dr. John O’Donough was a Catholic Priest, writer and poet who, having met the love of his life, left the priesthood 21 years after his ordination.  Sadly, 8 years later, two days after his 52nd birthday and two months after the publication of his final work Benedictus: A Book of Blessings, O’Donohue died suddenly in his sleep on January 4^th, 2008.

He left behind beautiful writings that draw us nearer to the presence of God and offer a profound awareness of the Holy surrounding us each.  He writes that each day is a holy place. Today I would like to share part of this writing with hopes it will enhance your daily journey and encourage you to slow down and savor each day that you have been given.

We seldom notice how each day is a holy place

Where the eucharist of the ordinary happens,

Transforming our broken fragments

Into an eternal continuity that keeps us.

Somewhere in us a dignity presides

That is more gracious than the smallness

That fuels us with fear and force,

A dignity that trusts the form a day takes.

So at the end of this day, we give thanks

For being betrothed to the unknown

And for the secret work

Through which the mind of the day

And wisdom of the soul become one.

(Excerpt from the blessing, ‘The Inner History of a Day,’ found in the book: To Bless the Space Between Us)

Blessings,

Rev. Heather McCarrel

(Weekly Blogs can be found at https://stainglasslens.wordpress.com/)