We now find ourselves in the “dog days of summer.” I love this time of year, as I am a person who prefers heat. I detest cold weather. But it is also a time of year when young people are swimming, boating, water-skiing, camping and taking those longer vacations (now that Covid has been addressed). It is during the summer months that the Catholic Church moves to what is called Ordinary time. Lent and Easter have ended, and our focus is directed more to the public ministry of Jesus.
Have you ever stopped to think about time? We each as individuals have only a limited amount of it while here in the body. In the greater scheme of things, whether we are talking human history or the understanding of eternity, it is a rather small amount that we are each given. So why do we call it Ordinary? To mark those Sundays outside of the seasons of Lent, Easter, Advent and Christmas. In Ordinary time we hear the parables, miracles and the preaching of Jesus that identifies us as Christian. Thus, as one of my professors at the seminary would state, there is nothing ordinary about ordinary time. Each Sunday from June to November is a gathering of the faithful to celebrate again that event which brought about salvation. Each Sunday is a “little” Easter.
I realize that a large number of people have to work on Sundays. Hospitals, nursing homes and the like cannot just shut down. Folks who have to work to support a family need to work the hours that their employer gives them in order to pay the bills. In the ideal world, Sunday for Christians would be a day of prayer and play. Taking the time to give praise and worship to God with a heart filled with gratitude and the time to relax and rest the body. Wasted time is not a commodity in American society, and perhaps at times all of us can get caught up in the consumerism of the day. I have heard people say that they need to work 12-hour days so that they can pay for the new car they want, the vacation to that foreign country they desire or to save enough money for their future needs.