Bore-Dinary Time??

We have moved from the celebrational seasons of Advent and Christmas to “Ordinary Time.”  This is what the official description says about it: 

          Besides the times of the year that have their own distinctive character [known as “Privileged”], there remains in the yearly cycle thirty-three or thirty-four weeks in which no particular aspect of the mystery of Christ is celebrated, but rather the mystery of Christ itself is honored in its fullness, especially on Sundays.  This period is known as Ordinary Time” (from the “Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year #43).

So the implication seems to be that if certain liturgical seasons are privileged or special, the remaining times are run-of-the-mill or blah.  Let’s take another look at this, and let’s use the Rosary as a guide.

          We all know the traditional 150 Hail Marys that make up the totality of the Rosary, broken into 3 sections of 50 each (5 decades), and to each decade there is dedicated a “mystery.”  We all know the Joyful Mysteries that celebrate the Annunciation, Visitation, Birth, Presentation, and Finding.  We are aware of the Sorrowful Mysteries that mark the Agony, Scourging, Thorns, Via Dolorosa, and Crucifixion.  And we rejoice in the Glorious Mysteries of Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost, Assumption, and Crowning of Mary.  For many of us, these were THE mysteries.  You may not know that the 150 Ave, Marias were a substitute for the earlier 150 Pater Nosters, and that this was a method for illiterate believers to pray in imitation of the monks and priests who could read and who therefore prayed the 150 Psalms in the Divine Office.  But I digress…

          Consider that the Joyful Mysteries parallel the seasons of Advent and Christmas—you can see the obvious connection, I’m sure.  In the same way, the Sorrowful Mysteries are an accompaniment to the season of Lent and its culmination in the Sacred Triduum of Holy Week.  And then the Glorious Mysteries mark the celebration of Easter.

          Now enter Pope St John Paul II, who added an additional set of what he called “Luminous Mysteries.”  These mark the person and ministry of Jesus—Baptism, Wedding at Cana, Preaching the Kingdom, Transfiguration, and Last Supper.  It is clear that these are a reflection of the phrase describing Ordinary Time— “…the mystery of Christ itself is honored in its fullness…” 

          So rather than bemoaning Ordinary Time and thinking that there’s nothing special going on until Ash Wednesday and Lent, let’s recognize the opportunity we have to celebrate the mystery “in its fullness.”  After all, the liturgical color for this period is green—a color traditionally (and not just liturgically) associated with Spring, fertility, new life, and hope.  What a joy to mark our lives with the life of the Savior who came to offer us this new life—commissioned at the Jordan, manifested at Cana, proclaimed in the preaching, confirmed on Mt Tabor, and shared with us in the Eucharist.  We can do much worse than to find ourselves in “Ordinary Time”!