Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: Discovering our purpose through everyday holiness

Monday, October 10, 2022

Discovering our purpose through everyday holiness

I really love this quote for its simplicity.

How often do we complicate the spiritual life? We get these grand ideas of being missionaries or preachers or great mystics - but forget that God has called us to holiness in our everyday life.

We are all here for a purpose, created by God out of his living goodness, to find love, give love, and discover who we are called to be through relationship with eachother.

St Therese has the story of a nun who used to really annoy her by her breathing and grinding of teeth, so she went out of her way to offer that sister a smile and to pray for her. This is the heroism we are called to as Catholics. We need to be a living example of Jesus love to other people, and the paradox in this is that the more we love others then the more we discover and experience God’s love for us.

If you are struggling with a lack of direction or feeling despondent. Never forget that God has called you in his living plan of provide to be exactly where you are right now. This is where he is calling you to holiness and divine intimacy. Not in some distant far away perfect time “over there”, but right here and right now.

- Do you work with someone who has little mannerisms that frustrate you? Pray for them and offer to help with tasks at work

- Does your spouse frustrate you by not understanding your needs? Try to understand that they may not be deliberately ignorant of your emotional needs, and so try to do one thing a day for them that you know they love. They will begin to appreciate you more and even reciprocate

- Do you live with family and find they don’t respect your space? Try to make them a tea/coffee once a day without them asking you, or offer to sit with them and watch their favourite show with them

These little acts of penance for us, turn into acts of charity and slowly transform us. The day to day life is a struggle and believe me I struggle with lack of patience and charity the same as anyone else. But we never know in what moment that our act of service for someone else could be the exact moment they needed to feel God’s love for them. As Mother Teresa used to say, we aren’t all called to do great deeds, but we can do little deed with great love.

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you today to see where he is calling you in your everyday life to grow in holiness. All of us are called to a purpose, we are also called into relationship with God and in others. None of us exist in isolation. The beauty of holiness attracts other people.

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.