When we speak of ordinariness, I think of the Ordinary Season of the Church, the time that is spent sandwiched in between the Advent Season, Lent Season and Easter season. It is in this ordinary season that the Church nourishes us every day on the Word, the struggles of those documented over the centuries and presented as Scripture. Through the struggles and challenges of life, they have found redemption in Him, reward beyond measure. Just as Joseph in the Old Testament, sold to slavery by his own brothers, and rises to a great position, only because he did the ordinary tasks assigned to him extraordinarily well.
In Daniel 6:3, we see similarly that God fearing Daniel excelled in his work, because the spirit of excellence was in him. The example of the destitute widow at Zarephath in 1 Kings 17, whose decision to shelter prophet Elijah, though she herself was struggling, led to all her wants being met.
It is important to have in memory not only these stories, but the stories of our grandparents, parents, elderly, the many around us who lived ordinary Christian lives, unsung and unnoticed by the world, but fully living out their God given vocation.
The General Audience of Holy Father Pope Leo on 8th April 2026 is on the subject of Holiness. Some excerpts:
The Constitution of the Second Vatican Council Lumen gentium (LG) on the Church dedicates an entire chapter, the fifth, to the universal vocation to holiness of all the faithful: every one of us is called to live in the grace of God, practising the virtues and imitating Christ. Holiness, according to the Conciliar Constitution, is not a privilege for the few, but a gift that requires every baptized person to strive for the perfection of charity, that is, the fullness of love towards God and towards one’s neighbour. Charity is, in fact, the heart of the holiness to which all believers are called: infused by the Father, through the Son Jesus, this virtue “rules over all the means of attaining holiness and gives life to these same means” (LG, 42).
The highest level of holiness, as in the early days of the Church, is martyrdom, the “supreme witness of faith and charity “(LG, 50): for this reason, the Council text teaches that every believer must be ready to confess Christ even unto blood (cf. LG, 42), as has always been the case and continues to be so today. This readiness to bear witness is realized every time Christians leave signs of faith and love in society, committing themselves to justice.
All the Sacraments, and in a pre-eminent way the Eucharist, are nourishment that fosters a holy life, assimilating every person to Christ, the model and measure of holiness. He sanctifies the Church, of which He is the Head and Shepherd: holiness is, from this point of view, His gift, which is manifested in our daily life every time we receive it with joy and respond to it with commitment. “
This makes it very clear – Holiness is a gift that all Christians must strive for, and it is not a privilege for a few.
Recently Holy Father Pope Leo said to a group of writers on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Vatican Publishing House
It may seem a bold claim to make, but several theologians have reflected on and written about the harmony between the art of writing and the revelation of the biblical God. It is the very structure of Revelation that gives us the authority to do so.
As Cardinal Radcliffe wrote,
For Christians, nothing human is alien to Christ. Every attempt to grapple with the fundamental questions of our lives — how to love, how to be just, how to be free, how to face suffering and death — helps us to understand Christ, the one who is most human of all.” ( T. Radcliffe, Alive in God. A Christian Imagination).
When we delve into the very depths of our humanity, we are not far from God; for there, in the midst of very human stories, God reveals himself. The God of the Bible manifests himself in liberation from slavery, in the birth of a son when all hope seemed lost and in merciful and faithful love. He speaks through events and encounters, faces and stories. “God works in our lives through what we do and who we are and through the many people we meet” (Free Under Grace, Vatican City 2026).
These words remind me to take a look around me, in the ordinary stories around me , there is holiness. I have witnessed these situations: The daughter struggling to take care of a mother with Alzheimer’s, though the mother cannot recognise her any more, the father with a small struggling business trying to keep it afloat and provide for the needs of his family without resorting to any corrupt means, the doctor ministering to the poor with ill health by charging only very nominal consulting fees, the father ensuring his differently abled son attends Mass every Sunday, not an easy task as the son grows – in these ordinary day to day acts are holiness found.
Recently the Father comes from the Parish to bless our home. Father asks me to read aloud the following Psalm at the beginning of the blessing:
Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways!
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the Lord.The Lord bless you from Zion!
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life!
May you see your children’s children!
Peace be upon Israel! (Psalms 128)
I realise the way to holiness , is mentioned in this Psalm. Adhering to the Lord in all His ways, will provide for all my needs. I need not do anything extraordinary in my life, only follow this:
Fearing in the Lord and walking in His ways is the only way for a Christian aspiring to holiness. Let me continue striving towards that path – the ordinary, narrow one that leads to holiness, trying to work sincerely at my God given vocation ,away from the broad path of the worldly allures. That path will give me my heart’s desires as per His Will.
Help me Lord.
