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Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Lord:
After the feast of Pentecost, the Church’s liturgical
calendar changed from the Season of Easter to Ordinary Time. This change
may not be immediately obvious, because the liturgical color for
Ordinary Time – green – is not used on the first two Sundays of this
phase of the season. The Easter color of white is continued because two
solemnities – Trinity Sunday and The Body and Blood of Christ – are
celebrated on the Sundays following Pentecost.
The name 'Ordinary Time' which is used to
describe that part of the church year outside the seasons of Advent,
Christmas, Lent and Easter is perhaps rather an unfortunate and
misleading term. The word 'ordinary' commonly means something
that is unexceptional or uninteresting. However, the word 'ordinary'
as used in 'Ordinary Time' simply means that the Sundays
after the seasons of Christmas and Easter are numbered in order; in
sequential manner. It is best to think of Ordinary Time as one of the
liturgical seasons – the longest season of the church year. Its
liturgical color of green points the hope which participation in the
paschal mystery brings to all Christians.
As Christians, Sunday is our original feast day – the
day to celebrate Christ’s resurrection. Feasts of local saints and other
celebrations began to take over the Sunday celebration of the paschal
mystery during the Middle Ages. By the time of Pius X in the early
1900’s, the Sunday Mass texts were rarely used. After Vatican II, the
new Sacramentary restored the central place of Sunday in the celebration
of each week and the primacy of Ordinary Time as a whole.
Parish liturgy groups that have been very busy preparing
for Lent and Easter might be tempted to take a breather from planning
once Ordinary Time begins. However, there is no such thing as 'ordinary
time' in Christian worship. While music and decorations used during the
high season of the Church year will be scaled down, the basic principles
of good liturgy remain: scripture readings that are well prepared and
proclaimed, large liturgical symbols that speak clearly of the meaning
they carry, and music that supports these rites.
It would be a pity, for example, if a parish which has
been singing the psalm during Lent and Easter were to revert to saying
the psalm again. Just as the Lectionary gives the option of common
psalms for Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter, there are possibilities
for common sung psalms to be used during Ordinary Time so that the music
leaders and the people don’t have to tackle a new setting every week.
This quieter time of the year also gives the liturgy
committee an opportunity to evaluate the parish’s normal patterns of
Sunday worship and to find ways of enhancing the Sunday celebrations. A
committee might review, for example, the parish music repertoire, or
liturgical space, or the recruitment and training of liturgical
ministers. Ordinary Time enables us to devote ourselves to exploring the
mystery of Christ in all its aspects and to celebrate the presence of
God in the ordinary patterns of human life.
Let’s give our minds and hearts to the Lord!
Father Joe |
