The Luminous Ordinary is a personal and inviting reflection on the foundress of the Sisters of Mercy Catherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831. The remarkable growth of her early groups of women, serving the poor, establishing schools and hospitals all over the world, and inviting a personal spirituality that is more than relevant todaythese are the focus and invitation of this booklet. Reading it, you are invited to engage the realities of her time as their relevance shines through in ours. This is a reflection on the power of women to change the world.

Brenda Peddigrew has been a Sister of Mercy of Newfoundland and Labrador for fifty-one years. She has worked as a high-school teacher, a Vocation Director, Diocesan Director of Adult Faith Development, Retreat Leader and Facilitator of Chapters and Assemblies of Religious Communities of Women and Men for twenty-five years, in many parts of the world. Presently she lives in northern Ontario, on a river in a forest, writing, guiding religious congregations, and steeping in the natural world.