From your Deacons
June 2, 2020
To our dear Mary of Magdala Community on this glorious Tuesday morning after Pentecost; Joyous -- and yet we lament what happened in Washington, DC last night.
Carrying that heaviness with us, let’s look at the church cycle of Ordinary Time for a moment which we began with Christ yesterday.
I always thought Ordinary meant ‘not as important’ and that seasons like Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter were more important. Ordinary time I thought was just a time of meandering our way through summer and fall even though Ordinary Time makes up most of the liturgical year.
Ordinary
comes from the Latin word
ordinalis
, a series of numbers, which comes from
ordo
, the root word for order. Ordinary Time is called "ordinary" not because it is common but simply because the weeks of Ordinary Time are numbered. The numbered weeks represent the ordered life of the church—the period in which we live our lives neither in feasting (as in the Christmas/Easter seasons) or in more intentional penance (Advent/Lent), but in bringing the Spirit to life through watchfulness and expectation of Christ.
This can be a time of conversion, maturation, and quiet growth for us. It comprises the longest time on the liturgical calendar when we consider the fullness of Jesus’ teachings and miracles while on this earth. Because it is post-Pentecost, Sophia moves among us now, reminding us of Christ’s teachings and miracles; reminding us that we are not left alone but accompanied and guided by God’s Love, Fire, and Wind, our Sophia. She is offering herself to us and to our world now.
The final Sunday in Ordinary Time is the feast of Christ, King of the Universe, “the first born
