Eugene’s letter of April 27, 1836 to Father Guigues at Notre Dame de l’Osier was only a four lines long, and was very much on the business of the day.

“If the Bishop of Grenoble decides to give us the parish of l’Osier, we would have to choose someone who could perform this task in partnership with you. Father Magnan would probably be the one I would give preference to.” (566:VIII in Oblate Writings)

It offered no great inspiration but I share my reflection from the start of last week.

Here I am, with the very ordinary of the day.  Nothing great or startling as there was yesterday.  Where is my inspiration, my joy, my sense of renewal?  Perhaps like the note to Fr. Guigues this is all to be found in the hidden and in the ordinary of the day.

I awoke this morning – refreshed and ready to go.  I found myself singing “all that I have, all that I do, all that I’ll ever be I offer it to you”.  That was a joy for it meant that my being, my heart was in sync with God.

I set out early before there was much traffic on the roads, the city just beginning to awake and as I walked there was no great sense of hurry or rush as there are on other mornings, just a calmness as I walked and prayed my rosary.  Coming here to the office I began with the cleaning of a small bust of St. Eugene.  A small labour of love – there was joy in just being able to do that.  Soon I will leave this place and go to work on helping to catalogue the library of a community.  Another small and very ordinary task, but also another small labour of love.

I keep having the thought of writing a series of articles about St. Eugene de Mazenod, about his life – I want to share them with my parish so they too come to know of his spirit, the gift of himself that he left to us in his family.  It was his spirit that has given life to this great family of both religious and laity, and I find myself really wanting to be able to share that.  Of course it becomes quite subjective when it is a sharing from the heart.  Such is the joy and contentment I find in the ordinary of the day as it begins.