This past month and weeks we completed the Easter Season which culminated itself in the Feast of Pentecost, followed by the Feast of the Holy Trinity, followed by the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi). In each of these Sunday celebrations we highlighted a specific “mystery” of our Catholic Christian Faith. “Mystery” is such an important part of who we are in Christ. Mystery is about faith and trust, it’s about acceptance and hope, it’s about letting go and allowing ourselves to be led by the grace of God as we grow in the spiritual life. If all we did and thought and felt was very calculated, very determined, very articulated, with no room for mystery, we would all be locked into a limited understanding of our world, both in its physical and spiritual dimensions. We would lose the thrill and excitement of living our life as an adventure into God, into our self and into others. Since mystery is at the very heart and existence of God, and since we are created in the image and likeness of God, (Imago Dei) we too need mystery to feed our inspiration for wonder and praise and cause to seek new avenues in reason, technology, science, psychology, research, philosophy, and theology to deepen and better our lives.
Now, all with this said let’s talk about the Liturgical Season called “Ordinary Time.” This Sunday is what we call the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Some people mistakenly think that “Ordinary Time” means we are in the low point in our Church’s Liturgical Year. That it is somehow ‘flat’ ‘low ranking’ or ‘more mundane’ in our Lord’s life, that it is significantly less important or involves less mystery than other times in our Liturgical Year. This is far from the truth! Fact is, every Sunday throughout the Church’s Liturgical Year is considered a feast as we celebrate the Eucharist with our Lord present to us.
The words: “Ordinary Time” have their origin from the Latin: “Tempus per annum” or “Time during the year.” It also comes from the Latin: “ordinaries” which is also translated into “orderly” or “customary.” Ordinary Time is meant to be a sort of counting of our Church’s year, sort of like we count our months and dates on our regular Gregorian Calendar. “Ordinary Time “ has nothing to do with being ‘ordinary’ in the common sense of the term, rather each Sunday in this time is designed to enrich our Catholic Christian Faith. Although it’s true that during this period we usually hear in our Gospels about the ‘life and times’ of Jesus with no great Church Feast in mind, each Sunday weekend highlights a specific theme or special event in our Lord’s life which we bring to the surface in order to give us a better insight into who this Jesus is! Ordinary Time, also reminds us of the passage of time, not only in our Lord’s life, but in our own life as grow older and we make that spiritual journey toward fulfillment in Christ in the afterlife. As I write this, I am reminded of the quote of Ecclesiastes: “There is a time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens...” Despite all the bad news, may our time “Together As One” help spur us on to a new and brighter, safe and exciting future in the Good News of Christ!
Peace and God bless! Fr. LeRoy Scheierl
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