An Extraordinary God in Ordinary Places
April 2, 2011
The reflections this week began with the birth of Jesus, followed by the Presentation, flight into Egypt, the finding in the temple, and finally a reflection on the “hidden life” of Jesus. On the surface, they are all entirely ordinary events. A child is born, He is presented in the temple like any other first-born son, the family must flee persecution, the child becomes separated from His parents, and grows into a man. In one respect, Jesus’s childhood could be like any other. Yet in all of these events, there is always something else to them. A child is not just born, but choirs of angels announce His birth. A child is not just presented in the temple, but Symeon and Anna see Him and proclaim His glory. The family flees persecution, but does so because of a message brought by an angel. In each of these episodes, the mundane and miraculous are woven together inextricably. God comes into the world in an ordinary fashion, but then something else happens, something we could never have dreamed. In our own lives, God enters into the mundane, and calls us to more. St. Ignatius found this in his own conversion, when his desires to do great feats for his own worldly glory were transformed into desires to do even greater feats for God’s glory. As you look back over a reflection from this week, take a second look at the ordinariness of the event, and how that event is transformed. What are the ordinary events of your own life that God is entering (or trying to enter)? Once God enters, how will they be transformed?