ASK THE ACOLYTE

Mark Biolo

What the heck is "Ordinary Time"??

Ah! Good question as we are about to embark on a rather long stretch of "Ordinary Time". First, the obligatory quiz: What are the synoptic Gospels? As always, the answer can be found in last month’s column. An abbreviated version for those of you who used that column to wrap garbage can be found at the end of this little dissertation.

Well, as you may know, the Church Year, or Liturgical Year as it is more properly called, is divided into distinct periods of time much like our calendar year. The cycles of our calendar year are, of course, winter, spring, summer, and fall – easily definable seasons with our changing weather here in the "North Country". Two of the periods of the Liturgical Year are pretty easy to define as well because of the great feasts around which they are based: Christmas and Easter. We call these two seasons the Incarnation Cycle, which includes Advent and Christmas, and the Paschal Cycle, which includes Lent and Easter. The well known theological content of these two major cycles makes it easy to think of them as distinct blocks of time, what we traditionally call "liturgical seasons". Much of the rest of the Liturgical Year is composed of Ordinary Time with some other feasts and solemnities sprinkled in here and there for good measure. We’ll address the Incarnation Cycle and the Paschal Cycle as they come around next year. It is important to remember, however, that each Sunday is a remembrance and celebration of Easter. Indeed, every Mass is a re-presentation of the most Holy Sacrifice, of the great paschal event!

So, what is Ordinary Time, a "season of numbered Sundays", all about? For some the lack of a specifically festive title renders those Sundays blank. The reasoning at work here is: No feast, no focus. No theme, no significance. Perhaps the designation Sunday in Ordinary Time is a big part of the problem. After all, what does ordinary mean in common usage but "nothing special". Hence the all too common misperception of these Sundays as lacking in focus and content, a blank stretch of Sundays between important days.

But ordinary here really means ordinal from the Latin ordo, meaning "in order" or "methodical arrangement": Sundays are counted in order as we chart our way through the synoptic Gospel of the year. Remember the Lectionary has arranged the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke in a recurring three-year rotation, saving John’s Gospel for the seasons celebrating the Lord’s incarnation and paschal mystery. In scriptural union with other Christian churches that use lectionaries based on ours (very many do), we move in an ordered and orderly fashion through the synoptic Gospel of the year. During these numbered Sundays of Ordinary Time the fullness of the paschal mystery is unfolded through the life and mission of Jesus proclaimed in the Gospel.

Seen from the perspective of the Lectionary, the Sundays in Ordinary Time are only blank if the pages of the synoptic Gospels are considered blank! The content of the Season of Sundays is, therefore, nothing less than and no one else but Jesus Himself. So when you see the green vestments on the priest and see a "Sunday in Ordinary Time" listed in the bulletin, recognize that this is an opportunity to meet Christ alive in our midst, to come to know Him through the synoptic Gospels of the numbered Sundays.

So, get to know the Gospels of the "numbered Sundays" and you will come to know Christ. Listen carefully, reflect on the passage and then participate with all your heart and soul in the Liturgy of the Eucharist with all the joy and reverence that should characterize every Easter remembrance.

P.S.

The synoptic Gospels are those of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, so called because they can be lined up in parallel columns and pretty much agree with each other in the stories they tell. This method of comparison, of "taking the same point of view", is known as synopsis.