So here we are, for the second time in a year we’re celebrating the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time is such an interesting name for a season of the Church that we spend the most time in — its plainness almost feels unnecessary to name. When teaching the liturgical seasons to students they often get all the “big” seasons — Lent, Advent, Easter — but Ordinary Time? They often say that’s not a season, it’s just plain old, normal time. I can see where they are coming from and, to be honest, I used to agree. Like so many things in the Church, what may seem frivolous actually turns out to be quite complex. After all, the Church in her beauty often discover God in the most mundane of things. The burning of our incense becomes a prayer carried, the wooden bead — a rosary, the bread and wine — life itself.
It is the sacred found in the mundane that is the key to the transformative power of our faith. Therefore, so shall “ordinariness” be made holy. Though I challenge myself to think what ordinariness is. It was an ordinary day when Paul was on the road to Damascus. It was an ordinary day when Peter was fishing and saw Jesus on the shore. There was a time that “days that live in infamy” were just days. It was an ordinary Thursday when the cancer came back, an ordinary May evening when she walked into the room. The Church celebrating ordinary days tells us to be alert that any moment can be a moment of tragedy or joy and therefore we should offer all of them up in prayer. Okay, so life happens. That’s hardly a thought even worth printing.
But, let us be intellectually honest. Life-changing events can happen in other days. Things can get crazy during other liturgical seasons — Christmas anyone? So, maybe I’m avoiding the obvious: the Church celebrates Ordinary Time because it is ordinary!
Enjoying ordinary time is to enjoy and pray on the sunset, the kettle boiling, the red ocean of car light on the George Washington Bridge, the glow of TVs from home windows when walking the dog, the stacking of fast food napkins in glove compartments with friends on the way to the shore, the lightening of the evenings. All this ordinary stuff made quite extraordinary. Have a blessed week.
I’ll be seeing you,
Elliot