(Extra)Ordinary Time of the Year
10 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Catholic, Christian, Scripture Reflections
The homes and churches look bare as the season of Christmas is now over. The Nativity scenes have been packed away, the trees have been dismantled, the poinsettias taken away. The church calendar tells us that we are now in Ordinary time. Ordinary? Hardly! It reminds me of the call of the priest as he dismisses us after mass, “The Mass is ended, go in peace to love and serve the Lord!”. The mass ends but our task to love and serve the Lord just begins. So then, what does Ordinary time mean for us? It means, to go beyond. To do extraordinary things in ordinary everyday things. It means to love unconditionally, serve patiently, give abundantly. It is not easy and this is why I would not term this Ordinary time because we will need to lean on the Lord even more to do these tasks. But he knows us, our thoughts and our minds. As in today’s Gospel reading, as we sit by our “boats mending our nets”, he says to us “Come, follow me” and we leave our tasks and go. This hymn sums up what my prayer is today:
Lord, when you came to the seashore you weren’t seeking the wise or the wealthy, but only asking that I might follow.
O Lord, in my eyes you were gazing, Kindly smiling, my name you were saying
All I treasured, I have left on the sand there; Close to you, I will find other seas.
