Our Journey of faith through the liturgical year returns to Ordinary Time. The Lectionary resumes with the continuous reading of the Gospel according to Luke. In many places, the return to Ordinary Time this year also coincides with the end of the school year and the beginning of summer break.
The rhythms of life change for the summer and we find ourselves moving into a more relaxed mode. This can also be true of our celebration of the liturgical year, but it is also an opportunity to reflect more consciously on the meaning of Sundays as the Lord's Day.
The Sundays of Ordinary Time present us with the opportunity to let each Sunday nourish our faith life. This is a noble idea to ponder during the summer's Ordinary Sundays because for the Christian no time is "ordinary." Every day is "extraordinary" because every day God is acting in our lives. God is sustaining us. God is re-creating us. Nothing is ordinary about people of faith who gather each Sunday to become who we are destined to be by virtue of our Baptism - The Body and Blood of Christ. Sunday is the original feast day, the only feast day for the Church in its first several hundred years following the death and Resurrection of the Lord. From the time of the New Testament, we have known it as the Lord's Day.
"On the first day of the week, which is known as the Day of the Lord, or the Lord's Day, the Church, by apostolic tradition that draws its origin from the very day of the Resurrection of Christ, celebrates the Paschal Mystery. Hence, Sunday must be considered the primordial feast day." (UNLYC, 4). In the slower and more relaxed pace of our summer days, our Sunday gathering for worship is the perfect opportunity to keep our focus on the Paschal Mystery of Jesus and living out that mystery in our everyday lives. In turn, we go forth into our world proclaiming the kingdom of God. This is not ordinary! We have the opportunity to do extraordinary things. The love and forgiveness of God celebrated in Christ every Sunday will help us to proclaim God's love and forgiveness in word and deed, to carry on what Jesus began. This is our extraordinary vocation. This is the power of Ordinary Time!
