The ​Quotidian Mysteries 2 csillagozás

Paradoxically, human love is sanctified not in the height of attraction and enthusiasm but in the everyday struggles of living with another person. It is not in romance but in routine that the possibilities of transformation are made manifest. And that requires commitment.

62–63. oldal (Paulist Press, 1998)

In seeking any covenantal relationship we must be willing to say ”yes” long before we have a clear idea of what such intimacy will cost us. Marriage is eternal, but it's also daily, as daily and unromantic as housekeeping. And in marriage, as in the monk's cell, acedia finds a good hunting ground.

53. oldal (Paulist Press, 1998)

But I watched the ceremony intently from far back in the big stone church. And at one point, I gasped. ”Look,” I said, tugging on David's sleeve. ”Look at that! The priest is cleaning up! He's doing the dishes!” My husband shrugged; others in the pew looked at me and then at him, as if to say–Dave, your girlfriend has gone soft in the head.
But I found it remarkable–and still find it remarkable–that in that big, fancy church, after all the dressing up and the formalities of the wedding mass, homage was being paid to the lowly truth that we human beings must wash the dishes after we eat and drink. The chalice, which had held the very blood of Christ, was no exception. And I found it enormously comforting to see the priest as a kind of daft housewife, overdressed for the kitchen, in bulky robes, puttering about the altar, washing up after having served so great a meal to so many people.

2–3. oldal (Paulist Press, 1998)

My introduction to the Roman Catholic world was a full immersion baptism in the heady milieu of an Irish-American wedding. The man I was dating, who later became my husband, had invited me to attend the wedding ceremony of a high-school classmate, consisting of a weekend of dinners, parties and, of course, church. It was one of our first dates, a fact that now seems rich with God's good humor. David and I took a train from New York City to the far reaches of Long Island, and I soon found myself in the midst of a large Irish Catholic family—eleven children, I belive, and numerous grandchildren, cousins, aunts, uncles and family friends milling about in an atmosphere so dense, warm and lively that I felt as if I had been placed into a den of puppies. The marvelous abundance and seemingly bottomless hospitality were overwhelming to my timid Protestant soul—the feasting! the drinking! the toddlers, dogs and cats contending for scraps underneath the picnic tables and the family potluck the night before the wedding! Enough for everyone; more than enough. Amazing.

1. oldal (Paulist Press, 1998)