Living the ordinary in an extraordinary way
By Fr. Alfred Cruz
Religion Instructor, College of Arts and Sciences
Secretary, University Chaplaincy
This article was originally delivered as a homily for St. Josemaría’s Feast Day Mass at Sancta Maria Stella Orientis Oratory on 26 June 2026.
In the Gospel of St. Luke, the story of the calling of the first disciples begins not in a sacred space, but at the lakeside, amidst the environment of fishing. It begins with Jesus stepping directly into the boat of Simon Peter. That boat was the image of their ordinary lives. Without it, the fishermen could not fish; it was their livelihood, their routine, and their daily reality. Yet, it was precisely within that workspace that their first true encounter with Christ took place. Jesus did not call them away from their reality to meet Him; He met them in it.
This Gospel scene offers a beautiful lens through which we can look at the life of St. Josemaría Escrivá. At a young age, Jesus entered the “boat” of this young Spanish priest, calling him to carry out Opus Dei (The Work of God) on earth. Like the first disciples, St. Josemaría responded with immediate generosity and faithfulness. But his mission was not just for himself. His life and teachings serve as a vivid reminder that while not everyone is called to found an institution, every single one of us is called to let Jesus into our personal boat. We are all called to bring Christ into our own unique environments.
St. Josemaría is widely known as the “Saint of the Ordinary.” He introduced the “novelty” that holiness is not a premium concept reserved for a chosen few—like priests or cloistered religious—but a universal call meant for everyone. For many, this is an idea heard many times over. But do we really understand what it means to be holy in ordinary life?
We generally understand holiness as drawing closer to God, falling in love with Him, and striving for heaven. The real disconnect usually lies in our understanding of the word ordinary. By definition, the ordinary is the regular, customary condition or course of things. Humanly speaking, it is much easier for us to look for God in the extraordinary—in miracles, emotional spiritual highs, or dramatic crises. We tend to subconsciously equate God’s presence with things that happen outside of our routine. By doing this, we accidentally lock Him out of our day-to-day life.
The story of the Apostles reminds us that the ordinary is the very place of our sanctification. If you are looking for God, you do not need to wait for a more “spiritual” set of life circumstances. You can find Him exactly where you are right now:
In your environments: At home with your family, at your desk in the office, or during your daily commute.
In your experiences: In your professional successes, your frustrating failures, your relationships, and your periods of rest and vacation.
In your changing seasons: In moments of vibrant health or exhausting sickness, and through your deepest joys and heaviest sorrows.
All of these moments are not distractions from a holy life; they are the material of your holy life. They are continuous opportunities to grow in intimacy with God.
Finding God in the routine, however, is not automatic. In the Gospel, after Jesus entered the boat, He did something profound: He worked the miraculous catch of fish.
The miracle only happened because the disciples allowed Jesus to act in their workspace. To find God in our own lives, we have to invite Him into our routine through a consistent life of prayer, the reception of the Sacraments, personal sacrifice, and daily apostolate (sharing our faith with those around us). When we do this, the external details of our ordinary life might not change. You will still have to do the dishes, answer emails, catch the bus, and pay the bills. But while the ordinary stays the same, you begin to live it in an extraordinary way. This is how God continues to perform the miraculous catch of fish in our lives today—by transforming mundane duties into acts of profound love.
St. Josemaría perfectly captured this truth in his famous homily, Passionately Loving the World:
Understand this well: there is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it… We discover the invisible God in the most visible and material things. There is no other way. Either we learn to find our Lord in ordinary, everyday life, or else we shall never find Him.