Monday, June 8, 2020 A New Ordinary?

Six years ago, I woke up one morning unable to put any weight on my left foot.  I was on a work trip, six hundred miles from home.  Getting home and getting appropriate medical care was an adventure, but it is not the purpose of my telling you the story now.  Eventually, I was fitted with a special orthopedic insert which will only fit inside chunky shoes.  This insert-within-a-special-shoe re-creates what ligaments in my foot would normally do to hold foot, ankle, knee, hip, and back bones in alignment. I still have restrictions, and the shoes I must wear are still uncomfortable and ugly—but I have learned how to live in a new “normal” way that permits me to live a satisfactory, ordinary life.

A New Ordinary?

Last Friday was First Friday, and our parish returned to its practice of having Adoration all day on First Friday.  There were differences: greeters at the front door to check each person’s temperature, to make sure they were wearing masks, to have people sanitize their hands, and to explain how to sanitize their space as they left . People came.  People prayed.  In spite of the extra measures, the day felt like a “return to normal.”  It felt “ordinary.”  There was a comfort and solidity to it.

Our Scripture readings now take us back to “ordinary” time.  True, we are not living in ordinary times.  But our readings move from the “high Mysteries” of Lent and Easter to the ordered, “ordinary” mysteries of living the Christian life. “Ordinary” in church parlance means “put in order, numbered,” rather than our more common sense of the word—“nothing special going on.”

There is always something special going on in Scripture.  Today we begin a three-week prayerful study of the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel.  About half that time the first readings will tell us stories of the prophet Elijah.

Elijah

As we enter Jewish history with Elijah’s story today, it is about 900 years before Jesus’ life and about 60 years after King Solomon’s death.  The kingdoms of Israel and Judah have split.   Neither kingdom is living by the law of the Lord. Ahab (with his wife Jezebel) is king of Israel.   Just before our story starts today is this description of Ahab:  “He erected an altar for Ba’al in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria.  And Ahab made an Asherah.  Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.” (I Kings 16: 32-33) An Asherah was a pole used in ceremonies to worship a mother goddess, a religious practice of other Semitic peoples. 

Into this historical context God calls Elijah to be a prophet. Elijah begins by calling for a drought.  The drought would endanger Elijah’s life, as well as the life of the king and all the people.  Today, God tells Elijah how to keep himself safe during the drought. Elijah does what God tells him to do, and God takes care of him:  he provides shelter, food, and water.

Sermon on the Mount:  The Beatitudes

The Sermon on the Mount covers three chapters of Matthew:  chapters 5-7.  Biblical scholars tend to see the Sermon on the Mount, not as one very long homily that Jesus preached, but as a summary example of what Jesus preached to the crowds as he began his ministry.  It has always been interesting to me to note that Matthew’s conversion (Matthew 9: 9-13) came after the Sermon on the Mount.  This is what Matthew heard that led him to leave his tax collecting and follow Jesus.    

The Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes, which are our Scripture for today. It then preaches “the Kingdom of God.”  It preaches the Kingdom of God as a “new normal” that includes all that the 10 Commandments require, but goes beyond “thou shall” or “thou shall not” to “but I say unto you.”  

It seems to me that the “but I say unto you” standards Jesus teaches all through the Sermon on the Mount are summarized in the Beatitudes:  “Blessed are the poor in spirit…those who mourn….the meek…those who seek righteousness…the merciful…the pure in heart…the peacemakers…and those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.” 

For Me, Lord?

St. Benedict (6th century) and John Climacus (7th century) used the Beatitudes as foundations for their religious “Rules.”  Perhaps because they were founders of monasticism and “religious life,” their Rules have been seen through the centuries as “for the chosen few.”  The 10 Commandments are for us ordinary people.  We must keep them.  But…being poor in spirit, mourning sin and decadence in culture, being longsuffering with fidelity (meek), being merciful enough we turn the other cheek, seeking righteousness enough we are willing to be persecuted for it…being holy enough our hearts are pure of evil thoughts…being peacemakers in a world of prejudice, pride, and survival of the fittest….  Those standards are not for us ordinary people.  They are for “the blessed.” 

Pope Francis questions that.  More and more, I question that.  Jesus taught the crowds what he said at the Sermon on the Mount.  If he taught it to the crowds, did he not mean for the crowds to follow it?

Our help is in the name of the Lord…

The Psalm today says:
The LORD will guard you from all evil;
he will guard your life.
The LORD will guard your coming and your going,
both now and forever.
R. Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

At first reading, Elijah the Tishbite, Jesus teaching the Beatitudes, and our call to create new ordinary lives in extraordinary times have little in common.  But further prayer ties it all together in this Psalm: Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. God leads and guides us.

It took me some time to both learn how to live in the new normal of my chunky shoes and to admit that my need for them was my own doing.  Habits of less protein, less exercise, and more weight in the first years of widowhood caused the ligaments in my foot to break down.  God, in his goodness, sent corrective measures and a new ordinary life in the discipline of my shoes.  I live safely now in that new ordinary.

The social distancing and sanitizing measures we use at church create a foundation of a new normal as I worship.  It was interesting last Friday:  by the time I wore a mask all day, it had ceased to distract me.  It was a new normal—like my shoes. It (and other measures) gives me a new way to be safe in a new ordinary.

If we admit it, there are many “evils in the sight of the Lord” that are highlighted, restricted, or intensified by living in our new normal of pandemic culture: Selfishness, racism, complacency, entitlement, judgment, anger, greed, envy, violence, family alienation.

As we learn to accept the disciplines of a new normal, what is God leading us to?  What is he turning us from? What does God’s plan for a new ordinary look like?

Prayer

Lord, our help is in Your name, Your goodness. Lead me and guide me to learn from the disciplines of the new normal, the new “ordinary” that You are showing us all. Are the disciplines of the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount meant for me? How do You keep me safe by their standards? How do you keep me safe in the drought of pandemic? How do You guide me to being blessed by You? Lead me, guide me, Lord.

About the Author

Mary Ortwein lives in Frankfort, Kentucky in the US. A convert to Catholicism in 1969, Mary had a deeper conversion in 2010. She earned a theology degree from St. Meinrad School of Theology in 2015. Now an Oblate of St. Meinrad, Mary takes as her model Anna, who met the Holy Family in the temple at the Presentation. Like Anna, Mary spends time praying, working in church settings, and enjoying the people she meets. Though formally retired, Mary continues to work part-time as a marriage and family therapist and therapy supervisor. A grandmother and widow, she divides the rest of her time between facilitating small faith-sharing groups, writing, and being with family and friends. Earlier in her life, Mary worked avidly in the pro-life movement. In recent years that has taken the form of Eucharistic ministry to Carebound and educating about end-of-life matters. Now, as Respect for Human Life returns to center stage, she seeks to find ways to communicate God's love and Lordship for all--from the moment of conception through the moment we appear before Jesus when life ends.

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12 Comments

  1. Lots of questions, to ponder on, in these changing times. It is a time to show human kindness, to each other, as we experience the new norm. Uplifting reflection.

  3. Thanks Mary. Your reflections are a blessing every Monday as we start a new work week, now in a “new ordinary.”
    Have a good week.

  4. Thank you for a thought provoking reflection at just the right moment as we all begin to phase into our new normal. How is God calling each of us to change and be His servant in these times?

  5. Thank you Mary for today’s reflection on the beatitudes. It helped with my understanding of the . Also you are not alone in the wearing of ugly shoes . I to have to wear orthodox in my shoes. We are blessed!

  6. Thank you for sharing your insights. I consider them a blessing every Monday morning from California. Take care and congratulations to the church for opening up.

  7. Mary, I feel compelled to comment on this “new normal” you and others have been saying. There is nothing “new” or “normal” about it.
    Me and my wife lost a daughter in a murder almost 5 years ago. You tell me, what is “normal” about that?
    It is sad a man unnecessarily lost his life in Minneapolis. From what I’ve read, he was no angel but I also heard he turned his life around before he was murdered, I hope that was the case. Where were the people protesting our daughter after she was murdered.
    Jesus was “sacrificed” or I guess you can say “murdered”. What, no protesting? (Being a little sarcastic here, I do understand the times and atmosphere He lived in.
    Onto the Sermon on the Mount. I have heard it told (and I tend to agree) that Jesus was “shouted down” at that Sermon and many left very angry with Jesus. What, this Chosen one of God is not here to crush the Roman’s and restore the Mosaic law – to be there new King and He speaks of turning the other cheek and to rejoice in suffering?
    Many have got caught up in this new round of protesting. Nothing new about that. I’ve seen it many times before and I’ll probably see it again.
    So, here we are in the middle of a pandemic and people are crowded together in the streets protesting yet we are called to social distance at Church. Wow, what’s wrong with that picture? I know, we Catholics and Christians are doing what is asked of us to do and that’s a good thing.
    Also, a pandemic is nothing new and really nothing out of the normal when you look at history. Now, how people are reacting to this pandemic I would say is not normal but given our culture today, it does not surprise me.
    One last thing. A former writer here was shouted down for something he wrote that didn’t sit well with the readers and this thread’s administrator. Personally, I think what he had to say was not without merit.
    Peace be with all of you.

  8. Mary, thank you so much for the wonderful words you give us to ponder on. I’m beginning to consider these days as special rather than dreadful. We can choose to accept the new circumstances, difficult though they be, as a time to acknowledge God in so many areas of our life where we didn’t see Him before, rather like we’ve been able to tune into nature more easily than before. I speak from a privileged and retired time of life and am restricted by our country’s (England) response to Covid because of my age. Attending Mass is not an option and yet I long to continue with trying to improve our parish sense of community and also feel that God is nudging us all to find ways of letting our spiritual lives blossom in new ways. Your final prayer is just right for me!

  9. Bless you. Thank you for a beautiful piece of scriptures. It is wonderful. I hope the readings at this week after Easter seasons reminds us we are in ordinary time and we should remember the drought after Easter blessing in our hearts and souls are manageable. Our duty is to move forward with our Lord Jesus and with his Holy Catholic Church. It is more than two months now am at home without receiving holy communion physically. You are luck because you have started going to church. There is so much pain when we do not practice what we normally practice but one thing keeps us stronger if we joing a live streaming. I enjoy very much and it is a history in life. Thank you all who take their time to prepare a piece of scriptures for us. God bless you.

  10. This response is specific to some good thoughts that Skip brought up. I think your struggle is at the heart of both the struggles of our time and the struggle of Christ. When some great darkness, like the murder of one we love or a pandemic, comes into our lives, there is no new normal. There is a new place we are, but it isn’t “normal” or “ordinary.” There is only the grip of pain and the grip of God. As I read your comment, this from Bishop Fulton Sheen’s Life of Christ came to mind:

    “Two mounts are related as the first and second acts in a two-act drama: the Mount of Beatitudes and the Mount of Calvary. He who climbed the first to preach the Beatitudes must necessarily climb the second to practice what He preached. The unthinking often say the Sermon on the Mount constitutes the “essence of Christianity.” But let any man put these Beatitudes into practice in his own life, and he too will draw down upon himself the wrath of the world. The Sermon on the Mount cannot be separated from His Crucifixion, any more than day can be separated from night. The day Our Lord taught the Beatitudes, He signed His own death warrant.” (p 145)
    Mary Ortwein

  11. Mary, thank you very much for your kind explication. I really like bishop Fulton Sheen, he was wise and ahead of his times.
    The “Mount to the Mount” is a perfect explication for me.
    Thank you again for your response Mary. You warmed my heart and my feathers are no longer ruffled.
    And without turning over more stones, I must say, I do miss our former (thought provoking) writer. He made me feel uncomfortable in my own skin – in a good way.
    Nothing normal about Mary either, at times she’s incredible. ❤

  12. Thought provoking is usually a good thing. You helped me think more completely in your comment. I appreciate that! Blessings and prayers for you and your family.

    Mary Ortwein

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