Caryll Houselander Last week I was feeling particularly discouraged. Selling intimate apparel was never my dream job! As I spoke with customers and cleaned out fitting rooms that had been left a mess, I wondered what a person with a graduate degree, an educator, and author was doing in my position. The Holiday shopping season looming ahead did littel to brighten my mood.
I guess I had forgotten the lessons learned from Brother Lawrence about “Practicing the Presence of God.” Reading through some of the reflections in Liturgical Press’s new monthly prayer guide, “Give Us This Day,” reminded me of the call to be present to God in the ordinary events of our lives.
The October “Blessed Among Us” reflection highlighted a woman I have read, Caryll Houselander, an English laywoman mystic whose vocation was to help others become aware of Christ in our world. She was not the stereotypical mystic. She enjoyed a drinking, battled for twenty years to give up chain-smoking, and was left broken hearted by the man she loved. She never married.
Her mystical visions were of Christ in those around her. In one, she saw him suffering in a Bavarian nun, who being German, suffered discrimination during WWII in England. In another, she saw Christ in each person in a busy railway station. In some he was rejoicing, happy, in others, suffering and in pain. Her first book. This War Is the Passion,”was written in 1941 and presented the sufferings of those traumatized by WWII through the perspective of the passion of Christ.
She was an artist, a wood carver, but later in her life, writing became her primary artistic expression.She wrote numerous books, articles, poems, and articles for children. For all that, she saw her primary vocation expressed through interactions with others, particularly those on the fringes of society, those no one else wanted to be with.
She had a gift of helping children scarred by the war and though she had no training, often was sought out to counsel them. She gave her time and heart to the mentally ill, the poor, the distraught. Through all, she saw Christ in every one. Caryll Houselander died of breast cancer in 1954.
Another woman who was highlighted in the October issue of “Give Us This Day” was someone I had not heard of before: Madeleine Delbrel. She was a Frenchwoman, daughter of a railroad worker. After considering becoming a nun, she decided her call was to be with ordinary people in the world. The reflection includes this quote: “We, the ordinary people of the streets, believe that this street, this world, where God has placed us, is our place of holiness.”
I read and thought she probably would include the department store where I work in her “place of holiness.” Like Caryll Houselander, Madeleine was aware of God’s presence in those she met. Ordinary acts like answering a phone or, I suppose, selling a bra, can be a way of sharing God’s love and friendship with others. No need for a church or ritual, her work was reaching out to others wherever she was.
Along with some friends, she established a small community near Paris. As I read this, I recognized my own need for a community with whom to share my work, my struggle, my prayer. Together they served the working poor.
Like Brother Lawrence, she developed a simple spirituality of becoming aware of the presence of God in the most ordinary experiences. She called her spirituality the “Prayer of the Agenda.”
I have written a book of reflections on my efforts to see the Sacred in our midst, “All Earth Is Crammed With Heaven,” but I need reminded. We all do.
We need reminded that we need not travel far, accomplish feats that gain us fame, or even hold a well paying job. We need to share Christ’s love and compassion with all we meet. We need to see God in the poor and outcast, the abused women and hungry children, the victims of war and terrorism. We need to be Christ for others. God’s work is done in the world and one the street; in the home and classrooms; in the office, and sometimes, in department stores.
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