Macrina Wiederkehr - A Tree Full of Angels: Seeing the Holy in the Ordinary

9. Feasting at the Table of Daily Life

A spiritual awakening is taking place in the world today. An authentic yearning to touch the depths of who we are is urging people to seek out ways to rekindle the soul. And everywhere one hears talk of angels! It is understandable that we should be drawn to the mystical, for implanted in us is a seed of the divine. Although this yearning for the infinite is a promising sign for the spiritual growth of this age, a few cautionary flags wave in my minds eye.

I am concerned about the many people today who are lured to extraordinary spiritual phenomena that are manifested, it seems to me, in sensational ways. Stories abound about visions and trances, weeping statues, rosaries turning gold. Celestial beings are emerging everywhere, and angels are in danger of becoming trendy. The fast pace of our lives makes it difficult for us to find grace in the present moment, and when the simple gifts at our fingertips cease to nourish us, we have a tendency to crave the sensational.

A second concern is this: As we pine for angels and the otherworldly, there is the danger of missing a precious aspect of Christianity. We are an incarnational people. The Word was made flesh in our midst. We are rooted in an earth that God has proclaimed good. Here on this good earth we have become flesh with the seed of God hidden in us. The greatest of all visions is to see Christ, indeed, to see God, in the frail and glorious human family of the world. It is not always easy, but hope tenders that which is difficult. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin says it well: Creatures are all around me with their disappointing weaknesses and their terrifying powers.

Ah, yes! It is true. We have within us terrifying powers for good and for evil. This book is about trusting the power for good. It is for people who long for spiritual depth and have the courage to struggle with the eternal questions that rise in their hearts. In my heart, too, there is an infinite longing, an ache for what is otherworldly. Although I have never seen an angel, I am surrounded by a sacred presence I cannot explain.

This book is not about the sensational. It is about bringing the longings of your heart to the present moment and finding the grace that waits for you there. It is about finding the sacred in the ordinary. You are to gather up the joys and sorrows, the struggles, the beauty, love, dreams and hopes of every hour that they may be consecrated at the altar of daily life.

This book has clamored for my hearts attention. It has been an ache in my heart, an ache not for a book but for God. The book is just a way to talk with you about it. Much of this work is autobiographical, and so it is very personal. I write about the disappointing weaknesses and the terrifying powers of my own life. In giving you this book I am giving you my heart.

There is a yearning deep in the human heartso deep is it an ache within. An ache for God! This book is about how to embrace and celebrate this ache for God rather than ignoring it or denying it.

We live under the eye of God. There is no escape from that loving gaze. There is only one way for this ache in us to be healed, and that is in becoming like God. When we meet God face to face, without dying, there will be no ache left only joy. This will take until heaven, but heaven begins right where we are. Holiness is within our grasp, at our fingertips.

The first heaven we experience is when we become aware that we live under the eye of God. The question we must ask our heart is, Am I comfortable under the eye of God? Or is God getting too close? We are strange and lovely creatures. We can ache for God tremendously yet find ourselves getting nervous if God gets too close. After all, the closer God gets, the more we hear the call to be divinized. It is both exciting and frightening to hear that call. Being divinized is still part of the unknown, even though it is our baptismal invitation. We prefer to keep the comfortable masks that we know rather than to go through the purifying process of becoming like God.

In these meditations I will reflect with you on this ache for God that lives in every heart. The gift we have to bring to this ache is our frailty and our splendor. Both must be embraced to find the saving grace that keeps us from death. The ache in our heart needs to be fed. Crumbs are entirely sufficient. Crumbs are those small things that the world would toss aside, seeing little value in them. However, to the one who lives under the eye of God, they are far from valueless. This book will harvest the crumbs. It will lovingly gather them up for the banquet of daily life. It will proclaim the good news that for the person who has learned to see with inner eyes there are no leftovers. Everything in life can be nourishing. Everything can bless us, but weve got to be there for the blessing to occur. Being present with quality is a decision we are invited to make each day. It is another way to become like God. Due to the reality of our terribly distracted, cluttered, and noisy existence, the decision for real presence is not easy. If we can make this decision and live it, it will be a kind of salvation for us. It can save us from many kinds of death: the death of apathy and mediocrity, the death of carelessness, the death of boredom, the death of selfishness, the death of meaningless. There is nothing so healing in all the world as real presence. Our real presence can feed the ache for God in others.

This is a book about seeing and harvesting. Seeing the holy in the ordinary! Harvesting angels out of the crumbs! Spending your days in the fast lane of life impairs the quality of your seeing. If you want to see to the depths, you will need to slow down. You live in a world of theophanies. Holiness comes wrapped in the ordinary. There are burning bushes all around you. Every tree is full of angels. Hidden beauty is waiting in every crumb. Life wants to lead you from crumbs to angels, but this can happen only if you are willing to unwrap the ordinary by staying with it long enough to harvest its treasure.

It is time to harvest:

• a spider web, wearing the mornings dew

• a mistake, reflected upon and learned from

• reconciliation after a quarrel

• an autumn tree letting go of her leaves

• a spring tree putting leaves on again

• a wound, embraced and understood.

The question remains. Will I be there? Will I be there with my open eyes? Will I unwrap the gift of the ordinary? Will I gather up the crumbs? Will I harvest the angels hidden in those crumbs?

The incredible gift of the ordinary! Glory comes streaming from the table of daily life. Will I be there to catch the rays or will I remain blind to the holy because Im too busy to see? Am I too busy with my own agenda to let Gods agenda bless me?

One of the treasures I am intent on helping you harvest in your life is the seed of your own goodness, your possibility for splendor. For this reason I was delighted when one of my sisters led me to an old book by Raoul Plus, a Jesuit, entitled Dust, Remember Thou Art Splendor. Since these reflections were nearly finished when I discovered the book, it felt like a confirmation of the hidden treasure of our splendor that I was trying to uncover. Upon reading it I immediately sat down and prayed to its dear old author. I asked a blessing on the contents of this book and all its readers. Experiences such as this are experiences of Gods presence. They ought not to be taken lightly. We need to trust not only Gods spirit, but the good spirits of all those who have died in Christ and those who are living in Christ right now. And so, whether Father Plus is still living in this life or alive in eternity, his spirit has brushed across my spirit. I am blessed, and so are you.