Nothing “Ordinary” about Ordinary Time
We’ve been celebrating the greatest mysteries of the Faith with intensity since Easter Sunday. Remember Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, all back to back? Now we’re fully back into the Sundays of Ordinary Time … but these weeks are anything but ordinary.
The name of the liturgical season called Ordinary Time in the official Latin of the Church is Tempus per Annum, or “Time Throughout the Year”. And its ordinary-ness doesn’t mean that it’s casual or banal, rather, it’s the long yearly season of training as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. We call it “ordinary” in English really only to point out that these sacred weeks are “ordered” or “numbered,” one through thirty-four.
Our Gospel readings for the next few months will focus on the teachings and miracles of the Lord, giving us time to reflect on how the Lord is drawing us further into His mysteries, providing the backdrop for a fuller understanding of the mysteries of faith, like the Incarnation, the Eucharist, the Passion, Death, and Resurrection, the Ascension, Pentecost, etc. If Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter are the what of the faith, Ordinary Time is the why and the how.
You’ll notice the priest’s vestments will now switch from the Easter white to green, which is meant to show that God’s grace is like a pine or magnolia, evergreen…we are supposed to keep growing and bearing fruit, whether we were just baptized a few months ago or we are cradle Catholics. The Lord isn’t done with you yet. He is inviting each one of us to grow deeper roots, to allow His light to go to deeper places in our hearts.
Please keep praying for our parish, that this season will be Extraordinary for us in our desire to always love the Lord more than we do now, in our worship, in our building community, in our Christ-like service.
Keep the faith, stay green!
Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!
All you holy saints of God, pray for us!
Peace in Christ,
Fr. Michael
Pastor