The Season of Ordinary Time
Summer
As the school year begins, the Summer holidays are over but there is still a month of long, hot, summer days. After soaking up the sun and the surf, it is now back to routine or, for the little ones, the adventure of going to school for the first time.
During Summer, the Church celebrates the Advent-Christmas-Epiphany cycle, and then moves into a period of Ordinary Time. While the liturgical seasons Christmas and Easter have their own distinctive character and celebrate a specific aspect of the mystery of Christ, the weeks of Ordinary Time – especially Sunday – are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects.
Sunday is the weekly commemoration of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and for this reason it stands at the centre of our week. The Sundays are counted and called ‘Second Sunday in Ordinary Time’, ‘Third Sunday in Ordinary Time’, etc. The counting stops for the Lent-Easter cycle and then resumes towards the middle of the year. When Easter is very early, there are only a few weeks of Ordinary Time after school resumes.
Sunday by Sunday, Christian assemblies hear a variety of Scripture texts arranged in a three year cycle. We hear from the gospel of Matthew in Year A, Mark in Year B, and Luke in Year C. Throughout the weeks of Ordinary Time, we also keep holy the memory of Mary, Mother of God, the apostles, the martyrs, and all the saints. Our liturgical traditions present these women and men to us as intercessors and models.
Sunday by Sunday, Christian assemblies hear a variety of Scripture texts arranged in a three year cycle. We hear from the gospel of Matthew in Year A, Mark in Year B, and Luke in Year C. Throughout the weeks of Ordinary Time, we also keep holy the memory of Mary, Mother of God, the apostles, the martyrs, and all the saints. Our liturgical traditions present these women and men to us as intercessors and models.
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Winter
After the Lent-Easter cycle, the Church returns to Ordinary Time and, in Australia, this often coincides with the beginning of Winter. Winter is experienced differently for every community; some trees lose their leaves but, of course, they are not dead. In Brisbane, in the coldest part of winter, brilliant yellow wattle blooms, a wonderful symbol of light in darkness. When attending to the patterns of the surrounding environment, there are rich possibilities for connecting prayer with the rhythms of the season. |
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The liturgical colour for Ordinary Time is green, the colour of life and hope. The parish church will probably be dressed in green.
For the purposes of classroom prayer, a green leafy plant might appropriately reflect the beauty of nature and the changes in the local environment. Teachers may consider inviting groups of children to be creatively responsible for decorating the prayer corner during Ordinary Time. This prayer space might include a large bowl of water into which the children may dip their hands to remind them of their baptism. A large and colourful candle near the water, alight during prayer, will remind the children of the light of Christ they have received.
Parish liturgy committees who busily prepared for the solemnity of the Lenten liturgies and the joy of the Easter celebrations may foresee the chance for a break from preparations with the beginning of Ordinary Time. However, it is important that the foundational principles of good liturgy preparation be maintained. Large, vibrant liturgical symbols should continue to be used, lectionary readings should be well prepared and clearly proclaimed, and appropriate music selections should continue to enrich the liturgical rites. This quieter time of the Church year provides an ideal opportunity for liturgy committees to reflect on weekly liturgical celebrations and identify ways of further enriching their worship. Perhaps a parish liturgy group might examine possibilities for the recruitment of liturgical ministers, the arrangement of the liturgical space or the introduction of a new psalm setting.
For the purposes of classroom prayer, a green leafy plant might appropriately reflect the beauty of nature and the changes in the local environment. Teachers may consider inviting groups of children to be creatively responsible for decorating the prayer corner during Ordinary Time. This prayer space might include a large bowl of water into which the children may dip their hands to remind them of their baptism. A large and colourful candle near the water, alight during prayer, will remind the children of the light of Christ they have received.
Parish liturgy committees who busily prepared for the solemnity of the Lenten liturgies and the joy of the Easter celebrations may foresee the chance for a break from preparations with the beginning of Ordinary Time. However, it is important that the foundational principles of good liturgy preparation be maintained. Large, vibrant liturgical symbols should continue to be used, lectionary readings should be well prepared and clearly proclaimed, and appropriate music selections should continue to enrich the liturgical rites. This quieter time of the Church year provides an ideal opportunity for liturgy committees to reflect on weekly liturgical celebrations and identify ways of further enriching their worship. Perhaps a parish liturgy group might examine possibilities for the recruitment of liturgical ministers, the arrangement of the liturgical space or the introduction of a new psalm setting.
Spring
The Sundays in Ordinary Time resumed with the Tenth Sunday in 2019, and will conclude in the thirty-fourth week of Ordinary Time with the solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. This conclusion of Ordinary Time happens at the end of Spring, a delightful season of new life and growth when flowers brighten the countryside with colour. In the northern hemisphere, the joy of Spring is used to speak to people of Easter and the resurrection of Christ. It can remind us too of the constant wonder of God’s new creation in Christ. Every Sunday is a little Easter Day of reconciliation and resurrection.
The final term of the school year brings us to final exams and assessment, graduation and end-of-year events, and begins to orient us to the glorious summer holidays which lie ahead. It is Jacaranda time!
The Sundays and weeks of Ordinary Time are a time of growth. The liturgical colour of this season expresses this notion of growth, hope and maturation in faith. Green represents new life in nature, the fresh flourishing of grasses, and trees. So too, the weeks of Ordinary Time provide the opportunity to be refreshed through the Sunday Lectionary readings which present the public ministry of Jesus, and to celebrate Christ's presence in the ordinary patterns of daily life.
