A Return to the Ordinary

I've been pondering lately what it means to live the liturgical season.  I've found some amazing
resources, inspirations, and overall felt a greater awareness of the importance and wisdom in the seasons in our church.  I'm usually one who drags my feet when it comes to putting away decorations and taking down my Christmas tree.  I absolutely love the glow of Christmas lights, especially when entering an otherwise dark house.  It's inviting and warm and evokes feelings of happiness and joy.  That's not to say that there is any magic that emanates from these bright globes, they will glow whether I've had a good or bad day, whether it snowed one inch or ten.  But like Pavlov's dog, I seem to have conditioned myself to find, see and welcome joy into my life more quickly when the tree is lit.  I also love the parallel that as we approach the shortest day of the year, we enjoy our lights while we crave and seek the true Light - Jesus Christ.

I guess it's 'normal' to feel as though Ordinary Time is a letdown after the anticipation of Advent and the joy of Christmas.  But are we overlooking the value of this new, albeit less grandiose, liturgical season?  I remember when the topic of Ordinary Time came up in my bible study many years ago, and the reflection impacted my viewpoint significantly.  Although the title seems so . . . . I just can't resist, . . . . "ordinary," the purpose of the season is anything but.  I think of the Transfiguration, when Peter was reluctant to leave, or when I have lived a CEC weekend or Cloisters on the Platte Retreat and I want to stay within the experience.  Yet coming down from the mountain (figuratively or literally) is exactly what we are called to do.  At Mass, we are commissioned and sent forth.  We don't attend Mass on Sunday to punch a clock or check something off our to-do list (hopefully).  We leave the church and go forth into the mission-field, whether that is in our family, workplace or community.  We are to live our baptismal call as Priest/Prophet/King in the ordinary-ness of daily life AKA Ordinary Time.  So, to my thinking, this is when I practice what I preach.  This is when I live what I claim to believe.  It is in the day-in-day-out activities that I claim a victory for Christ.  It's easy to be filled with joy in the experience of Midnight Mass.  It can be harder to continue to see joy in the same-ness of our daily life, but that doesn't make it ordinary.  God is present in every moment of every day, and if that isn't joyful, I don't know what is.  Challenge yourself to see the joy - it is there, even now.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." ~Romans 15:13