The cutting has been pinned to the notice board after notice board for so long that the paper is yellowed and the drawing pin holes are numerous. Tucked into a book a friend once brought; he had cut it from a journal, obviously thinking it important enough to pass on to someone else.

It must be twenty years old, or near enough; for the book from which the quote comes was published in 1988. Sitting watching the Friday afternoon traffic and feeling annoyed at reaching the week’s end without getting done the things that should have been done, I read the piece again, maybe for the first time since it was pinned to the board that has moved from house to house with us.

Nothing need be lost. There are many holy moments in our daily lives. And one way we can capture and retain their significance is to gather them into a sign: a handclasp, a note, a tear, a word of affirmation, a blessing. Nothing need be lost. We learn to sacramentalize our walks, our work, our encounters, our routines. The seasons become rhythmic messages, places become hallowed, and events open up their secrets. There is more mystery and more meaning in the ordinary. Prayer becomes something natural and spontaneous, and bears the unique marks of our own imagery and our own style of communication.

JOAN PULS, OSF, A Spirituality of Compassion, (Twenty-third Publications/Columba Press) p. 108

Had I heeded Sister Joan’s words for the past twenty years, they might have been very different!