All preaching, catechesis, social action ministry, worship, acts of citizenship, work, leisure and neighborliness must take into account the sacred potential in what appears to be mundane human experience. For embedded in the ordinary lies the extraordinary, the miraculous, the salvific, the holy.
Contemplation is indeed a prerequisite for thoughtful action.
Lay spirituality, however, eventually turns toward the world. Spiritual direction or spiritual programs that tend to steer people away from the world are not helpful to most Christians because the path of salvation and the life of the church courses through the experience of parents, students, workers, neighbors, friends and spouses. The best apostles in a given situation are most often those Christians closest to the situation. Their proper and important roles should be respected, their gifts acknowledged and their competency cultivated and utilized. The initiative to gather with like-minded Christians and to transform the world should be taken up without hesitation by each baptized person.