Ordinary time is NOT ordinary

Taken from Living Liturgy 2012:

These thirty-four weeks of non-festal time are named "Sundays in Ordinary Time," first, because they derive non from a feast day as such (they use to be called Sundays "after Epiphany" or "after Pentecost") but from the mystery of Jesus Christ. These Sundays, then rather than celebratings a particular saving event (such as Christmas, Easter, pentecost), actually celebrate the whole mystery of Christ. For this reason, every Sunday might also be called a "cominical" feast day, that is, a day celebrating the Lord (from the Latin Dominus, Lord).

Second, they are called "Ordinary Time" because they are numbered or "counted time" (from the Latin word ordinarius and its cognates, which mean "according to order," "regular"). Although the Latin is translated from the editio typica (the official, Latin version of our liturgical texts) in English by "ordinary," we must not think these Sundays are prosaic or unimportant. In fact, they make up the longest liturgical season of the year, the church's teaching time. This is the time when, Sunday after Sunday, we walk with Jesus through a gospel and learn what it means to be his followers, what it means to hear and heed his call; and we learn how to come to deeper relationship with him.

First Sunday of Advent

November 27, 2011 – First Sunday of Advent – Year B

*First Sunday of the third edition of the Roman Missal*

I can hardly believe it is here! There are several “its” to which I refer:
1 – It’s a new liturgical year. Happy New Year!
2 – It’s the first Sunday we are using all new mass settings, plus our new/changed responses.
3 – It’s the first Sunday of Advent – wow! Where has the time gone?
4 – It’s almost December, which means the month will fly by with lots of activities and preparations for Christmas.

I admit, Advent snuck up on me. Or, probably more honestly, I wasn’t alert to the fact that Advent was almost here! It’s rather odd that I missed the countdown, considering that I’ve spent the last 4 weeks preparing to use the new mass settings in our liturgy, beginning with the first Sunday of Advent. Talk about missing the forest for the trees! But that mindset is exactly what the readings address in Sunday’s liturgy – ‘Be watchful! Be alert!’. If we don’t anticipate and prepare, we are likely to miss it completely.


There is much I could say about how the songs fit and support the readings, but in the interest of brevity, I’ll keep it short. Here’s the anticipated song list:


Opening – Maranatha (Come Lord)
Psalm – Respond & Acclaim “Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved”
Presentation/Preparation – Turn to Me
Communion – Christ Be Our Light
Closing – City of God
After – Soon & Very Soon


I realize you may not all be attending the same Sunday liturgy, but I encourage you to pay attention to the music selection and look for ways that the songs echo the readings. It may be obvious or it may be subtle. Take one song, and focus on the words. What is the meaning? What word or phrase speaks to you? What is challenging about the message?

One last thought – the season of Advent is a time for us to watch and be alert, but for what? It’s more than Jesus’ birth at Christmas. We must also anticipate Christ’s coming at the end of time, and most especially, we must look for Jesus in our daily lives. If we don’t clarify our expectations, we are likely to miss our God among us now.

Resources used:
Living Liturgy by Liturgical Press – http://www.litpress.org/
Today’s Liturgy by Oregon Catholic Press – http://www.ocp.org/
Breaking Bread – Music Issue – www.ocp.org

I love you, Lord, my strength

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102311.cfm

Tonight's bible study was a fruitful one - we study the readings for the coming Sunday - and I made a connection tonight that I hadn't found before. I love it when things like that happen - when I am either finally open or willing to see the next layer or deeper meaning.

The Gospel was the question about which is the greatest commandment, and you know how that plays out. However the commentary we studied showed how the greatest comandment and the second are connected: We love God when we love our neighbor, realizing that the strength to do so comes from allowing God to love us. What a lovely circle; the more I embrace God's love of me, the more I can share this love with my neighbors, the more I glorify my God, and so on.

What We DO Know

I received this as an email from a friend, and it was too powerful not to share:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ~Romans 8:28

We know…There are so many things we do not know. We do not know if the economy will dip or if our team will win. We do not know what our spouse is thinking or how our kids will turn out. We don’t even know “what we ought to pray” (Rom. 8:26). But according to Paul, we can be absolutely certain about four things. We know…

1. God works. He is busy behind the scenes, above the fray, within the fury. He hasn’t checked out or moved on. He is ceaseless and tireless. He never stops working.

2. God works for the good. Not for our comfort or pleasure or entertainment, but for our ultimate good. Since he is the ultimate good, would we expect anything less?

3. God works for the good of those who love him. Behold the benefit of loving God! Make his story your story, and your story takes on a happy ending. Guaranteed. Being the author of our salvation, he writes a salvation theme into our biography.

4. God works in all things. Panta, in Greek. Like “panoramic” or “panacea” or “pandemic.”All-inclusive. God works, not through a few things or through the good things, best things, or easy things. But in “all things” God works.

Puppet in the hands of fortune or fate? Not you. You are in the hands of a living, loving God. Random collection of disconnected short stories? Far from it. Your life is a crafted narrative written by a good God, who is working toward your supreme good.

Building my vineyard

Thoughts that came out of our bible study group tonight (http://usccb.org/bible/readings/100211.cfm):

We are asked to 'die to self' in order to participate in God's plan of salvation.  Sunday's readings focus on the vineyard where the vineyard owner (God) puts everything in place to grow a fruitful harvest.  But the problem is the tenants (us) who can become greedy, while at the same time denying God's freely given gifts (unlimited use of the vineyard [God's blessings and grace]).  In the Gospel reading, the tenants beat up the servants of the vineyard owner, escalating to the death of the vineyard owner's son (Jesus), in their misguided attempt to gain the vineyard. 

The reflections suggested that we must die to self so that the fruits of God's vineyard can grow in us.  It was suggested that we can die to self in many ways.  I had always associated the concept as a grand gesture, where the sacrifice was truly noble or impressive or perhaps really hard or painful.  But tonight, in the course of our discussion, it became apparent that we can die to self in small ways, too.  For example, there are times when it would be so much easier to stay home instead of attending Bible Study.  But when I make the effort to attend, even though I would rather not, I am dying to self, thus participating in God's vineyard.

More to come . . .