One of my favourite quotes from St Teresa of Avila is: “God walks among the pots and pans.” It highlights an aspect of our faith which fills me with such joy, that is, the way in which God’s presence can be found amongst the ordinary and the seemingly mundane events of daily life. He watches over the little things attentively. This calls to mind St Therese who wrote, “To pick up a pin for love of God can save souls.” The way in which the little, ordinary things in life which are suffused with the love and grace of God if our eyes are open to see it.
God values those things which may not seem worth our notice or attentiveness. Just think about some of the parables of Christ. For example, Luke 15: 8 – 10 and the woman who hunts throughout the house for a missing drachma, a coin not worth a great deal in terms of monetary value and yet is hunted high and low for. God does not see as we see, he does not calculate in the measure of his love.
Another Carmelite who speaks eloquently of this holiness of the ordinary circumstances of life is Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection who, in the beautiful book Practice in the Presence of God writes: “The time of business does not differ with me from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were on my knees.”
This is a great gift, one of the greatest gifts. That one’s office desk can become a place of encounter with the living God. The dirty sink and the teatowels at home: a place of meeting with His unfathomable love. The freezer aisle at Morrisons: a space for encounter with God’s mercy and goodness. The lecture hall at University: a meeting with the peace of the Holy Spirit.
God is always present to us, we just so often fail to be present to Him. So let us ask for the intercession of St Teresa of Avila, St Therese of Lisieux, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection for us to be open to the action of the Holy Spirit who will teach us to become more aware of God’s presence over us, with us and around us in each and every moment.
