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<\/a><\/div>\nI tend to pray this Novena while commuting to work. Something about driving highways makes me meditative. I have been trying, as I pray, to offer up my suffering to ease someone else\u2019s and I have been picking a different person each day. <\/p>\n
I discovered, however, that what I consider suffering many would consider blessings. Take my annoyance at driving behind a slow-moving truck. It\u2019s a bother, yes. But another way to look at it is \u2013 hey at least I have a working car and a job to drive too. So many people don\u2019t. <\/i><\/p>\n
I was feeling kind of inadequate about what I consider suffering<\/a> until a wise, young friend from School of Community<\/a> suggested it\u2019s pretty easy to be noble in the face of supreme suffering. She pointed out that it can be tough, really tough, to seek Christ as we labor through our daily discontentments. The conversation with my friend led me to thinking about the church calendar. Ordinary Time is called that because the time is numbered. But I also think of it as ordinary time, regular, day-to-day living. Sixty percent of the Church year is spent in ordinary time, just as most of our lives \u2013 God willing \u2013 do not consist of dramatic suffering and crises, but rather the living out of our destinies through our vocations. <\/p>\n Sure it\u2019s Advent and yes we are awaiting the Lord, but I still have to put dishes in the dishwasher before bed, rise before dawn so I can commute to a job that helps feed our sons and try to fold laundry before heading out the door. This is a drag but it can be a source of delight if I can pray while I do this. I can offer up my early-morning moodiness to someone who need my prayers. I found this beautiful prayer under the heading \u201cOrdinary Prayers\u201d that speaks to my heart. <\/p>\n Heavenly Father
<\/a>
I remember putting on a brave face when my husband and I lost two children before birth. So too when we nearly lost a third \u2013 our firstborn son \u2013 a day after his birth when he stopped breathing several times in the hospital and had to be resuscitated. My obstetrician told me with a gentle smile, \u201cYou were a mess until you had something real to deal with. Now you are doing a magnificent job coping with this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Your call never comes to us in a vacuum;
It comes to us in the circumstances
of our ordinary lives.
Therefore our response cannot be given
only in the privacy of our own minds;
it must overflow into our daily lives.
You call us through our family,
through our community of Church,
and through the world.<\/i><\/p>\n