On “Ordinary” Time

"Perpetual Calendar" by BrunoFr

This is not my “Keeping Time” post that I have planned, as I am still gathering thoughts for that, but it is certainly related.  It’s more of a side note and a parenthetical.

Two weeks ago was Pentecost Sunday, and we celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit to the Church. Christ has ascended into heaven, and from there he sends the Paraclete to comfort, to guide, to lead, and to reveal Truth to the People of God.

So we have entered the part of the year commonly known as “Ordinary Time.” Eh? What’s that? Critics of the Church Calendar look at this and laugh. You have half a year dedicated to feasts and observance of Christ’s life and ministry on earth, leading up to his death and resurrection . . . and then you have ordinary time.

Doesn’t this just confirm the objection that the Church Calendar causes us to regard some Lord’s days as “more holy” than others? Isn’t ordinary time kinda dull in comparison with Christmas or Pascha (Easter)?  Admittedly, this is often the case in many churches, who observe the Church Year.  But it should not be that way, especially if we properly understand what “Ordinary Time” is.

First, we should consider the etymology of  the word “ordinary.”  These days in colloquial language it generally means every-day-unexceptional-unexciting-plain-homely blah.  But the word didn’t always have those connotations.  The word “ordinary” essentially means to count in order.  It denotes rhythm and structure.  It did not necessarily have any sense of the mundane or the boring.

So what purpose does ordinary time serve for the use of the Church in the passing of time?  This season, the longest of the Church year, is also rightly called the “season after Pentecost.”  To bring things into better focus, some have even termed it the season of Pentecost.  It is an important season in the life of the Church, for just as we have celebrated the incarnation of Christ (Christmas), his death and resurrection (Pascha), his ascension, and his sending of the Spirit, the Church now goes out into the world in the power of that Spirit to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission.

Ordinary time is the annual equivalent to the liturgical dismissal: “Now go forth into the world to love and to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.”  It is essentially the Church Calendar’s answer to the question of “so what?”  As such, the season should be no more mundane, purposeless, or boring than the mission of the Church is irrelevant in light of the ministry of Christ.  We must keep the mission of the Church in the world in focus during this season.

So for the Church observing ordinary time, the season after Pentecost: we walk in the Spirit and have Christ as our King, to whom all power and authority is given in heaven and on earth . . . so what?