Looking at the New Year, Karl Rahner speaks of our need for “a mysticism of everyday life.” It’s not in big things God’s grace will be found, but in steady, commonplace living. Accepting time in small dimensions readies us for its big moments.
“The New Year is coming. A year like all the rest. A year of trouble and disappointment with myself and others. When God is building the house of our eternity, he puts up fine scaffolding in order to carry out the work. So fine, that we may prefer to live in it.
“The trouble is we find it is taken down again and again. We call that dismantling the painful fragility of life. We lament and become melancholy if we look at the new year and see only the demolition of the house of our life, which is really being quietly built up for eternity behind this scaffolding that’s put up and taken down again.
“No, the coming year is not a year of disappointment or a year of pleasing illusions. It’s God’s year. The year when decisive hours are approaching me quietly and unobtrusively, and the fullness of my time is coming. Shall I notice these hours? Or will they be empty, because they seem too small, too humble and commonplace?
“Outwardly they won’t look different and can be overlooked: the slight patience it takes to make life slightly more tolerable for those around me; the omission of an excuse; risking good faith in someone I’m inclined to mistrust because I’ve had an bad experience with them before; accepting someone’s criticism of me; allowing an injury done to me to die away, without complaining, bitterness or revenge; being faithful to prayer without being rewarded by “consolations” or “religious experience”; trying to love those who get on my nerves (through their fault, of course); trying to see in someone else’s stupidity an intelligence that is not mine; not trading on my virtues to justify my faults; suppressing my complaints and omitting self-praise.”
Rahner doesn’t glamorize everyday mysticism. It can be both tough and boring. “Even the saints yawn sometimes, and have to shave.”
K. Rahner, The Great Church Year, New York 1994 p. 85
The Victor's Place 
What a great blog entry. This really speaks to me.
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“Open our eyes to the wonder of the moment…” – a song for each day!
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Even the saints have to shave! What a great insight. All the Jesuits (sorry for giving the competition air time) that I know always have a cup of coffee with them. It is an excellent reminder, though, that the Holy Spirit does come in a cup of coffee or on a coat hanger… any time we offer hospitality to someone in need. May we all come to see the mystical in these small things of everyday life.
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Eyes to see, ears to hear.
The Kingdm is here…right here…
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So off we go with the simplicity of little children to keep becoming amid the little and big events ahead of us.
A snow storm is coming from Ohio……………………….How’s that for wishing for snow.
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Fr Victor ,all passionists& readers a happy and holy newyear to you all,IHS.
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Inspirations for New Year’s resolutions in the fourth paragraph…
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Vic many thanks joe Sedley cp
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I love the thought that every year I have lived and will live is God’s year! I think it will make it more meaningful this way. I just have to remember that it’s God’s year every time I feel joy, everytime I feel pain, loneliness, pity, compassion, love. It’s all His! I turn it over to Him!
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God’s goodness shines in humanity! May each person be open to receive this great gift. The whole world will be better.
Thanks for all your blogging this year, Father Victor!
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“a mysticism of everyday life.” It’s not in big things God’s grace will be found, but in steady, commonplace living. Accepting time in small dimensions readies us for its big moments. When God is building the house of our eternity, he puts up fine scaffolding in order to carry out the work. So fine, that we may prefer to live in it. The trouble is we find it is taken down again and again.”
I hope I can see mystically in the ordinary. This image of God the Builder, using scaffolding, has me thinking of a video that follows the streets of New York city. The narrator points out places of interest, such as the Museum of Natural History or a library or corporate headquarters. Along the route I noticed many properties had scaffolding up so work could be done. Physical structures need constant maintenance, especaily those built years ago.
As a metaphor for God’s handiwork in my life, I’d say the Builder was quite busy. Did I like the idea of scaffolding by God? Probably more often not. I tried to be in control of every level, even when aid was available. How easy to try to stand alone, feel strong as a citadel. I’m thankful for the Psalm prayers which cry out for God’s intervention. I’m grateful for those who were God’s pointers, leading me along. May this new year bring more Goodness in the world as more people accept God’s scaffolding. There’s that bumper sticker: “God is’nt finished with me yet.”
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