Day 1 with Charles de Foucauld

In the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth?

"We ought to work for the salvation of souls, go out and meet them, involve ourselves with them, live with them in familiar and close contact"
(Tamanrasset Notebooks, 1903)

How do I/We live in the imitation of Nazareth - in our family, in our work, in a non-Christian environment, in my behaviour?

I have always loved the days after Easter, and looking over the blog entries of the last few years, it has been a time for me to do a lot of reflecting on my own life, and our life as a community. This may be because it is holiday time here, or because usually we have been up at the monastery and I have come home with a slew of new books. But I suspect it is because, in the light of the Resurrection, I can see who I am, and how I am going, and head into that light, trusting and trying.

Our Nazareth is our daily life.
Our family. Our work. Shopping. Cooking. Washing. Consuming. Struggling with prayer. Paying bills. Normal stuff for normal folks. The Scriptures of Jesus' life in Nazareth point to the same reality - Visiting family, Travelling to the temple, reading and learning, fishing and probably working with dad in the tool shed.

Yet this simple, hidden family life becomes the building block for a universe changing kairos event - God entering our world and transforming it in this seemingly ordinary and quiet man.

My Nazareth experience needs to be to be a normal, little one, a hidden one of God.
"Taking the humblest place" St Benedict would call it.

Not seeking attention, but paying attention.
Not talking on endlessly about God, but listening to him in silence, in scripture, in Liturgy, and in others.
Caring for my family and things as gifts.
Not killing myself in pursuit of "vain and empty things".
being able to say know.
Loving those who cross my path.
Being happy with what is.

Working in the Arts does not always make this easy -as we pursue individuality instead of anonymity, seek to make OUR contribution or make OUR statement.

But for us to be fully human, we need moments of self negation, of renunciation and above all, of simplicity, to keep us centered with each other. And as St Benedict shows us, and Br Charles echoes, we do this is our ordinary life, day by day.

That will be our Nazareth.