Consolation. The gift of the Other.

Paul writes – one of the great consolations for me in blogging is reading a post by someone like Simon Holt, a post in which Simon reflects something of his life, routines, and the realities he contends with, and in my reading of that account finding myself named as well. That’s encouraging and in Ignatian terms, a moment of consolation.

 

Today I celebrate the gift and encouragement of the other, the similarities and overlaps of lives, and I’m grateful for the ordinary and everyday discoveries of God (or whatever name you might use) present and at work, including in blog posts like Simon's.  

 

Here’s Simon from a few days ago.

 

“…In her little book, The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and Women’s Work, the poet Kathleen Norris explores the sacredness of the everyday and our natural aversion to it: "We want life to have meaning, we want fulfillment, healing and even ecstasy, but the human paradox is that we find these things by starting where we are, not where we wish we were.  We must look for blessings to come from unlikely, everyday places—out of Galilee, as it were—and not in spectacular events." 

Read the rest of his post here. Can I also recommend Norris’ most recent work which extends and continues the themes of The Quotidian Mysteries…?

Comments

[Simon]

Thank you Paul. You have done my heart good and made the discipline of writing worthwhile today.