Topic 1.

1 The Everyday or Ordinary [1]

TEACHERS INSTRUCTIONAL MANUAL

Code Number:

TH111E

Course Title:
TODAY"

"SEARCHING FOR GOD IN THE WORLD

CHAPTER I: GODS REVELATION

EXPERIENCES

IN AND THROUGH

EVERYDAY

1.1 The Everyday or the Ordinary

(3 hours)
Introduction

Note to Teacher: As you show the

slide below, review some key ideas
of the first topic on Our Search for
God and Theology. You can use the
nurturance for the first quiz as
recapitulation of the previous topic.
Then, connect this lesson with a
short introduction as posted on the
slide #1, reiterating the method of
see-discern-act/pray
(Slide # 1)

Topic 1.1
THE EVERYDAY

OR

ORDINARY

Objective: After this lesson, the student will be able

to reflect on ones experience of everyday life,
especially on a depth experience

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [2]

(Slide #2)

LET US SEE
A. The Everyday or Ordinary
B. Depth Experiences in the Everyday or Ordinary

A. The Everyday or Ordinary

A religious educator by the name of John Hall wrote:
(Slide #3)

If we think theology has nothing to do with

everyday life, then we do not know theology at all.
(John Hall)

John Halls statement is a provocative (or challenging), dont you

think you so? Lets look at his words again, and ponder on what he
wants to say. What do you think is he trying to say to us?
Note to Teachers: Take some time to
allow the students to recite on what
they think is the meaning of Halls
statement. After which, the teacher
briefly shares his own reaction to the
statement. Heres my story.

The first time I read Halls statement, about 10 years ago, it

shook me a bit. Why, you may ask. Well, I burned my eyebrows
studying theology to earn a Master of Arts in four years, and then I
went to Belgium to earn a doctoral degree for six years from the
Catholic University of Louvain. I read so many books, which I had to

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [3]

read over and over again just to understand it, and many times I failed.
I wrote so many papers, which my professors returned back to me full
of red ink of corrections, and I rewrote them again, and again, and
again, till my professors were satisfied. And now, Hall would say those
words? Gosh, what did I study in those ten years? It is as if a part of my
life is being thrown out of the window!
On the other hand, the words of Hall seem consoling. You know, I
was not a seminarian; I did not plan to become a priest. I am a lay
person like all of you. I got married at quite a late age to a beautiful
and brilliant woman, who I met in Belgium, and with whom I share a
son, who is now seventeen years old. When I read Halls statement, it
makes me feel affirmed, because our language at home is about food,
cooking, washing dishes and clothes and ironing, gardening, doing the
telenovela, befriending girls (and their parents), the rising costs of
water, electricity and gasoline, getting sick and old, and many more
trivial or petty things.
Now, those are not necessarily religious or spiritual
experiences, right? Yet, it is in those moments of everyday life that I
often think about what life is all about, what had happened to me in
the past, and whats still in store for me in the remaining years of my
life. I have been happy and afraid, sure and doubting, whether I did the
right or wrong thing. At my age of 55, I still have lots of questions
about life, and yes, about God. If theres anything I pray to God every
night, it is the plea that I may live for another day, because I want to
grow old to see my son reach his dreams in life.
Come to think of it, when I read the books of the Christian Bible,
they appeal to me because they speak not of the out-of-this world
miraculous events but of small, ordinary events, many of which I can
relate with. Or, when I go back to the works of big names in
Christianity, like St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Thomas of Aquinas,
Martin Luther, or in other faith-traditions like the Prophet Mohammed
or the Buddhist monks I realized it was the ordinary, everyday
concerns and problems of people that they tried to reflect upon. I dont
think they were giving us precise answers to human problems. I think,
just like we today, they were searching for deeper meaning in the
present life, not in life after death.

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [4]

But I sense that Hall is saying something more in his statement.

Put it this way, if we want to know theology, we must know what the
everyday is all about too. It seems that it is in the everyday that
we raise questions about life, as well as questions about faith.
Remember Maria and her story? Her questions are questions of
everyday living.
What is the everyday? In different cultures, the words for
everyday or ordinary are:
(Slide #4)

Tagalog: pang-araw-araw,
pangkaraniwan
Cebuano: adlaw-adlaw, matag-adlaw
Chinese: , rchng
Malay: sehari-hari
French: de tous les jours
Japanese: , nichij
Korean: , ilsang-ui
Spanish: cotidiano
Burmese: Nay Tine
Lao: Touk touk meu
Urdu:
Thai: Tuk tuk wan

In a formal meaning,
(Slide #5)

the everyday is the whole of doing, thinking

and feeling in our daily lives and recurring
routine

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [5]

I wonder how your everyday looks like. Heres a list of my

everyday:
Note to Teachers:
Make your own list. This is just an
example.

(Slide #6)

This is just a list of my everyday in the first few hours of the day. I
can make it longer through the day and night. Can you write down on
your notebook or journal a list of your everyday routine of activities?
(Routine refers to things you do regularly or as a matter of habit.)
Note to Teachers: Give the
students about 10-15 minutes to do
this seatwork.

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [6]

Now, show your list of everyday, ordinary activities to a

seatmate. After that, move around to see also the everyday of your
classmates. Then, go back to your seats and lets talk.
Note to Teachers: Show the question
and get responses for each question
(controlled animation). You may want
to start it off by modeling some
responses.

(Slide #7)

1) What have you noticed in your own list or in

the everyday life of your classmates?
2) How do you feel about your everyday life? Do
you find your everyday happy, exciting, boring,
uninteresting, etc.? Why?
3) If you were to add anything in your everyday
life, what event or activity would it be? Why?

From the experiences, it appears the everyday, includes the

following:
(Slide #8)

the joyful and the celebratory elements of our

lives,
the tiresome and the boring
the exciting and typical
the difficulties and troubles
our fears and anxieties, hopes and dreams

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [7]

The fact is, many people dislike the everyday or the ordinary. Day
after day, they feel that life is moving in a circle of the same events or
activities. Like them, we try to escape from the ordinary by looking for
something new or different, or for the extra-ordinary or special.
As Hal Miller, another religious educator, says of our experience:

(Slide #9)

We dislike the ordinary, the everyday, the

routine. We thirst for the exciting, the different, the
exhilarating. To put it briefly, were transcendence
junkies. We live in the hope of some kind of
excitement fix to give us meaning and vitality in a
world of gray walls and schedules and meetings. We
wake up every morning, pray, take breakfast, go to
school, come home, do things according to schedule,
take dinner, watch TV, and sleep. Its the same
routine everyday. (Hal Miller)

We can add that even seeing the face of our teachers (or of our
students) in casual glance has become routine, monotonous, with no
excitement.
And when you look at the list of everyday life of your classmates,
does a question come to you, like why your life cant be any better like
another person? And because we cant be another person, we look for
things that can make our everyday different. Some people try to
escape the ordinary directly, through drugs or alcohol. Others look

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [8]

for the exciting by cutting classes or doing other things inside the
classroom than listening to our teachers. Some people cant wait for
the classes to finish so that they can meet their friends or go out with
them for a gimmick.
Note to Teachers: Create Slide #9 with
pictures of people using social
networks and/or pictures of models of
mobile phones.

(Slide #9 - pictures of people using social networks and/or models of mobile

phones)

The social networking, like Facebook and Twitter, are other ways
of leaving behind the monotony of everyday life, until these also
become boring. Other people change mobile phones as soon as new
models arrive, just as they change relationships as soon as they get
tired of the routine of holding hands, embracing, and kissing.
Can you relate in any of these experiences of the everyday and
why people are always looking something different or new in their daily
routine?

B. Depth Experiences in the Everyday or Ordinary

There is this Filipino film entitled Himala (Miracle). It is a story
of an adolescent girl who had a gift of healing. Although she was
reluctant to use her gift, droves of people came to see her for healing.
She became popular to the extent that the television media saw in her
the potential of attracting television viewers in order to increase their
rating and profits. Soon also, small businesses took advantage of her
popularity by selling different sorts of religious items.
Elsa, the main character in the movie, felt that these things were
not what she intended. She felt being abused by the media and the
business for their own vested interest. Her disagreement over the
publicity she was getting turned into disgust when she felt that her

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [9]

Gods gift of healing is being controlled and exploited by external

human forces. In the famous line in the movie, Elsa exclaimed:
(Slide #10)

Walang himala! Ang himala ay nasa ating puso

(There is no miracle! The miracle is in our hearts!)

We would like to use Elsas words to speak about depth

experiences in our everyday, ordinary life. In the routinary,
monotonous, boring activities of our everyday, we tend to look for the
miracle, the special, the supernatural outside of the ordinary.
Elsa is probably right; maybe were approaching our everyday all
wrong. Perhaps, instead of assuming that there is nothing important or
significant in our everyday, we should entertain the possibility that it is
often in the routine, as routine as getting up in the morning and going
to sleep at night, that the miracle is happening.
In the ordinariness of our everyday life, we have a feeling that
there is something more. The fox in the novelette Little Prince of
Anton St. Exupery puts it better:
(Slide #11)

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [10]

We look for something that is important, for the worth of things

and events. In the ordinary, we long to feel and see the extra. Elsa
and the fox tell us a truth of living:
(Slide #12)

The extra is not outside of the ordinary; the extra,

the special, the different, the sacred, the divine is in
the ordinary. Thats why we often say, something
extraordinary happened in my life today.

We can call this extra in the ordinary as depth experience.

What is this?
Note to Teacher: Show the bullets oneby-one, giving each an elaboration
from your own experience.

(Slide #13)

Depth experience
Among the many ordinary events that happen to
us everyday, there is one experience (or a set of
related experiences) which stand out among the
rest.
It is still an everyday or ordinary experience, but
it takes more meaning or that make us think
about ourselves, our life or the life others, or of
the world we live in.
Such an experience reveals depths of
significance (in Filipino, may lalim or may

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [11]

dating) in some aspects of our lives that we

previously considered unimportant and without
value or meaning.
Or, it brings into question the very existence of
any meaning for human life.

It is this depth experience that the heart sees a miracle, the

special, the extraordinary, not apart nor separate from the
everyday, but embedded in the ordinariness of everyday life. In fact,
the depth experience is so ordinary that it takes an extraordinary
character, because it poses questions or insights about who and what
we are as persons and the kind of the world we live in.
Let me share with you this anecdote:
Just some minutes ago while I am writing this essay, the lights
went out in our house and the neighborhood. Now, this brownout is
unusual in our place, so this not the ordinary where I find the
extraordinary. My encounter of a depth experience was when I got out
of the house in total darkness. When I work, I often get up from my
seat every hour to relax my eyes by gazing at objects other than my
laptop, and to stretch my body by taking a small walk in our small
garden. That was ordinary for me to do. So, in this moment of
brownout, I went to our garden but found it illumined by the moonlight.
I like to see the moon every night, but this time it was different. In the
darkness, the moon shines splendidly upon the earth and on my face.
As I raised my head to cherish the experience, I had flashes of
thoughts. I felt that even in the darkest moments of our lives,
Someone is not indifferent to leave us alone with our loneliness or
misery. Incidentally, its full moon, or it looked like one. And you know
what else? It was raining the whole night, and when it stopped I could
smell the scent of our passion flower vine. That makes my depth
experience more profound. I cant help but simply smile how, in the
midst of trials and difficulties; life is abundant with beauty, even in the
darkness.
Note to Teacher: You can share your
own depth experience to the class.

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [12]

How about you? Whats your story?

(Slide #14)

Look at the list of your everyday life. Is there any one

event or activity which has a different impact on you,
one that makes you think about whats happening in
your life or that leads to reflect or makes you realize
a value or meaning in life? (Discuss this depth
experience with one of your seatmates.)

You may ask, how does an ordinary, everyday routine activity

become a depth experience? Actually, it is you who will turn the
ordinary into an extraordinary. You need to be attuned or sensitive to
whats going on inside and outside you, and allow yourself to think,
feel, and reflect about your experience. We can learn from Claude
Monet, a famous artist who loved to paint gardens of flowers. He said:
(Slide #15)

Its on the strength of observation and reflection that

one finds a way. So we must dig and delve
unceasingly. (Claude Monet)

To be aware of our depth experiences in the everyday life, we

must continually observe and reflect on life, to dig and delve
unceasingly in our depth experiences. This is the way to ourselves
and the world around us, our gateways to discover the extraordinary in
the ordinariness of living.
Let us turn to what the Christian story has to say.

DISCERN
(Slide #16)

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [13]

LET US DISCERN
The Story of Jesus of Nazareth
Do you remember our lesson last time, that in our Theology
classes we are using the methodology of see-discern-act/pray? In this
current lesson, we went through the step of see when we discussed
the everyday and depth experience. Our next step is to discern.
In this section, we try to know what we can learn from the Bible and
the Christian Tradition about the everyday and depth experience
so that we can be enriched in our understanding and practice.
We will have more time to talk about Jesus, Gods Story-madeflesh. For now, we want to introduce how this man from Nazareth lived
an ordinary life yet had depth experiences that allowed him to see
richer meaning in life.
Lets look at this picture of a painting by the Flemish/Belgian
artist Pieter Breughel (1525-1569).

(Slide #17)

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [14]

What do you see in the picture, what is this place, who could the
people be, what are they doing?
The painting shows ordinary people (men, women, young and
old) of a small village or barrio. They are doing what they do ordinarily
in the everyday standing, sitting, bending, walking, talking, working,
digging the earth, playing, pulling horses, carrying things, cleaning,
washing clothes, eating, and many more. You can say that, like our
own everyday, life in this small village has become a routine, and
possibly monotonous and boring.
But there is something in this painting that tells us, in the
ordinariness of everyday life, a depth experience is occurring. Can
you guess a detail in the picture that shows something different within
the everyday life of people?
Here it is: near the bottom of the painting is a woman sitting on a
donkey. She is carrying a child to her chest and the donkey is being
pulled by a man. Do you see it now?

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [15]

Note to Teacher: Use animation to

bring out the white circle in Slide #17.

Does the picture remind you of some people or something? For

Christians among you, you might recognize that the woman is Mary,
the child is baby Jesus, and the man is Joseph. Would you agree?
Breughel, the painter, entitled his work, Census at Bethlehem, when
Mary and Joseph registered their newly-born child at the town hall.
Breughel is trying to say something more or deep in his
painting. He is telling us that Jesus came to our ordinary, everyday
world, among ordinary people doing their everyday routine. His coming
to our world was also ordinary that, like in the painting, that we would
not notice immediately his presence, because it was, simply, ordinary.
Yet Breughel might have intended to hide as it were the
significant feature of his painting, until we were asked to look closely
and discover something deep or rich. It needed from us to closely
observe the painting, which allowed us to discover the depth

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [16]

experience in the ordinary, everyday life. And what was our reaction
Ahhh, Yes, I see it., There it is. What a beautiful thing.
Those reactions come from the realization that, indeed, the extraordinary, the special, the himala (miracle) is in the ordinary,
everyday life.
Four things can be said about Jesus in relation to our topic on
everyday or ordinary and depth experience. The first is this:
Note to Teacher: From here on, as you
elaborate the key ideas, you may
want to add other visual aides (such
as ppt pictures) or audio aides (song,
music, etc.) to connect to your
personal style of teaching. However,
stay focused on the numbered
statements, because they are the
major concepts that should be learned
by the students.
(Slide #18)

1) Jesus was born in ordinary way to ordinary parents

at an ordinary place and ordinary time.

Are your surprised by this statement? We hope not. His father,

Joseph, was a wood-worker, who probably had to work hard, day and
night, to help his family. The pregnant Mary had to carry the heavy
child in her womb for many months and went through labor pains as
you mother did when you were born.
Jesus did not fall from the sky; he came among us, from us, with
us, among ordinary people, like our fathers and mothers who
experienced both excitement and fear of bearing a child. (Ask your
mother at home how they felt when you were in her womb, and you
would appreciate better the life of Mary.)
Christian Tradition says Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and the
Gospels also say that Jesus spent most of his growing up years in

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [17]

Nazareth. Now, there are two versions of the event that took place
when Jesus was born. The Gospel of Matthew (chapters 1 and 2) says
he was born in a house, while the Gospel of Luke (chapter 1 to chapter
2:20) says he was born in a manger. Whatever the case is, Jesus was
born, not in a temple or church, or in a famous place, but in a small
ordinary place, in an ordinary time of the day (or night).
What about the neighborhood? There were no fireworks, no
drinking of beers or liquors, no videoke, no dancing, no lechon on the
table things and activities we do during our special days. In Jesus
neighborhood, probably people were doing their house chores and
working day and in out just to survive, just like the people in the
painting of Brueghel.

(Slide #19)

2) Jesus had an ordinary life as a boy, lived the

everyday in its ordinariness, and grew up with
difficulties and dreams as well.

Except for one story found in the Gospel of John (when Jesus was
in the temple, arguing with the teachers), we know very little about his
childhood and adolescent years. He didnt have an FB account on
which he could write his own timeline, right? But we can imagine his
world if we put ourselves in his shoes or sandals.
During his time, 2000 years ago, in a small village called
Nazareth, the houses were small with enough space for sleeping. Most
of the activities of the people were done outside the houses, cooking,
washing clothes, working, and even chatting with one another, which
they did under the trees, in the streets, or in small sari-sari or
convenience stores. Jesus probably played with other children of his
age, and like any other Jewish (Judaism is their religion) boy, he went
to the synagogue once a week to read their Bible and listen to the
preaching of their religious leaders.

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [18]

When we say that Jesus grew up with difficulties and dreams as

well, we include his searching for meaning in life and for God. The
Gospel of Luke puts it this way:

(Slide #20)

And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in

favor with God and people (Lk 2:52)

Jesus was a person of his time in his view of the world and the
language he spoke to see that world. For those of you who are familiar
with the stories about Jesus, dont you notice that when Jesus speaks,
he uses images or metaphors taken from his rural environment, like
plants (example, mustard seed), trees (example, fig tree), animals
(examples, goats, sheep, fox, etc.), and objects (examples, coin, net)
when he speaks about life, the world, and God.
Jesus was also dependent for his formation on the influences
around him. He probably learned the traditions of his culture and
religion from his parents, community, and teachers. He may have
listened intently to his elders, but we also know he asked a lot of
questions and even argued at times. Just like you, you come to class
everyday, you are sitting there but you may many questions in your
mind.
In his growing up years, Jesus gradually increased in wisdom, in
stature, and in favor with God and people. He struggled with his
personal identity, his ethnic belonging as a Jew, his gender as a male,
his being a poor person. He probably had to go through the years of
identity crisis like what you are going through who am I? what is
my purpose in this world? what are my hopes and dreams in life? His
questions are not different from us today.
Yet we can say Jesus was a remarkably perceptive and insightful
person. He lived an ordinary life, with its routine, but he also probably
closely observed the events in his life, his surroundings, the people he
encountered, and in his society. And he reflected on it, digging and

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [19]

delving unceasingly, as our painter Claude Monet told us earlier.

Observation and reflection - these led Jesus to discover the depth
experiences in ordinary things, persons, and events that reveal the
extra-ordinary, the different and new, the sacred, the divine.
You remember Elsa, the miracle is our hearts, or the fox saying to the
Little Prince, what is essential is invisible to the eye.
With the eyes to see or the heart to feel, Jesus developed insights
or wisdom that made others think that he was a man of authority. His
authority did not rest on official status (like, he was not a barangay
captain, or a licensed medical doctor, or a president of a company). His
authority came from inside himself, because his insights about life, the
world, and God were borne of real-life struggles in life in order to
become a man of God and for others. He spoke with authority, which
made people either respect him or fear him, because people see in him
a person of depth experience.

(Slide #21)

3) Jesus immersed himself in the lives of the ordinary

people in ordinary places, and made them feel the
extra-ordinary in their lives.

Jesus was not only a person of depth experience in his own life,
but he helped people realize that there is something more or
important and valuable in their lives.
Look at the men and women Jesus invited to accompany him in
his mission. They were fishermen, tax collectors, tambay sa kanto,
single and married, young and not so young. They were not individuals
who stood out in public, political leaders, big names in the community,
nor did they think they would become founders and leaders of
communities of faith at a later stage of their lives. By calling them to
follow him, Jesus saw their God-given gifts or potentials, not their
weaknesses or frailties. Jesus gave them importance by believing in
them, that they were also called to become better men and women
who would do good things to other people.

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [20]

Jesus immersed himself in the lives of people. He did not lock

himself inside his house; he went out, walked and walked, visited
villages along the way, and crossed lakes. That was important for him.
He had a mission from God, but he did not keep this mission to a few
and within his circle of friends. He went out, sought people, especially
the marginalized and underprivileged; he conversed with them
wherever they were and what they were doing, and sometimes he
slept in their houses. He preached or taught, and often we read that he
did this while eating and drinking with people. He walked with them,
worked with them, and rested with them.
Look at the people Jesus healed and forgave. It is striking that in
the Bible the stories of his healing and forgiving occurred in ordinary
places, often outside the synagogue (where they study their Bible) and
temple (where ritual sacrifices were done). Here are some of those
places and events:
(Slide #22)

Event

Place

Healing of the paralytic who

was brought by his friends

In a house with hole in the

roof

Healing of a man born blind

By the side of the road

Forgiveness to a woman
accused of adultery

In a plaza (or neighborhood

basketball court)

Healing of two blind men at

Capernaum

On the street

Ten lepers

At the entrance of a village

Healing of a blind person

Healing of a woman suffering
from hemorrhage (internal
bleeding)

In an alley or small dirt road

In a crowded place

During the time of Jesus, many were sick and ill of various
ailments and diseases. They believed that their sickness is due to the

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [21]

curse that God gave them because they something wrong or

committed sin. Sickness was thought to be a curse of God. Because of
this belief, other people who thought of themselves as clean,
marginalized the sick persons. They became non-persons with no
dignity and place in their society. They are to be ostracized, because
sick people were considered dirty or polluted.
Jesus healed them. While the clean people distanced
themselves away from sick people, Jesus approached them, physically
and emotionally. He was moved with compassion at the sick people.
In the English version of the Bible, we find the word compassion.
That sounds quite a poor translation of the word used in the Bible to
describe the reaction of Jesus to the sick people. The original word in
Greek language stems from the noun splagchnon, which refers to
internal organs, like entrails, intestines, bowels, and heart. These
organs are usually that move when the person has strong emotions or
reactions. It is the same as gut reaction. So, when the Bible says that
Jesus was moved with compassion, he experienced his intestines
turning inside-out (in Tagalog, bumaligtad ang sikmura). Meaning,
his whole being was shaken up by the condition of the sick person. It is
a strong reaction to something that should not be or this is not what
human life should be.
Jesus was moved with compassion he felt their pains, anguish,
misery, suffering, not only by their sickness but also by the way other
people treated them. May sakit na nga, itinatakwil pa ng lipunan
distraught by sickness, the sickness is also marginalized by society.
Jesus healed them, not because he agreed with their thinking of Gods
punishment; on the contrary, Jesus expressed his empathy at their
helplessness and hopelessness, and he showed his solidarity by
touching them. There were many healers during that time, yet in Jesus
people felt a different kind of healer. People may have thought, Its
truly a joy to be with this guy! In the healings of Jesus, people
experienced that God is not a God of punishment, but a God of joy. The
gospel of Jesus is truly good news.
He touched them! Against the grain of his society that looked
down at the sick people, Jesus touched them. Just imagine the
emotions running through the scenes where Jesus healed. Imagine the
sick people being touched by a man they hardly knew. Imagine

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [22]

yourself being touched by Jesus in your hearts even if you feel

dirty, doubting him, questioning him, angry with him, or dont bother
to believe him. He has no second-thoughts and he has no preconditions Jesus simply, generously, freely feels us and touches our
lives with love.
Jesus healed their sickness, but more importantly, he restored
their human dignity and their importance to God. By doing the healing
acts in public places, Jesus showed that the God who loves and cares
can be experienced by people in the ordinary places in the world. We
do not have to look for big miraculous events, for the miracle of the
saving presence action of God is happening already within us or around
us if we have the eyes or the heart to see it.
Nowadays, we think that we can only feel the presence of God
inside churches or other religious places. Of course, we can feel Gods
presence there, yet it is not only in those places where God works in
our lives and in the world. Who knows, the person beside you in the
LRT or jeepney, the person you meet on the street, the one who sells
or buys food in the store or market, our co-bed spacer in the boarding
house, or friends and classmates we dont give much attention,
including our everyday chores of cooking, washing and ironing clothes,
listening in classrooms all of these are potentially or in fact, spaces
where God is present, 24/7 of our lives. (We shall learn more fully
about this truth two lessons from now.)
We keep repeating the necessity of observation and reflection to
make see the depth experience in our life. Jesus was a keen observer
of events and he immersed himself in the lives of people, to feel them,
and be moved by their plight. There is still another element that can
help us understand better our depth experience in our everyday life.
Jesus can show us the way:

(Slide #23)

4) In moments of silence and solitude, Jesus saw his

depth experience as an experience of intimate
relationship with God.

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [23]

Note to Teacher: This section is simply

to emphasize the value of prayer or
silence or solitude to make sense of
the many things that happen in the
everyday of the student. Avoid giving
a lecture, brief or full, on how to
prayer. We will deal with that in
another lesson. The focus in this
lesson is the everyday and depth
experience.

In his moments of silence and solitude, he developed an intimate

relationship with God, a God who is actively present in his life and in
the world. He did not leave us any blueprint on the procedure or steps
or exercises of prayer. What we know from the stories is that he valued
prayer as the moment when he could be with God alone, away from
the public. He seemed to have preferred praying in private (or private
prayer), in contrast to some religious leaders who prayed in public yet
their lifestyles and ways of relating with people were still the same,
unaffected by their prayers. Jesus prayed in public too, like when he
thanked God for the food they received as narrated in the story of the
feeding of the multitude.
Whether it was in private or in public, Jesus spent some time of
his everyday to get in touch with his own experiences and to see it in
another way, from the eyes or heart of God. He did many observations
and reflections, and immersion with people, during the day, and it
helped him to be silent and communicate with God. We can imagine
this, because after praying, the Gospels tell us that he met people
again, healed, and preached with renewed strength and conviction.
There are many kinds of prayer; we just want to emphasize here
the importance of being alone with our selves, with a higher being or
cause, or with emptiness, or with God. Everyday, we are busy with
different sorts of things. We meet many people, hear lots of sounds,
see many shapes and colors, smell a variety of odors, taste different
food, and touch a multitude of objects. Being alone in silence can help
us go over our everyday and find those moments that have
significance to our life.

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [24]

Its like having our hand filled with peanuts. They all look the
same, but there could be one nut or two that stand out because, for
one reason or another, they lead us to reflect about our life and
relationships. Moments of silence are opportunities for us to pick out
those experiences with worth or value, and to muse over them. Some
people find solace in meditation or yoga, and others through Zen or
other exercises of being grounded with the life again.
For Jesus, praying alone was not running away from
responsibilities and relationships. The mystics and ascetics teach us
that in silence we rediscover our true humanity and the principal cause
of our existence. In silence, we transcend or go beyond the
repetitiveness of life and to look for meaning and clarity to the many
things that happen in our day or week.
Silence is a way of relating our everyday to a bigger reason why
we are here on earth. By communicating with our deepest selves or a
higher being, we uncover insights or learnings about life that lay
hidden in the routine activities of our day. We realize that we are more
than what we think or know about ourselves.

ACT

Let us ACT and PRAY

A. Review of Important Ideas
B. Home-Assignment

Let us review the important ideas in our lesson on The

Everyday or Ordinary.

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [25]

1) We introduced our lesson with this quotation from John

Hall - If we think theology has nothing to do with
everyday life, then we do not know theology at all.
2) In the Seeing, we defined the everyday or
ordinary as the whole of doing, thinking and feeling
in our daily lives and recurring routine. We had an
exercise that listed down the things and events that
occur to us in the everyday.
3) We then looked at the notion of depth experience.
This is an experience in our everyday that has
significance or value to us, or an experience which
tells us that there is something more or extra or
different in the ordinary. The depth experience is
not apart or separate from our everyday or ordinary;
rather, it is within the everyday or ordinary. We then
had exercises to understand the concept by
examining our everyday routine and identify which
can be a depth experience.
4) We used the words of Claude Monet to help us look
at our ordinary experience in order that it may
become a depth experience. He says, Its on the
strength of observation and reflection that one finds
a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly.
5) Then, we went through the Discern step, first by
studying the painting by Pieter Breughel of an
ordinary village, where ordinary people go through
their ordinary, everyday life. There, we saw
something striking, an extra-ordinary taking place
in the ordinary.
6) We focused our attention on the story of Jesus
Nazareth, that we may be enriched in our
understanding of the everyday and depth
experience. Four aspects of the life of Jesus have
been highlighted in this session:

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [26]

First, Jesus was born in ordinary way to ordinary

parents at an ordinary place and ordinary time.
Second, Jesus had an ordinary life as a boy, lived
the everyday in its ordinariness, and grew up with
difficulties and dreams as well. Together with this,
we showed the reflections found in the Gospel of
Luke: And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature,
and in favor with God and people (Lk 2:52)
Third, Jesus immersed himself in the lives of the
ordinary people in ordinary places, and made them
feel the extra-ordinary in their lives.
And fourth, while Jesus also observed and reflected
on his everyday life that is connected to his
immersion into peoples lives, the moments of
silence and solitude provided him the way to his
depth experience as an experience of intimate
relationship with God.

B. Home-Assignment Reflection Paper

Write a short essay of at least one-page (8x11.5) about a
depth experience you had in your everyday life recently. The
guide questions below can help you write the essay. Write in full
sentences and paragraphs, either in English or Filipino (but not a
combination). The essay can be hand-written or computer-printed
(Book Antigua, font 11 or 12).

1) Tell the story what happened, when did it

happen, who were there, where did this happen?
2) Why do you consider this as a depth experience?
Explain your reasons in relation to your life or the
world around you.

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [27]

3) Upon close observation of the event, what are your

reflections, insights or realizations about yourself
or your life?
4) Is there any action or a behavior that you think
you must do in connection to your depth
experience?
Submit your assignment in our next meeting. Your paper will be
evaluated and graded according to the criteria on the next page.

Prepared and written by IRED:

Dr. Emmanuel S. de Guzman, Prof. Gliceria Lunag, Prof. Evalor Rivera

GRADING RUBRIC FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION PAPERS

Area Rating
Exemplary

Indicators
a) Understanding: correctly summarizes in ones own words and
shows substantial grasp (cognitive) of the topic, key concept/idea,
or value/virtue
b) Connection to life - well-thought or in-depth examination of ones

Score
4

Topic 1.1 The Everyday or Ordinary [28]

c)

d)

Fair

a)
b)
c)

d)

Needs
Improvement

a)
b)
c)

d)
Poor (or
Weak)

a)
b)
c)
d)

Nonsubmission

experiences (past and/or present) as they clearly connect between

the topic and what is learned from life-experience
Self introspection: demonstrates open, honest, non-defensive
ability to self-appraise, discussing both growth and frustrations, or
changes and blocks to changes as they relate to learning in class;
risks asking probing questions about self and to answer these;
paper is medium for expressing serious personal learnings or
growth
Implication of Insight/Learning: offers significant insights or
learnings drawn from the topic by concretizing actions or
behaviors or practices in real life (e.g., practices that the person
will stop, start, and continue)
Understanding: acceptable understanding the key concept/idea or
value/virtue in ones own words
Connection to life: gives some detail explaining some specific
ideas or issues in life and makes general connections between
what is learned from experiences and the topic.
Self-introspection: somewhat cautious or sometimes defensive or
one-sided in ones analysis (example: mostly good or pleasant
aspects); asks some probing questions about self, but do not
engage in seeking to answer these; paper attempts to be
expression of personal growth
Implication of insight/learning: offers sketchy or broad insights or
learnings drawn from the topic and somewhat explores behaviors
practices in real life
Understanding: merely repeats or restates key concept/ideaor
value/virtue in the teachers words or in the workbook
Connection to life: identifies some general ideas or issues from
real life experiences; gives factual enumeration of experiences
that artificially or vaguely connect ones experiences and the topic
Self introspection: self-disclosure tends to be superficial and
factual, with minimal self-introspection; defensive of ones position
or experience that does not consider other angles; minimal risk to
explore questions or issues about self in relation to the topic (e.g.,
speaks about other people rather than ones life in relation to
people); paper seriously lacks substance as expression of personal
growth
Implication of Insight/learning: lqcking ability in drawing insights
or learnings; unexplained implications for behaviors or practices
Understanding: inadequate or incorrect summary of the
concept/idea or value/virtue
Connection to life: question-answer or one-line answer with very
little connection between life experience and the topic
Self-introspection: no self-introspection; no evidence to show of
self-analysis; enumerative without explanation in writing style;
paper is submitted merely as requirement
Implication of insight/learning: no stated implications or
applications; motherhood statements with no bearing on ones
personal life or commitment