Reflection on the Liturgy and Ordinary Time

With the celebration of Pentecost complete, the Church entered into a new liturgical season: Ordinary Time. After the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi, liturgical vestments have been changed to green and some of the extravagance of Easter has probably been put back in storage for next year. While some might hear “Ordinary Time” and think “boring”, it actually refers to the ordinal naming of the Sundays (second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Third Sunday, etc.). But this return to the order gives us an opportunity to reflect on what the liturgy and the liturgical calendar is for and why Ordinary Time is actually an extraordinary time of God’s grace and a call to discipleship.

Ancient Roots of the Liturgical Seasons

The necessity of worship and a cycle of holidays goes back all the way to the time of the Old Testament. God proscribed seasons and feasts that the Jewish people were to observe to live rightly before God. Some of these holidays commemorated specific events like Passover and some were more focused on just living like Yom Kippur. God constantly asks the Israelites to remember what He has done for them and the covenant He has made with them, and the Jews often ask God to remember His promise to them. 1 Chronicles 16:12 says, “Rely on the mighty LORD; constantly seek his face. Recall the wondrous deeds he has done, his signs, and his words of judgment”. 

Time, the Church, and Liturgy after the Resurrection

In the time of the Resurrection, the Church has established its own feasts and fasts to better remember the work of our salvation in Christ. Preeminent among our holidays is Easter, which is so important that its grace overflows throughout the whole liturgical year. One way the liturgy is shot through with the blessings of Easter all year long is the weekly remembrance of the Lord’s sacrifice on Sunday or the Lord’s Day. The Catechism states that Sunday is “both the first day of the week, the memorial of the first day of creation, and the ‘eighth day,’ on which Christ after his ‘rest’ on the great sabbath inaugurates the ‘day that the Lord has made,’ the ‘day that knows no evening.’” So even within the larger cycle of the liturgical year, the Church sees each week as a mini liturgical season which begins with a mini Easter.  

As you might notice, the Church understands the time after the Resurrection, including the time we live in now, as both a continuation of the unfolding of God’s gift of Creation but also as already shot through with the end of time. The liturgical seasons of the Church point to this by not only having yearly repetition of holidays, but also that each day is an opportunity to live in the glory of Christ’s Resurrection. The Catechism says “When the Church celebrates the mystery of Christ, there is a word that marks her prayer: ‘Today!’ - a word echoing the prayer her Lord taught her and the call of the Holy Spirit. This ‘today’ of the living God which man is called to enter is ‘the hour’ of Jesus' Passover, which reaches across and underlies all history”. 

The Opportunity of Ordinary Time

So, what does this have to do with Ordinary Time? First, it expels the myth that the time between major Church seasons is just plain or mundane. Every moment is pregnant with God’s Grace thanks to the Salvific work of Christ. No “today” is boring anymore! Secondly, the readings for Ordinary Time follow the public ministry of Christ, both His miracles and teachings. In this season after the Resurrection and Pentecost, we are invited to return to Christ’s public life and contemplate how we can better live out Christ’s teachings in our own life. Plus, the Church specifically orders this Ordinary Time to the ultimate fulfillment of God’s Kingdom by having Ordinary Time and the whole liturgical season end on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. 

So, let us take this long stretch of Ordinary Time to rededicate ourselves to living out Christ’s teaching. Hear anew of Christ’s miracles and His parables and sermons. Though we are now in Ordinary Time, between major feasts, we have not lost the opportunity to live in God’s grace. Let us never tire of living out this extraordinary opportunity.

1  Catechism, 1166.

2  Catechism, 1165.