The following reflection on Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Cycle was shared by the Sisters of Charity Leadership Team with the Congregation.

The period of Ordinary Time that we are in now in the life of the Church is very short —six weeks. The Advent-Christmas-Epiphany season ended with the Baptism of Our Lord on January 11 and the season of Lent-Easter-Pentecost will be introduced with Ash Wednesday on February 18. The other period of Ordinary Time is longer —from Pentecost until we start another liturgical year at the end of November with the season of Advent. These periods of liturgical Ordinary Time are to remind us that it is in and through our ordinary days that we live out the mystery of our salvation.

Most of us live ordinary lives with ordinary days in which we know our best and our worst self and everything in-between. We have our days when, with a bounce in our step, we are able to bring joy, patience, and gratitude to others, and days when we need hope, trust, and a forgiving heart to put one foot in front of the other. It is in these ordinary days that the extraordinary mystery of God’s faithful love accomplishes saints-in-the-making.

Nightly news makes the extraordinary a part of our ordinary days —acts of terrorism, disasters of nature, kidnappings, and the disappearances of hundreds of people from “thin air.” Our prayers are stretched to every corner of the globe as we cry out, “Come, O God of Peace, take charge of our hearts and make us whole.” We need to keep remembering that each and every ordinary day is wrapped in God’s saving love.

For the transformation of ourselves and of our world we must live intentionally within and out from the magnificent gesture of God’s saving help. The wisdom of the liturgical year reminds us of this. Our ordinary lives are holy because it is here we experience who we are and who our God is for us.

Blessings on all our ordinary days.
The Leadership Team