Here we are again in Ordinary Time after the Easter Season. Since we had a patch of Ordinary Time between the Christmas Season and Ash Wednesday, we began Ordinary Time again, picking up with the ninth week. This long liturgical season will take us back to Advent, when we will begin the liturgical year all over again.
In the last couple of years in various homilies I’ve heard, priests have referred to the extra-ordinariness of Ordinary Time. It can sometimes feel like a let-down after a major celebration to go back into ordinary life, and the same can be true on the liturgical level, but Ordinary Time really is anything but a let-down!
This is the season in which we have the opportunity to digest and reflect more deeply on the mysteries we celebrate during the special seasons. It is also the time to get to know Jesus as a person a little better. The readings we hear at Mass during Ordinary Time give us the chance to reflect on what He said and did while He walked this earth. And since He is still alive (remember, we just celebrated Easter), He is able to speak to our hearts here and now as we listen to and pray with the scriptures.
Sometimes I pray with the readings for Mass for the day, but other times I like to choose another scripture passage to pray with that I think will help me get to know the heart of Jesus in a deeper way. One time, I chose to pray with the passage of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane as He was preparing for His Passion. I decided on that passage because I sensed my own heart was struggling with the weight of making important decisions, and I did not want to focus merely on my problems. I thought if I turned my eyes to Jesus in His sufferings, it would put my own in proper perspective.
The words that Jesus prayed stood out to me. "Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will" (Mk 14:36). As I sat with those words, I could see Jesus entrusting Himself to His Father because He knew how much His Father loved and cared for Him. Reflecting on that, I began to slowly realize that I did not have to have all the answers. If I could be open to God's will, He would lead me, and I would not have to work hard to figure it out. In the end of it all, the words that we sometimes pray in the Liturgy of the Hours came to me, "In your will is our peace, Lord." I began to relax a little more on the inside, trusting--and praying to trust more—in the Father's love for me also.
Not every ordinary prayer time turns out like this, but every prayer time has an extraordinary element because we are relating with extraordinarily loving and exciting Persons in Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit! With God, time is never ordinary if by that we mean mundane or boring. Rather, it is extraordinary because we never quite know what new insights He might give us as we seek to know Him better each day.
May your Ordinary Time be extraordinary!
Sr. Mary Catherine Kasuboski, T.O.R.
