We (briefly) return to wearing green and “Ordinary” time this weekend after all the joy, excitement, and grandeur of the Christmas season. By “Ordinary”, the Church does not envision mundane or blasé. “Ordinary” first comes from the term “Ordinal”, as in “to count” and short for ‘ordinal number’. It is the simple practice of counting Sundays between, to, and from special events or seasons. Sundays up to or since Christmas or Easter, the Sundays between the Solemn seasons. Another way of thinking about “Ordinary” is to realize that we need ‘down’ times between feasts and celebrations if those feasts and celebrations are truly to be experienced as extra-ordinary, above the ordinary, more special, more wonderful. We need to have the every-day if we are to experience the special days. This is not just true in our Faith life but all of life. As Ecclesiastes says, “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to give birth, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant… A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance….” (Eccl 3:1ff). We need the full range of times in the full range of life. We also use “ordinary” because it is precisely in the every-day mix and mess of our lives that the Gospel is meant to be heard, integrated, and applied. The Gospel is not just for special times, dire moral dilemmas, sicknesses or need. The Gospel is for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It belongs in our rising and going to bed, our awake and in our sleeping. In our together and alone. The Gospel should change and transform everything – bringing peace and assurance, joy and hope, forgiveness given and received. The Green of Ordinary time, is meant to remind us of the growth and Life the Gospel gives us, something to be reminded of in these darker & colder winter days when spring can still feel a long way off. The Church has a few weeks of “Ordinary Time” right now to stir us and alert us to the Gospel lived in the regular-ness of our daily discipleship lives.
The National Eucharistic Congress is being held at the Indianapolis Convention Center from 17-21 July 2024. The full schedule of speakers & events can be viewed by visiting: eucharisticcongress.org. In order to allow interested members of Holy Family Catholic Church to take advantage of the group discount pricing for the Eucharist Congress, a form has been posted on the parish website and Facebook. The parish will purchase discount tickets on your behalf for reimbursement. Tickets purchased will be for the full Eucharistic Congress only (there are day-pass options for those interested). The parish will not be organizing or taking a formal group, but we will share (with your permission) the names of those who have purchased tickets through the parish back with you so you can coordinate your own carpools and meet up at the Congress.
+ Nothing Less than saints for the Holy Family of God. +
Inspired by the Holy Family, we actively encounter Christ
by sharing the Gospel, forming intentional disciples, engaging in fellowship, and serving others
Holy Family, Grateful and Generous, Pray for us.
~ Fr Jeremy M. Gries