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January 16, 2000 |
We have in our Liturgical cycle, now returned to what is known as Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time is divided into two segments: this first segment of five Sundays before Lent, and the second, longer segment, after Pentecost Sunday until the First Sunday of Advent. The word ORDINARY is not to be understood as opposed to EXTRAORDINARY, but rather comes from the Latin word ORDINARE, which means set in order or to arrange. Thus, from now on, the Sundays are set in order, or arranged in numerical sequence. Therefore, this Sunday is the SECOND Sunday in Ordinary Time, followed by the THIRD Sunday in Ordinary Time, etc. The liturgical color of the vestments and altar appointments is always green for this season, which is the color of hope.
In the Sunday lectionary, we are now in Cycle B, which will use a combination of the Gospels of St. Mark and St. John. The nature of ordinary time is to follow the public ministry of our Lord, and be taught by His teaching, His parables, and His miracles...to experience the power of the Lord in the proclamation of these events in the Sunday Liturgy.
There was an atheist couple who had a child. The couple never told their daughter anything about the Lord.
One night when the little girl was 5 years old, the parents fought with each other the dad shot the Mom, right in front of the child. Then, the dad shot himself. The little girl watched it all. She then was sent to a foster home. The foster mother was a Christian and took the child to church. On the first day of Sunday School, the foster mother told the teacher that the girl had never heard of Jesus, and to have patience with her. The teacher held up a picture of Jesus and said, "Does anyone know who this is?"
The little girl said, "I do, that's the man who was holding me the night my parents died."
On May 25, 1998, Pope John Paul released a letter to the whole Church, under the title of {in Latin} "Dies Domini" (The Day of the Lord}. It is a letter that reflects on how we observe and celebrate Sundays in our Catholic Christian community. "The celebration of Sunday," Pope John Paul says, "remains...an indispensable element of our Christian identity."
The letter highlights the duty and responsibility to attend Sunday Mass and says that efforts should be made to insure that the celebration has a festive character appropriate to the day commemoratng the Lord's resurrection. The pope writes, "Because the faithful are obliged to attend Mass unless there is a grave impediment, pastors have the corresponding duty to offer to everyone the real possibility of fulfilling the precept." He continues: "More than a precept, the observance of Sunday should be seen as a need arising from the depths of Christian life." In discussing the liturgy, the pope observes that "the risen Lord is encountered in the Sunday assembly at the twofold table of the word and of the Bread of Life.
The pope further says that the Eucharist's communal character "emerges in a special way when it is seen as the Easter banquet in which Christ himself becomes our nourishment. He calls it "important" to be mindful that communion with Christ is deeply tied to communion with our brothers and sisters." "The Eucharistic celebation does not stop at the church door."
The scripture readings focus on being called to follow the Lord. We find on the first reading that Samuel is being invited to a special relationship. He hears the call but he does not know from where it comes.
We hold that our God is personal. What this means is that we are invited to know Him. It calls for a relationship. Let's look at it. We learn from others about relationships, even our relationship with him.
These readings invite us to look beyond conversation and deepen our personal relationship with God. We can take this one step farther. In the Son, we can encounter the fullness of God's commitment to us.
Let us learn from the disciples who inquired where Jesus stayed. He answers, Come and see. This is the offer that is made to each of us.
What great gifts we have. The Lord Jesus personally invites us to spend time with Him and know who he is. This is an opportunity to deepen our knowledge by spending time with Him.
I should like to suggest that you might turn to this gospel reading, John 1:35 - 42, and enter into it. Let your mind and heart be open to hear the invitation to be with Jesus.
May the graciousness of God help you to know and love Him.
Father Ron
'Tis the season to be jolly... Well, the season to be jolly, the Christmas season, ended with the celebration of the Baptism of Jesus last Sunday. The Christmas decorations have been put away. A good number of the poinsettia have disappeared and the crib scene is stashed away for another year.
We have entered liturgically and personally, I think, that in-between season which this year is longer than usual. These can be trying times. We long for the warmth and sunshine of summer, but, instead, we are treated to the dull gray days of winter.
Lent comes late this year, not appearing till after the beginning of March. And this means Easter comes late.
What happens to us during these times? Unfortunately, it often happens that all of us become a little more testy, a little less patient and a lot harder to get along with. This shows up in parents and their children, teachers and their students, employers and their workers, priests and their parishioners...all of us.
Perhaps, we all are in need of a survival kit. And foremost in that survival kit would be the recommendation that we not abandon the Lord but that we draw even closer to him who bears our burdens with us. We do this by our faithfulness to Sunday Mass, daily prayer, a good dose of the Scriptures, a friend to share with and good, old-fashioned meditation.
One thing that our faith teaches us is that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. And it is this light that helps us walk through the darkness of life when it surrounds us.
Question: Is it a mortal sin to miss mass?
Answer: The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in their obligation commit a grave sin." (#2181 Catechism of the Catholic Church, p. 527).
We remember that God desires our praise, worship and thanksgiving each Sunday and Holy Day of obligation. If one deliberately and freely does not fulfill this obligation, God calls him/her to reconciliation through the sacrament of confession.
Did you ever wonder what Ordinary Time was all about? Read on.
There are five church seasons: Advent, Christmastime, Lent, the Paschal Triduum (a three-day season), and Eastertime. There are two blocks of Ordinary Time. First, in winter come the weeks between Christmastime and Lent. Then, in summer and fall come the weeks between Eastertime and Advent. That's over half the year! On most days in Ordinary Time, green vestments are worn.
Ordinary Time isn't a season, just a way to describe the weeks between seasons. The word ordinary means regular, plain, run-of-the-mill. It also has another meaning. It means counted. Ordinal numbers are first , second, third, fourth and so on.
We count each week. There's the first week in Ordinary Time, which begins right after the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The 34th week of Ordinary Time comes right before Advent begins. We count the Sundays, too. The Sunday after the Baptism of the Lord is called the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time because it begins the second week in Ordinary Time. We do all this counting to keep track of the weeks so we know which scriptures to read when we assemble for the liturgy.
Each year at Sunday Mass during Ordinary Time we read bit by bit through one of the gospels. One year we read through the Gospel of Matthew. The next year we read Mark's gospel. The next year Luke's gospel is read; then we read through Matthew's gospel again.
The church's biggest feast during these winter weeks of Ordinary Time is the Presentation of the Lord, on February 2. The Presentation is a turning point. We look back to Christmastime. We look forward to Lent and Easter. (Companion to the Calendar Liturgy Training Publications)
Gary Richmeier, C.PP.S
You can tell a lot about a person by visiting their house, the place where they live. You can tell if they are organized or disorganized, and the number of books lying around will tell you if they like to read or not. The house of a friend of mine will tell you that she has a soft spot for the weak and helpless, because it houses 5 cats and one dog, all of which she found abandoned.
Maybe that's why in the gospel today, Jesus told John's curious disciples to come and see where Jesus lived. That would tell them more about him than any words could. It wasn't just Jesus' house that he wanted them to see (he didn't have a house that we know of), but where he lived, where he spent his life. And we all know he spent his life with and for others, especially the outcasts, like tax collectors and prostitutes and the poor. His life was about reconciling, healing, and loving. That was where he lived, and that's where he invited the 2 disciples to come live.
They say you get like the people you live with. The invitation to these two disciples, and to us, to come and see, is an invitation to move into Jesus' living space and allow him to rub off on us. What do we do when we accept that invitation? We spend time in the same space as Jesus. For example, we spend more time in the realm of reconciliation as we forgive ourselves and others. We move closer to the poor and any others that society distances itself from. We cohabitant with compassion, as we place ourselves in others' shoes to gain understanding.
Come and see where I live. It's such an innocent invitation. But if we accept it, we'd better be ready for some big changes. We'd better be ready to welcome in the Reign of God.
Last Monday, when I came to church for the 6:30 AM Mass, I was taken with how stark is our place for prayer. All decorations of Christmas Time had been removed the day before. The trees, the lights, the flowers - all gone! Even the white of vestments replaced with the green of Ordinary Time. What a contrast and yet an occasion of reflection and insight.
Even when the time of holidays is wearying and wearing, there is a certain animation most difficult to maintain. For the sake of spiritual health, we need a time that is customary and comfortable letting dust settle to gain perspective without the demand of peak experiences. Of course, we know that the word "ordinary" when applied to this time of the Year of Grace refers more to the ordinal counting of weeks - first, second, third, etc. - than it does to the level of intensity and expectation. Yet, it is an easing off which provides less pressure in some sense and therefore additional chance for quiet, directed growth.
We comfortably speak of the celebration of holidays. It seems less appropriate to speak of the celebration of Ordinary Time. Yet, remember that saintliness is realized in doing the ordinary of each day in extraordinary fashion. So, we have ample opportunity to test the cliché in practice. Efforts which best cause and sustain growth focus on the tried and true. Time for reflection. Time for attention to God's presence. Time for that personal conversation called prayer. Time for faith practice in service to others. Time for a patient word. Time for care filled listening. Time for the flow of faith-word to express itself in faith-action. Time for the usual, the customary, the routine. Time to capture the present as the only moment in which we can truly know that we are alive. Time to make the present holy because it is God's gift and blessing.
In many ways it is significant that the liturgical color of Ordinary Time is the green of growth, the green of vibrant life! Celebrate the ordinary and know more fully the care of our loving God!
"We hear this Sunday the account of Samuel's call, and it is followed by an account of the call issued to three apostles: John, Andrew, and Peter. ...
"If we ponder how these people were called by God, we can find a response to the very questions and difficulties that plague the Church today. How are we to tolerate the serious differences that are evident among believers? How are we to restore unity to the evident areas of discord?
"In the vocation of these four people we discover common features and noticeable differences right from the very start. In the case of all four, the initiative comes from someone else. They are invited and urged to become disciples. None of them could have become believers or followers on his own. All four also have recourse to a third party in order to get a satisfactorily convincing guarantee of the summons they have received. The suggestion seems to be that a person needs the support or verification of another in one's journey towards God. Finally, once all four hear and accept God's summons, they heeded it immediately. They waste no time, and they commit themselves unreservedly to it. The results of their ready gift of self soon become apparent. As today's first reading notes in the case of Samuel: 'The Lord was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect.'
"But there are differences between them too. Samuel is summoned directly by a sort of cry. John and Andrew are pricked by their natural curiosity. Simon is led to Jesus by his brother. The roles that each of these men will play subsequently are also different.
"We will find such differences mirrored in our own ecclesial gatherings on Sunday. All of us are called by the Lord, but in different ways and for different jobs. Some of us came to know the Lord at an early age. Some benefited from some gradual or sudden illumination within us. Some of us were probably attracted by the need for, or the witness of, some community life. In addition, our subsequent journeys have been different, and our missions in the service of the Lord are also different, varying with our professional, social, and familial situations.
"To accept the pluralism of our ecclesial gatherings is to accept the fact that each of us has a different mission. Yet we are united in one single way of life that has been accepted and chosen by all. ...
"It is useless to look for unity where it cannot be. It cannot be found in the externals. So we must look for unity where it truly resides, that is, in the encouragement we offer each other to maintain our personal fidelity to the Spirit of love, however different the outward manifestation of it may be."
--Fr. Gonzague Mott OFM
"Today," Jesus added, "this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Lk 4:21), thus indicating that he himself was the Messiah foretold by the prophet, and that the long-expected "time" was beginning in him. The day of salvation had come, the "fullness of time". All Jubilees point to this "time" and refer to the Messianic mission of Christ, who came as the one "anointed" by the Holy spirit, the one "sent by the Father." Pope John Paul II, On the Coming Third Millennium.
A Note on Christian Unity...Christian unity has been a constant effort of the Church throughout her whole history even from the beginning when St. Paul rebuked the believers in the city of Corinth for factionalism. One need read only his letters to the Corinthians to sense the urgency of the task to bring about the unity of faith. While it seems that unity of faith and worship among all the baptized is a goal never to be obtained, remarkable advances towards understanding and mutual cooperation among all Christians have been accomplished in our own time. The Christian Churches of the United States observe the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity from January 18 until January 25 as a reminder that unity for which Christ prayed must still be among our most prayed for intentions. More has been accomplished in our time to bring about the healing of the division in Christianity than those who initiated the annual prayer even dreamed possible; and not yet has what we have seen matched what those prayers expect. Make Christian Unity a regular intention of your prayers.
