Deacon Kirk

Last week, we changed into our green vestments, and today we celebrate the third Sunday of Ordinary time. This name, “Ordinary Time,” in this usage, does not mean “regular” time, or worse, it does not mean“ho-hum” time. “Ordinary” comes from the fact that the Sundays are numbered in sequence, or “ordered.” We call the counting numbers “ordinal” numbers, because they are in order, so this is where the name derives from, ordinary time. There are 33 or 34 Sundays in ordinary time, depending on the number of Sundays in a given year. The Church uses this “Ordinary Time,” this “ordered time,” to meditate on the public ministry of Jesus. We use this time to tell the many stories of the ministry of Jesus, how he began to call his disciples to follow him, and how he began to spread the Gospel message in the towns and villages, while healing the sick as he preaches. This year we have 33 Sundays in O.T. to mediate on the public ministry of Jesus. In the four Gospels the public ministry of Jesus...

  Today is the first day of Ordinary time, and now we change into our green vestments. This name, “Ordinary,” in this usage, does not mean “regular” time, or worse, it does not mean“ho-hum” time. “Ordinary” comes from the fact that the Sundays are numbered in sequence, or “ordered.” We call the counting numbers “ordinal” numbers, because they are in order, and this is where the name derives from, ordinary time. Last Sunday the Christmas season came to an end when we celebrated the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Each year, the Sunday after Epiphany is saved for this feast, and the very next day, on Monday, we begin Ordinary time. Technically, there is no “1st Sunday of Ordinary time. The Mondays in the Liturgical calendar are named after the Sunday they follow. Back when I was in school, they explained it this way, that the 1st Sunday of ordinary time was "perpetually usurped” by the Baptism of the Lord. This explains why we call last Monday the first Monday of Ordinary time. So...