The past 100 years have been graced by the witness to sanctity of many great men and women from diverse backgrounds and with a spectrum of contributions. Many were successful in tracing a path that could be followed by others. Several names come to mind: US convert and foundress of hospitality houses Dorothy Day (1897–1980), German Lutheran pastor and author of The Cost Of Discipleship Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945), self-forgetful Jewish heroine Simone Weil (1909–1943), the saint of the gutters Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910–1997), the great prophet denouncing political violence and injustice Archbishop Oscar Romero (1917–1980), civil rights preacher Martin Luther King (1929–1968) and the seven Trappist monks murdered in the heart of the Algerian Sahara in 1996. My reflections will not focus on such outstanding personalities.

The humble light I am presenting is that the foundation of a life worth living is intimately bound to the ordinariness of daily commitment. This is the daily summons to be for others and with others. It is true that 20th-century Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner (1904–84) once wrote that “the Christian of the future will be a mystic or he or she will not exist at all”. But, in line with Jesuit spirituality, this is “a mysticism of everyday things”.

The commitment upon which I am speaking is the faithful discipleship to which all Christians are called. This is not something open only to the few. Rather, it is a way of life that can be embraced by all individuals in the ordinary actions of everyday life. It asks for that daily humble self-offering, devoid of any unnecessary hesitation, an attitude distant from any false theatricality. Jesuit priest Luis Espinal (1932–80), murdered in Bolivia in March 1980, affirmed that “life is to be simply offered, without any publicity, as water gushing forth from a spring, as a mother with a child at her breast, as the humble sweat on the brow of a man sowing in the fields”.

Christians are called to exercise a prophetic role in all life situations, especially by being attentive to the needs of those who lead an existence on the fringes. The prophet, in the Judaeo-Christian tradition, is a man of the people just as much as he is a man of God. The prophet’s holiness – and wholeness – leads him to concretise his relationship to God and to his fellow brothers and sisters in all spheres of life. In an insightful text, Jewish Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel (b. 1928) remarks that “a prophet is forever awake, forever alert; he is never indifferent, least of all to injustice”.

One of the hallmarks of the Judaeo-Christian tradition is a lifestyle marked by selfless altruism and wholehearted service. The archetype of this lifestyle is found in the 13th chapter of John’s Gospel, when Jesus washes his disciples’ feet. Jesus underlines the vital connection between knowing what should be done and actually doing it: “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet… If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them” (John 13:14–17). Authentic Christian discipleship asks for a consistent engagement in diakonia. This means being men and women for others and with others.

Understanding the Christian commitment to ordinariness entails being with God and being with one’s brothers and sisters, loving them and serving them in the ordinary tasks of life. Thomas Merton (1915–68), the renowned Trappist monk, author and activist, epitomises this conviction through his thought-provoking words and through his stimulating experiences. In Life And Holiness, he writes: “The spiritual life is not a life of quiet withdrawal, a hothouse growth of artificial ascetic practices beyond the reach of people living ordinary lives. It is in the ordinary duties and labours of life that the Christian can and should develop his spiritual union with God…. Christian holiness in our age means more than ever the awareness of our common responsibility to cooperate with the mysterious designs of God for the human race.”

This is more than a matter of conscience.

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