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January 13, 2023
Don't get bored - get holyThe first few weeks in Ordinary Time can be a little depressing.
We’ve just finished Christmas. It’s January. There’s no sun. Your football team probably isn’t going to the Super Bowl. And that diet you started with all sincerity is starting to run out of steam already.
After the joy and comfort of the Christmas season, Ordinary Time sometimes seems…like kind of a letdown.
And everyone knows in the back of their mind that the Lenten and Easter seasons are just around the corner.
So while we’re waiting for the spiritual renewal that Lent brings, the next few weeks can seem like a liturgical waiting room of sorts. As if we’re just killing time until the big show starts.
But of course, we know that this couldn’t be further from the truth.
The time to be holy is now.
The time to grow closer to Christ and celebrate God is now. And the Church’s liturgical year is festooned with awesome opportunities to grow closer to Christ and learn about our faith more.
What’s wrong with ordinary?
First off, there’s nothing wrong with ordinary.If you’ve ever had a busy day and then been given an unexpected moment of calm. If you’ve ever sat and watched your children enjoy themselves peacefully.If you’ve ever just had a few minutes to yourself before dawn with a cup of coffee, then you know that the ordinary can be wonderful and even life-sustaining.You don’t have to be a poet to know that it’s the ordinary moments that help us appreciate all the good things about life.Ordinary time isn’t even ordinary
And it bears noting that “Ordinary Time” in the Church’s calendar has nothing to do with what we think “ordinary” means. When we hear the word “ordinary” we think it means ho-hum and boring.But when the Church says ordinary, she’s just counting. Because “ordinary” comes from “ordinal” which just means numbers.We call these weeks Ordinary because the Church counts the weeks between the high seasons of Christmas and Easter (and Pentecost), because those are the main poles in the Church’s liturgical life and the direction in which she channels our spiritual intention and energy.So when the Church calls it Ordinary time she’s counting the weeks between Christmas and Easter (essentially).The Church may not win any marketing awards, but there’s no reason to think of these weeks as just normal, boring weeks - they’re filled with exciting ways to grow in holiness and love of Christ, and we should take advantage of Ordinary Time to deepen our faith and learn it even more so that when Lent and Advent come around we’re more prepared than ever.How?
How can you grow in your faith during this time? Well, there are a lot of ways to do that.Church calendar
First of all, you can dive into the Church’s liturgical life and calendar.
Look at all the saints that are on the calendar this month. Pray to them and ask for their prayers. Read a little about them.
One of the reasons the Church canonizes saints is to provide the faithful with a template of what it means to follow Christ. And one of the most comforting things to realize when we study the lives of the saints is that they weren’t just superheroes- they were regular people and possessed every type of personality.
Sainthood isn’t just for “great” people. It’s for everybody. And there’s a way that all of us can get to heaven through Jesus Christ.
When we read the lives of the saints we learn of all the different creative ways that any personality can love and follow Jesus.
Find a saint each month to pray to in a special way. Plan out novenas ahead of time to saints that you might have previously allowed to go unnoticed.
Read a little about a saint you know - you might learn something new. Read about some obscure saint you’ve never heard of and ask for their prayers (St. Lawdog, I’m looking at you) - just think, you might be one of the only people asking for their prayers today!
Speaking of reading
Read and meditate on the Church’s readings for each day, whether you’re able to make it to mass or not. The weekday readings for mass are on a two-year cycle, so each year you’ll be able to read significant portions of the Bible along with the Church.Or go for it this year and commit to reading the whole Bible. It’s still the beginning of the year, this could be the year you do it!Holy reading. Pick the biography of a saint or one of several classical spiritual works to read, or choose a devotional. As cliche as it is, the new year is a great time to start a new habit. And it doesn’t matter if you didn’t start at the exact beginning of the year.Or if you don’t like reading, think of other ways to pray and enter contemplation.Prayer
Pray the Liturgy of the Hours. Or if that’s too much, just pray the Psalms regularly.
Rededicate yourself to the Rosary. Outside of the Mass, there isn’t a more powerful devotion, especially if you are able to say the Rosary daily.
Discover a new devotion. You probably haven’t been Catholic for very long if you haven’t stumbled across some devotion that’s well-known to everyone else and yet you’ve never heard of it before.
This can be an interesting way to truly experience the universal nature of our Catholic faith. The Church has been around for over 2000 years and has a presence in every culture known to humanity. There are bound to be well-established devotions throughout her history that you might not be aware of.
And remember that the Church has special intentions for each day of the week and for each month of the year. For example, the month of January is dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus.
You can’t go wrong
When you first begin to explore all of the possibilities to grow spiritually, it can seem overwhelming.Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed with a false sense of obligation to do everything rather rejoice in all the many opportunities that the Church gives us to grow spiritually, no matter what your inclination or temperament, God has so many ways that have been established by the Church to grow closer to him.Realize that Ordinary Time is *the perfect* time to grow closer to God. There is no time like the present to begin sanctifying our daily lives and strengthening our will more and more to love God above all else.The more that we seek holiness in the “ordinary” then the more we’ll experience an even greater amount of fruitfulness in the Church’s high liturgical seasons of Christmas and Easter.Fasting and Almsgiving
And it’s always good to remind ourselves that fasting and almsgiving make up two essential cornerstones of the spiritual life, regardless of what time of year we are in.
These elements are up to the discernment of the individual, but we know as Catholics that they must be a part of our spiritual lives somehow.
“Prayer with fasting is good. Almsgiving with righteousness is better than wealth with wickedness. It is better to give alms than to store up gold, for almsgiving saves from death, and purges all sin. Those who give alms will enjoy a full life” (Tobit 12: 8-9).
“And he said to them: This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29).
Let’s commit to making Ordinary Time a time for holiness.
Dedicate yourself to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Reach out to friends and family and encourage them. And don’t forget to wear the Brown Scapular and tell others about this powerful devotion.
Click here to learn more about the Brown Scapular and our mission!
