Radio Show

How Can I Better Appreciate Ordinary Time?

A listener named Ashley asks Father Dave, “Can you help me appreciate Ordinary Time? It just feels like downtime until the next important season.”

Father Dave begins by explaining how the Roman Missal defines Ordinary Time. “It says, ‘Besides the times of the year that have their own distinctive character, there remains in the yearly cycle 33 or 34 weeks in which no particular aspect of the mystery of Christ is celebrated, but rather the mystery of Christ itself is honored in its fullness, especially on Sundays.’” This means that in Ordinary Time we are not focusing on the Nativity of Christ or his death and Resurrection, but rather his earthly ministry. 

“The idea of Ordinary Time is that we need to live our lives as Christians every single day of the year, year after year, and ideally, try to get a little bit better at living the Christian life gradually, and incrementally,” Father Dave says. “I would challenge all of us, even if we go to church a lot, to not just get into the mindset that Christmas and Easter are the only real aspects of the Christian faith that we focus on. It’s not just little baby Jesus in the manger, or there he is hanging on the cross and dying for our sins. He’s so much more. He’s Jesus the healer, the preacher, and the friend.”

RELATED: Ordinary Time, Extraordinary Possibilities

Father Dave notes that through Ordinary Time, the Church gives us ample time in the year to take in these different aspects of Jesus. “What I appreciate about Ordinary Time is that it’s more like real life,” he adds, and compares the season to a family vacation. “[When it ends,] obviously it’s a natural human response to say, ‘Well, vacation is over now we have to go back to our normal life.’ But just imagine what life would be like if those two weeks were the only quality time that you had with your spouse or with your kids, and the rest of the time you really didn’t connect?”

“These concentrated seasons give us some juice to kind of carry through,” he says. “Like a Tuesday in February when you got to work late and the house is a mess is not going to feel the same as when you’re tobogganing down the slopes or splashing in the Caribbean water. But as families, we all have to find ways to find joy in those moments, and find ways to support each other through difficult times.”

He continues, “I think the Church is sending the same message that these seasons are important. It’s important to take the vacation and be with the family away from all the other pressures and have a concentrated good time. But what is just as important is how you live your lives as family in the times between vacation – in the difficult times, and in the boring times where it’s just like, ‘I’m doing the laundry again.’” 

LISTEN: How Can We Make Ordinary Time Less Ordinary?

In the same way, he says that Ordinary Time is journeying our everyday lives together with God and our faith community. “Hopefully the pinnacle and high point of a week is Sunday, where we are nourished by the word of God and perhaps challenged by it as well,” he says. “We are supported by the community that we gather around and offer support to others that need our help.”

Father Dave says, “To me, Ordinary Time is not downtime. It is God present to us every single day of the year – not just on special occasions – which I think is a great message to live out for these many weeks until we finally get to giving something up for Lent.”