Celebrating Ordinary Time

Ordinary Time, begins in January. Ordinary Time was re­stored as a distinctive period of the liturgical year by the Second Vatican Council; it was one of the Council's most important re­forms, and it can help us grow spiritually.

The name itself is significant; Ordinary Time means 'the time of the order', reminding us that in the early centuries before the emergence of Lent, Christmas and the other Seasons, the church's liturgy followed its own 'order' which did not corres­pond to national festivals.

Having no political power, the Christians of that time had no choice - they could not impose their festivals on the rest of society.

Ordinary Time is a living reminder therefore that the church existed - and even flourished - at a time when it was ignored by civil society.

This is still the situation today in many parts of the world: where it is a minority group (as in much of Asia); where members are not allowed to practice their faith in public (as was the case in Socialist countries); or where society pursues differ­ ent interests, as in the Western world during Advent ('Christmas shopping season'), Christmas ('party time' or even 'beginning of the Carnival season') and Easter ('school holi­ days').

We accept our minority status calmly and confidently, as our ancestors in the faith did ; during Ordinary Time, we remain faithful to our 'liturgical order' as a source of the energy we need to preserve our Christian values.

In the post-Vatican II liturgy the lectionary of Ordinary Time follows the ancient tradition called 'continuous reading (lectio continua), that is to say that one particular book of the Bible is read from beginning to end, according to the order in which it was written.

Passages are not chosen according to themes (as happens during the 'Seasons'). We receive them as they occur in the Bible text and welcome them as God's word for us, just as we welcome people and events when they come our way without our having chosen them.

Continuous reading teaches us the important lesson that the Bible is one unified book - the Word Made Flesh in a wide vari­ ety of circumstances, each of which brought its own unique per spective and added its own insight into the Word. The original Word became clearer as time went on.

We read the Bible 'histor­ ically' therefore, aware of the particular circumstances in which the Word was Made Flesh, and the stage of its evolution. In our Catholic understanding of the Bible, the process continues.

The biblical text remains sacred but each historical era - including our own - throws new light on it and is in turn illuminated by it.

During Ordinary Time continuous reading is done on both weekdays and Sundays. The two weekday readings are often taken from different books, independently of each other. On Sundays the arrangement is different. Of the three readings

•  the gospel texts are a continuous reading of one of the syn­ optics;

•  the first reading is taken from the Old Testament and is cho­ sen to correspond to the gospel reading;

•  the second reading is a continuous reading of one of St Paul 's epistles.

The continuous reading of the gospels focuses on one section of the life of Jesus:

•  His public ministry, starting after the temptations and end­ ing before the passion, death and resurrection. It invites us to ex­ perience Jesus as a human being who carried out his life work within historical circumstances.

This is part of the human condi­ tion and he accepted it fully. Continuous reading corrects the common tendency of experiencing Jesus as a disembodied 'voice' speaking to us 'from heaven' or some indeterminate place.

•  The Jesus of the gospels - at least as experienced in continu­ ous reading - 'the kingdom of God '. This is a biblical expression meaning God's plan for the world - the world as it would be if God were in charge. It is spelt out in some detail in various Old Testament texts as a world of harmony and abundance for all.

•  Jesus could not dictate how this goal would be lived out in practice. Like us, he had to adapt to circumstances he could not control. At times he was in control (e.g. in Galilee ), at other times (e.g. on the cross) he had to accept circumstances which others imposed on him.

The Jesus we meet in continuous reading is therefore a living lesson that we too are called by God to live 'historically'.

•  Like Jesus we are God's sons and daughters, made in God's image and likeness, endowed with freedom. We choose to set goals for ourselves and we are responsible for being faithful to them.

•  Like him too we are limited creatures. We too must live out our goals within historical circumstances which we can influ­ ence but only to some extent. We grow spiritually by 'living with' them. We combine idealism and realism and seek the wis­ dom to know the difference, according to the well-known 'Serenity Prayer'.

The continuous reading of the Sundays of Ordinary Time fo­ cuses on the synoptic gospels. There are slight differences in the way each gospel tells the story of Jesus' public ministry, but one thing they have in common - their 'one optic' - is that they di­ vide it into three historical stages.

•  He started in Galilee. It was a triumphant period, great crowds followed him and hung on his words, but there were al­ ready rumblings of opposition, originating from the leaders in Jerusalem .

•  At a certain point of the Galilean ministry, Jesus decided it was time for him to go to Jerusalem and confront the religious leaders. He journeyed there, on foot naturally, but continued his teaching, the difference being that he focused more on his disci­ples than on the crowds.

•  Jesus arrived in Jerusalem and ministered there, in an at­ mosphere of heightened opposition and impending crisis.

We start the Sundays of Ordinary Time in early January, and interrupt them for Lent Several Sundays are replaced by feasts such as the Trinity and Corpus Christi .