Lent and Easter well behind us, the Church is in Ordinary Time.

Looking up the definition of the word ‘ordinary' in the Oxford Dictionary its says "not interesting or exceptional; what is commonplace or standard."

Nothing really to write home about.

The liturgical colour chosen for "ordinary time" is green and maybe here the ‘ordinary' becomes ‘extraordinary'.

What is standard becomes anything but standard.

The 12thC Benedictine abbess Hildegard of Bingen wrote, "There is a power that has been since all eternity, and that force and potentiality is green!"

Hildegard names this greening force viriditas, the Latin for her original "das Grün," the greening.

With viriditas Hildegard captures the greening power, the living light, that breathes in all beings, flows through all that is alive.

"Be it greenness or seed, blossom or beauty - it could not be creation without it," she writes.

Hildegard spoke often of viriditas, the greening of things from within, analogous to what we now call photosynthesis.

There is a readiness in plants to receive the sun and to transform its light and warmth into energy and life.

Maybe "Ordinary Time" is about, a readiness to receive the sun/Son and to be transformed into energy and life.

Maybe, we dare rename our Ordinary Time as Greening Time.

• Gerard Whiteford is Marist priest; retreat facilitator and spiritual companion for 35 years. He writes regularly at www.restawhile.nz
  

At first, the designation might seem a bit peculiar, since the word "ordinary" is oftentimes associated with things that are unimportant, insignificant, or just downright boring.

The Church couldn't possibly mean these types of things when speaking of the liturgy or a season of liturgies within the year.

And so, what exactly is meant by Ordinary Time?

Well, the first answer is very practical.

In light of the past several high holy days - from Ascension, Pentecost, Holy Trinity Sunday, to Corpus Christi - today and the next several Sundays are rather uneventful, meaning, without a major event or teaching associated with them.

After so many powerful feast days, the Church now returns to a season of typical Sundays and to a normal pace in the liturgy.

With this observation stated clearly, someone could innocently inquire about the focus of the Ordinary Time Masses. What does the Church give to believers who attend the liturgy during this season?

This question might even be asked by those who regularly attend Mass but have never paid attention to the different seasons or to the shift in the various emphases of the seasons.

During Ordinary Time, the Church's prayers and selections of readings from the Sacred Scriptures have believers accompany the Lord Jesus in his public ministry.

The Church selects healings, signs, and essential teachings from the life of Jesus Christ so that followers can be reminded, reaffirmed, consoled, and challenged in how they are living the Christian way of life.

Through Ordinary Time, the community of disciples are once again told by the Lord to forgive, accept others generously, be healed and serve as instruments of healing, seek peace, live humbly, pray and trust in his care for them. Continue reading

Sources

• Crux article by Fr Jeffrey J Kirby, a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina.
• Image: Saints 365