We’re in ordinary time in the church year. Ordinary time is more than “day by day” time. It’s the time after Pentecost when the Holy Spirit prepares the world for the final coming of Jesus Christ. In ordinary time the gospel goes out to all peoples and nations. It’s the time of the church; it’s our time.
We’ve left the easter season when Jesus, risen from the dead, revealed the saving plan of God to his disciples who go out into the world with his message. We read the resurrection narratives, especially from the Gospel of John in which the Risen Jesus instructs his disciples, and the Acts of the Apostles, which describe the years the apostles began their mission after Pentecost up to the time when Paul and Peter reached Rome.
Now, ordinary time takes us to the next stage of God’s plan, the next stage in the church’s growth. In this first week of ordinary time, the readings from the Epistle of James and the Gospel of Mark look at the church of the 70s, after the destruction of the Jerusalem and the Jewish temple, as the mission of the apostles ends and another era begins. Commentators say these readings were written and are directed especially to Christians facing difficult, unexpected calamities brought about by persecutions and the destruction of Jerusalem and its holy places.
Ordinary time looks to all the eras the church lives through. We read the scriptures ever day in ordinary time, because the mystery of Jesus remains with us every day, year by year.
The saints play an important part in ordinary time. They show how Christians respond to the times they live in, and they pass their wisdom on to us. For example, we have two saints this week, Venerable Bede, the 8th century English monk, and St. Philip Neri, the 16th century priest who led a reform of the church of Rome.
Bede never left his monastery, but his commentaries on the scriptures and his history of the English people still give us insight into the mystery of God and how life unfolds.
Philip Neri is usually remembered as a joyful man with a great sense of humor who worked effectively with the young people of his day. But he was more than that.
In his day Protestants were turning to history to back up their claims against the Catholic Church, so Philip encouraged Catholic scholars and historians to look into the history of their own church, but with fairness and accuracy. Baronius said of him: “I love the man especially because he wants the truth and doesn’t permit falsehood of any kind.”
Philip helped the church look into its own traditions and roots. He lived in an era of fierce controversy, but he encouraged gentleness, cheerfulness and friendship as a way to Christian reform. He wanted people to see the beauty of faith. A biographer said “ his aim was to do much without appearing to do anything.
An example for us today?
Ordinary time is our school, we learn as we go through the church year. It’s the most important book we read, filled with wisdom and God’s grace.
The readings in today’s Mass point to the wisdom of ordinary time. “Whoever is not against us is for us,” Jesus says to his disciples who complain there are others “who do not follow us” driving out demons. (Mark 9,38-40) Wisdom is not just in our tradition; it’s there everywhere in ordinary time.
I like the hand in the picture above of Bernini’s famous window in St.Peter’s. Who’s hand is it, anyway? A believer’s hand. Yes, for sure. But also the hand of all who walk this earth searching for truth.
“Wisdom breathes life into her children” (Sirach 4,11 ) Like much of the wisdom literature in the bible (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom, Psalms) the Book of Sirach, one of the readings at the beginning of ordinary time, draws much of its content from the culture of the middle east which influenced the Jews at home and in their exile in other lands.
As the gift of God breathed into ordinary time, the Holy Spirit “renews the face of the earth.” The Spirit’s wisdom is everywhere.
MAY 20 PENTECOST SUNDAY
Solemnity
Acts 2:1-11/1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 or Gal 5:16-25/Jn 20:19-23 or Jn 15:26-27; 16:12-15 (63)
21 Mon The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church (Seventh Week in Ordinary Time)
Memorial
Gn 3:9-15, 20 or Acts 1:12-14/Jn 19:25-34 (572A)
22 Tue Weekday
[Saint Rita of Cascia, Religious]
Jas 4:1-10/Mk 9:30-37 (342)
23 Wed Weekday
Jas 4:13-17/Mk 9:38-40 (343)
24 Thu Weekday
Jas 5:1-6/Mk 9:41-50 (344)
25 Fri Weekday
[Saint Bede the Venerable, Priest and Doctor of the Church;
Saint Gregory VII, Pope; Saint Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi, Virgin]
Jas 5:9-12/Mk 10:1-12 (345)
26 Sat Saint Philip Neri, Priest
Memorial
Jas 5:13-20/Mk 10:13-16 (346)
Ordinary Time
The Easter season ends with the Feast of Pentecost and we begin ordinary time in the church year. Unlike other feasts, Pentecost has no octave; ordinary time is its octave. Most of the church year is ordinary time; most of life is ordinary too, but the Spirit’s there just the same.
“Their message goes out to all the earth.” In the Easter season Peter, Paul and the others venture from Jerusalem to Asia Minor and to Rome, empowered by strong winds and tongues of fire. Now it’s our turn. The Spirit can bring us to the ends of the earth, but the Spirit’s in the few steps we take every day, though we’re hardly aware.
We tend to minimize ordinary life. Ordinary, nothing’s happening, we think. Yet, day by day in ordinary time the Risen Lord breathes his peace on us and shows us his wounds. Every day he breathes the Spirit on us. No day goes by without the Spirit’s quiet blessing.
This year we begin ordinary time remembering Mary, the Mother of the Church. “The Mother standing beneath the cross (cf. Jn 19:2-5), accepted her Son’s testament of love and welcomed all people in the person of the beloved disciple as sons and daughters to be reborn unto life eternal. She thus became the tender Mother of the Church which Christ begot on the cross handing on the Spirit…
“Christ in turn in the beloved disciple chose all disciples as ministers of his love towards his Mother, entrusting her to them so that they might welcome her with filial affection. As a caring guide to the emerging Church Mary had already begun her mission in the Upper Room, praying with the Apostles while awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14). In this sense, in the course of the centuries, Christian piety has honoured Mary with various titles…
This celebration will help us to remember that growth in the Christian life must be anchored to the Mystery of the Cross, to the oblation of Christ in the Eucharistic Banquet and to the Mother of the Redeemer and Mother of the Redeemed ,the Virgin who makes her offering to God.’’ (Congregation of Divine Worship, 2018)
We begin ordinary time on Monday with Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of the Church.
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For this week’s homily please play the video file below:
Auguste Renoir, “In the Meadow” (1888-92) The Met
Two Little Flowers
Side By Side
Stretching Toward The Sun
Slightly Different Shaped Petals
Slightly Different Shades Of Pink And Blue
Sing And Dance
Dance And Sing
Waving Hello
Smiling Goodbye
Two Little Flowers
Side By Side
Stretching Toward The Sun
—Howard Hain
Web Link: Auguste Renoir, “In the Meadow” (1888-1892) The Met
(May/2018)
Walter Langley, “Never Morning Wore to Evening but Some Heart Did Break”, 1894
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
—Romans 12:15
Sobbing is quite an amazing act. When someone really let’s go. The back shakes, the stomach heaves, giant tears rain down. The sound is unlike any other. The cry of the truly poor. The wailing. The bursting forth of what no longer can remain contained. The release. The death. The life.
“With a loud cry Jesus died.”
God…something to truly behold.
The man. The woman. Rachel refusing to be consoled.
And then it stops. Like a torrential downpour that just can’t last that long. The hard, fast, terrible roar of a summer thunderstorm. It comes and goes. The floods flash, then creation smiles once more—it almost winks, as if nothing ever happened at all. Brother Sun reappears. The black clouds…
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Lord, you know better than I know that I’m growing older. Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking that I must say something on every subject and on every occasion. Stop me from craving to straighten out everybody’s affairs.
Make me thoughtful but not moody; helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom it seems a pity not to use it all. But you know, O Lord, that I want a few friends at the end.
Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point. Seal my lips on my aches and pains. They are increasing and love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by. I dare not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tale of others’ pains, but help me to endure them with patience.
I dare not ask for improved memory but for a growing humility and for a Lessing cocksureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.
Keep me reasonably sweet. I do not want to be a saint– some of them are hard to live with–but a sour old person is one of the best works of the devil. Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people. And give me the grace, O Lord, to tell them so.
Amen. ( A Medieval Nun’s Prayer)
Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.
—Matthew 6:28
Does a flower make pronouncements? Does it define itself? Does it box itself in with titles, names, and distinctions?
And yet, “not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of these.” (Matthew 6:29)
———
A flower simply exists.
And its existence glorifies God.
There is no need for it to do more.
By its very existence it magnifies what cannot be further magnified: God’s Presence, God’s Glory, God’s Beauty…
———
“I’m a flower.”
“I’m a rose.”
“Look at me!”
Statements such as these we shall never hear.
Flowers are divinely indifferent to the world’s definitions and distinctions, to its approval and applause.
After all, it’s a person who receives the medal at an orchid show, not the flower herself. No, her finely-placed petals would only be weighed down by such metallic-based ribbons.
What a gift it is to…
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Pierre-Auguste Renoir, “Still Life with Roses in a Vase”, 1910-19
Fount of Life
Fire of Love
Sweet Anointing From Above
Come Holy Spirit!
Come Holy Spirit, living in Mary!
———
A simple thought. At times that seem complex:
If every Mary in my life is praying for me, then all will turn out well.
I find that some of the most challenging times are times of serious discernment, when decisions have to be made—not made-up manufactured dilemmas, the conjectures of our overactive and self-obsessive minds endlessly playing shell games with hypothetical possibilities—but substantial concrete decisions, those times of choosing one real and reasonable path as opposed to another, equally real and equally reasonable.
These times can be quite unsettling, even if both paths are seemingly sunny. For if we desire to do God’s will and attempt to put aside our personal preferences, quite often the “right” choice is not crystal…
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