In these beginning weeks of Ordinary Time – the numbered Sundays of the year – it might be interesting to reflect a bit on just how much the Church year tends to mirror the ebb and flow of normal human living. There are the big moments of our lives like a graduation or a wedding day or a significant anniversary or the birth of a child – big celebrations that are anticipated and prepared for and hugely enjoyed. The Church celebrates Christmas and Easter like that – the big events celebrating the biggest moments of our salvation that are designed to be enjoyed for weeks. On the other hand, the momentous events of our lives can seem pretty insignificant when compared to the much longer periods of everyday living that we experience most of the time – the daily grind where the majority of our lives are lived. In a sense, Ordinary Time tends to mirror this less spectacular, but much more common aspect of life. It’s in Ordinary Time that we get to know Jesus in the Gospels in a less intense perhaps, but certainly much more intimate way. It’s here that we see Jesus teaching His disciples, struggling with His opponents, touching an individual person’s life with a miracle, praying to His Father, feeling tired or frustrated, looking out with compassion on the crowds who were lost and alone like sheep without a shepherd, taking a breather with some of His closer friends and on and on. In short, while our salvation was accomplished in the biggest moments of Jesus’ life – in His Incarnation or in His death and resurrection, it’s in His daily living that we get to know Him more deeply. It’s my encouragement to you that you take some time during these weeks of Ordinary time to reflect on the Gospel readings for each Sunday and thereby come to know Jesus more intimately. He speaks to us in the message of the Gospel if we take the time to listen.

Have a blessed week!

Fr. Don