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The Holiness of Ordinary People
"There are some people whom God takes and sets apart," observes Venerable Madeleine Delbrêl (1904–1964), but "there are others whom he leaves in the masses and whom he does not withdraw from the world. These are people who do ordinary jobs, who have an ordinary household or an ordinary single life. . . . We, the ordinary people of the streets, believe with all our might that this street, that this world where God has placed us, is, for us, the site of our holiness."
French poet, social worker, and lay missionary Madeleine Delbrêl knew that Christ's unspeakable goodness touches the smallest, most forgotten corners of our everyday world—the laundry, the checkout counter, the commute. His word shines before us "while we walk in the street, while we do our work, while we peel our vegetables, while we wait for a phone call, while we sweep our floors. We see it glow between two of our neighbor's sentences and between two letters to write, when we wake up and when we go to sleep." Yet prayer alone gives us the eyes to see it.
This book gathers together essays and notes written by Delbrêl during her most active years, giving peerless insights into the distinctive lay vocation in the Church. All men and women—married and unmarried—must follow the Holy Spirit into all that is true in this world, from the small talk around the coffeepot to the great silence of the Holy Eucharist.
"The holy Church expects saints," she tells us, "and saints are those who love."
French poet, social worker, and lay missionary Madeleine Delbrêl knew that Christ's unspeakable goodness touches the smallest, most forgotten corners of our everyday world—the laundry, the checkout counter, the commute. His word shines before us "while we walk in the street, while we do our work, while we peel our vegetables, while we wait for a phone call, while we sweep our floors. We see it glow between two of our neighbor's sentences and between two letters to write, when we wake up and when we go to sleep." Yet prayer alone gives us the eyes to see it.
This book gathers together essays and notes written by Delbrêl during her most active years, giving peerless insights into the distinctive lay vocation in the Church. All men and women—married and unmarried—must follow the Holy Spirit into all that is true in this world, from the small talk around the coffeepot to the great silence of the Holy Eucharist.
"The holy Church expects saints," she tells us, "and saints are those who love."
187 pages, Paperback
Published March 29, 2024
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April 15, 2025“We, the ordinary people of the streets, believe with all our might that this street, that this world where God has placed us, is, for us, the site of our holiness”
“It is not speaking that necessarily breaks the silence. Silence is the place of the word of God, and if we confine ourselves to repeating this word, then we can speak without ceasing to be silent”
“God determined our body in advance in order to make his grace dwell in it. He does not overlook any weakness, anything compromising or deviated in us, but chose to make up the body of a saint. We have the right body for our destiny, the right body for our holiness”
“This man is so tired, so very tired, here is my whole body so that you can give him my seat, and my whole voice so that you can say very gently to him: ‘sit down’”
“There are not small or large crosses: there is simply the cross that we receive this morning, this evening, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, a small or large piece”
“It is not speaking that necessarily breaks the silence. Silence is the place of the word of God, and if we confine ourselves to repeating this word, then we can speak without ceasing to be silent”
“God determined our body in advance in order to make his grace dwell in it. He does not overlook any weakness, anything compromising or deviated in us, but chose to make up the body of a saint. We have the right body for our destiny, the right body for our holiness”
“This man is so tired, so very tired, here is my whole body so that you can give him my seat, and my whole voice so that you can say very gently to him: ‘sit down’”
“There are not small or large crosses: there is simply the cross that we receive this morning, this evening, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, a small or large piece”
June 27, 2024
Great Adoration read! Focusing on ordinary people and the holiness attainable at every instant of life, this is a pertinent book I hope to keep rereading.
My one grievance is that some of the excerpts were outlines, which were not particularly enlightening.
LOADS of gold:
"How many of us... have not felt the strong desire to curse our body and have almost asked to be freed from it, and yet our body is not an accident. God desired it, God designed it...God determined our body in advance in order to make his grace dwell in it....We have...the right body for our holiness."
"We can easily control and check for flaws in our work. We will not know until after death what irreparable breaks in the edifice of grace were caused by the flaws in our pain." (He even uses pain!!)
"To be able... to carry the Lord God everywhere: here or there will be a soul that has kept its human fragility in the face of God's grace, a soul that has forgotten to harden itself with gold or cement. And then to...pray for all these people, so close to all, so close to God...Desert of crowds, desert of love." (so practical)
"Losing five minutes by acting slowly often gains us all the time we spend performing the action."
"The Church does not forget that we have a body. In the gestures she gives our body to do, let us not forget that we have a soul...Everything that is of the Church is trembling with life. It is we who have the sad ability to stupefy it by not allowing ourselves to wash in all these small gushing streams."
"The essential revelation of the Gospel is the dominant and invasive presence of God... God is only encountered in solitude."
"[O]ur miniscule moments of solitude are as great, as exultant, as holy as all the deserts of the world, they are inhabited by the same God, the God who makes solitude holy." (Total game changer for me, even solitude we don't want is infused with God)
"Silence... leads us to the gift of ourselves and not to a disguised avarice. But it keeps us gathered for this gift. We cannot give ourselves when we have been dispersed...'For all your words you will be held accountable.'"
"To save the world is not to give it happiness. It is to give it the meaning of its pain and a joy that 'no one can take away'. While we must fight against the woes... that Christ took seriously so that on the last day we are judged according to the help we gave him, we must remember that, beyond them, it is about eternal life and not a second Earthly Paradise."
"The Kingdom of Heaven is the personal love of God, in Christ, for each of us and of each of us for each other. It is through the love of each person that we can love humanity... Salvation is not a collective abstraction."
"[T]here are poor in love, gifts, strengths. We owe them the heart of Christ...it is for everyone and it is to everyone that we have to give it."
My one grievance is that some of the excerpts were outlines, which were not particularly enlightening.
LOADS of gold:
"How many of us... have not felt the strong desire to curse our body and have almost asked to be freed from it, and yet our body is not an accident. God desired it, God designed it...God determined our body in advance in order to make his grace dwell in it....We have...the right body for our holiness."
"We can easily control and check for flaws in our work. We will not know until after death what irreparable breaks in the edifice of grace were caused by the flaws in our pain." (He even uses pain!!)
"To be able... to carry the Lord God everywhere: here or there will be a soul that has kept its human fragility in the face of God's grace, a soul that has forgotten to harden itself with gold or cement. And then to...pray for all these people, so close to all, so close to God...Desert of crowds, desert of love." (so practical)
"Losing five minutes by acting slowly often gains us all the time we spend performing the action."
"The Church does not forget that we have a body. In the gestures she gives our body to do, let us not forget that we have a soul...Everything that is of the Church is trembling with life. It is we who have the sad ability to stupefy it by not allowing ourselves to wash in all these small gushing streams."
"The essential revelation of the Gospel is the dominant and invasive presence of God... God is only encountered in solitude."
"[O]ur miniscule moments of solitude are as great, as exultant, as holy as all the deserts of the world, they are inhabited by the same God, the God who makes solitude holy." (Total game changer for me, even solitude we don't want is infused with God)
"Silence... leads us to the gift of ourselves and not to a disguised avarice. But it keeps us gathered for this gift. We cannot give ourselves when we have been dispersed...'For all your words you will be held accountable.'"
"To save the world is not to give it happiness. It is to give it the meaning of its pain and a joy that 'no one can take away'. While we must fight against the woes... that Christ took seriously so that on the last day we are judged according to the help we gave him, we must remember that, beyond them, it is about eternal life and not a second Earthly Paradise."
"The Kingdom of Heaven is the personal love of God, in Christ, for each of us and of each of us for each other. It is through the love of each person that we can love humanity... Salvation is not a collective abstraction."
"[T]here are poor in love, gifts, strengths. We owe them the heart of Christ...it is for everyone and it is to everyone that we have to give it."
June 8, 2024
We, the ordinary people of the streets, believe with all our might that this street, that this world where God has placed us, is, for us, the site of our holiness.
We believe that we lack nothing necessary, because if any necessity were missing, God would have already given it to us.
***
Consider this. Let us take a very small piece of our life and set free the charity of Christ in it to see everything it can do, everything it
***
Let us not reduce Christ to the size of the world, but raise the world up to the size of Jesus Christ.
We believe that we lack nothing necessary, because if any necessity were missing, God would have already given it to us.
***
Consider this. Let us take a very small piece of our life and set free the charity of Christ in it to see everything it can do, everything it
***
Let us not reduce Christ to the size of the world, but raise the world up to the size of Jesus Christ.
December 24, 2025
so good lol.
re: the book as an object - this little collection of writings is well organized and the editors do great work in contextualizing each bit, as well as including notes about difference between manuscripts.
re: the book as theology and prayer - occasionally messy, always beautiful. very convicting...for one to be a Christian is to "exchange his freedom for the freedom of Christ." and "the real intimacy with Christ happens if we join him in the place that is his: the last." besides the sorta obvious first essay, "we, the ordinary people of the streets" (find the pdf online and read it right meow), a really striking collection of thoughts on "liturgy and lay life" is incredible for how practical it is for the modern person - liturgy in the midst of train cars, walks on the street, etc etc etc.
loved it
re: the book as an object - this little collection of writings is well organized and the editors do great work in contextualizing each bit, as well as including notes about difference between manuscripts.
re: the book as theology and prayer - occasionally messy, always beautiful. very convicting...for one to be a Christian is to "exchange his freedom for the freedom of Christ." and "the real intimacy with Christ happens if we join him in the place that is his: the last." besides the sorta obvious first essay, "we, the ordinary people of the streets" (find the pdf online and read it right meow), a really striking collection of thoughts on "liturgy and lay life" is incredible for how practical it is for the modern person - liturgy in the midst of train cars, walks on the street, etc etc etc.
loved it
October 2, 2024
A lot to reflect on and pray about. Ven Madeleine Delbrel is a challenging woman, and much of what she wrote parallels St. Therese of Lisieux: become a saint in the everydayness of your lives, where God has placed you. Bring the Good News to the people around you - be a "missionary without boats."
I'll write a more extensive review at my Substack - but here's one powerful quote of many:
"The Gospel was not made for spirits in search of ideas. It was made for disciples who want to obey."
OK, one more:
"The light of the Gospel is not an illumination that remains outside of us; it is a fire that demands to penetrate us in order to bring about a devastation and a transformation there."
I'll write a more extensive review at my Substack - but here's one powerful quote of many:
"The Gospel was not made for spirits in search of ideas. It was made for disciples who want to obey."
OK, one more:
"The light of the Gospel is not an illumination that remains outside of us; it is a fire that demands to penetrate us in order to bring about a devastation and a transformation there."
July 30, 2024
3.5 - There were definitely some good nuggets to takeaway and make you think. The best part was the first section, we the ordinary people of the street. Other sections talked about Mass and a particular Father that she was fond of - I didn’t get much out of those larger sections. I liked the book The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment much more for the topic.
May 31, 2024
This was an interesting and thought provoking book. A bit heavy on Catholicism, but had some very very good thoughts to ponder on and made me look at my life on a much deeper level. Easy to read yet very deep.
November 12, 2024
The chapters "We, the Ordinary People of the Streets" and "Our Daily Bread" resonated with me. I will have to go back and contemplate those pieces by her.
February 13, 2025
"We, the ordinary people of the streets, believe with all our might that this street, that this world where God has placed us, is, for us, the site of our holiness."
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews