Often we think of ordinary as being mundane and boring. Quite to the contrary, ordinary can be extraordinary. Yes, it is true that the Seasons of Advent and Christmas are quite extraordinary times. Yet, all the glitter and glitz of Advent and Christmas does not extraordinary make. What makes the ordinary extraordinary is in how we think and approach it.
The liturgical year, like the calendar year is a cycle of months and seasons that chronologically flow from one to another. This cycle can be thought of as a bit of a rut, a “here we go again, the same old, same old.” Or, we can think of it as a new adventure upon which we embark.
Think of how we were last January. Over the past year our lives have not remained static. Our bodies have changed for better or for worse. Hopefully, during this time, our wisdom, our knowledge and our experience has grown. In one way or another, we are physically, mentally, and emotionally different today than we were one year ago. Have we grown spiritually during this past year?
Over the next few Sundays, we will hear the familiar stories of Jesus beginning his earthly mission of spreading the Good News of God’s love. We will hear him calling his disciples and all people to a deeper relationship with God, his Father. Throughout Ordinary Time we will hear familiar stories of healing miracles, the nature miracles, and extraordinary feats like the feeding of the 5000. These stories should speak to us in a different way this year, especially if our relationship with God has grown.
The calendar year and the liturgical year are not circular ruts through which we pass again and again. Rather, every new year is spherical, always changing, always new. Human relationships that are static and never change die. Can that be said of our relationship with God? This new year, as ordinary as it might seem, is filled with extraordinary surprises. God is always calling us into a deeper relationship. Our relationship with God is always extraordinary, no matter the time or season of the year. We have a choice to make this new year. Will our relationship with God remain static and dead, or will we choose to deepen and enliven our relationship with God? Will we make this Ordinary Time extraordinary or just ordinary?
