After the joy and splendor of the fifty-day celebration of Easter, we enter what the modern Church calendar labels as “Ordinary Time.” While the word “ordinary” may evoke more of a hum-drum, uneventful quality for us today, this is simply the Church describing that we are in ordered/ordinal, or numbered time (hence, the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time). One of the ways this “ordinal” aspect is expressed is that, in Ordinary Time, the Lectionary Readings move us sequentially through an entire Gospel (we’re reading Luke in our current Year C). While the First Reading from the Old Testament is always harmonized to the Gospel, we also read sequentially through various books of the New Testament in the Second Reading (Letters to the Galatians, Colossians, Hebrews… etc.). This sequencing allows us to experience how the ministry of Christ grew and developed over his lifetime from the perspective of each evangelist, as well as how the early Christian communities developed through the letters of advice, admonishment, consolation, and teaching written to them by the Apostles. As the childhood formation program, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, describes the liturgical colors for each season: “green is for growing.”
Outside of the heightened and extraordinary seasons of anticipation and preparation (Advent), prayer and fasting (Lent), and joy (Christmas and Easter), we can relax a bit more in our lives and seek out new opportunities to grow in our faith. While the first part of Ordinary Time happens in the deep winter, the main stretch of Ordinary Time occurs for us Minnesotans in our much-appreciated warm summers! Personally, I love to garden, and it has been a joy to watch my garden develop over the few years since I bought my house. There are certainly many interesting parallels between the liturgical seasons and gardening! In the Easter season, the readings mainly focus on the great mystery of the Resurrection, but they also focus on the stories of the Apostles beginning to live their Christian lives. As a Church, these readings are especially intended for the newly initiated Catholics (the “neophytes” or “new shoots”) who entered the Church at the Easter Vigil. So too, after that first spring full moon, anyone who wants to plant begins to think about sowing those new seeds for what will be growing in the coming season…
As we enter Ordinary Time around June, gardeners and farmers are hard at work establishing and tending to their gardens and fields. There is joy in watching perennials come back bigger each year, with higher yields. Certain plants may need special attention with fertilizer or extra water to flourish. And then there are the challenges of tenacious weeds and destructive pests! Every year is a little different; certain weeds and pests will be more prevalent than others in a particular year… and so with our faith lives. Established habits, disciplines of prayer, and particular devotions can yield great spiritual fruit over the years. Sometimes, certain practices become challenging to maintain and may require additional effort. And, alas, we will all encounter the challenges of sins and temptations that want to thwart our spiritual growth. Sometimes, they are familiar foes that keep coming back, or perhaps they diminish for a season or even disappear, and sometimes new ones rise in their place and catch us unaware. Due to these inevitabilities of life, it is all the more important for us to stay grafted onto Christ the True Vine in our spiritual lives to continue to be nourished and to grow.
In this summer of Ordinary Time, I encourage you to take some time to examine your “spiritual garden.” What are the things that are flourishing and bearing fruit? Do certain aspects of your faith need special attention to nurse them back to health? What challenges are you facing with your faith, and how could you be better equipped to overcome them? One of the beautiful aspects of the Gospels of Ordinary Time is the many parables we hear from Christ. These stories have captivated humanity for millennia, and we still continue to find meaning and guidance in them. What new insights from the Ordinary Time scriptures can help you grow in your faith?
Nicole Millner Director of Sacred Liturgy and Music