大象传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Hope Lonergan

Good morning.

Twice a week I care for people with learning disabilities. And during my time caring for them I鈥檝e realised there鈥檚 both an immediacy to the way some of them operate 鈥� and a way of inhabiting the present moment that cancels out past and future considerations 鈥� and a liberatory quality to some of their social conduct.

For instance, there鈥檚 a gentleman who loves to show off 鈥渘ew shoes鈥� or 鈥渘ew slippers鈥� or get us to touch his watch every time he鈥檚 dressed. And he puts a lot of emphasis on this morning procedure 鈥� whereas a lot of us mindlessly breeze through such routines and take them for granted. (I mean, who cares? I鈥檝e worn shoes loads of times, nothing to brag about.) But 鈥� and I mean this without a hint of condescension - seeing him get satisfaction from a normal daily activity elevates the everyday. It pushes it closer to the threshold of the mystical.

This same gentleman is also unaware of any 鈥渟ocial graces鈥� when it comes to eating. So much so that when we鈥檙e at a restaurant, and he鈥檚 really enjoying his meal, he鈥檒l pull the table towards him and suck the table. But rather than being 鈥減ut off鈥� by this, I love the purity of following an instinct to its logical conclusion, regardless of whether you鈥檙e breaching polite standards: I鈥檓 enjoying my meal so much that I鈥檒l go beyond licking the plate and suck the entire table.

So today, I pray for people who help keep us anchored to the present, and remind us to follow our own compass, even if it鈥檚 something as small as finding delight in our own slippers.

Amen.