Avoiding the Thud

Just having completed the 50 days of Easter with the beautiful Pentecost liturgy, I was anticipating my usual “let down” that comes with the sudden appearance of Ordinary Time. The feeling is like falling from something or somewhere with one big thud. This year as I pondered the Church liturgies in the month of June, I was happily reminded that the month is very rich with liturgies that can either avoid or have a happy lift from my anticipated thud.

Since my early childhood, I have loved the devotion to the Sacred Heart to whom the month of June is dedicated. My great-grandmother, who died before I was born, had a deep devotion to the Sacred Heart. She left behind a two-foot statue of the Sacred Heart that was “stored” in my bedroom. I was also told that Grandma distributed Sacred Heart League leaflets throughout the neighborhood each month of the year. How often I felt close to the Jesus represented by that statue and poured out my heart to him. How grateful I am for the gift of devotion to the Sacred Heart and likely even the seeds of my vocation handed down by a deceased grandmother!

On the first Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate Trinity Sunday, and the following Sunday we celebrate Corpus Christi. We celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart on Friday, June 23. This month we also celebrate the feasts of John the Baptist and the feasts of the apostles Peter and Paul. Thirteen saints, five of whom were martyrs are also commemorated. So like the lush green growth around us, the first month of Ordinary Time presents us with a plethora of feasts to bathe us in hope, the presence of our Triune God, and examples of others who followed in the footsteps of our Lord.

  Sr. Victoria Eisenman, OSB

Ordinary Time and Its Comforts

       People who hate to see the Christmas trees come down may also be loath to embrace Ordinary Time in the church year. Is OT average, common, usual? The longest season of the liturgical cycle, it falls into two parts, and ordinary is derived from the words for “numbered” and “order”. Thus, Ordinary Time is a succession of numbered weeks in the ordered life of the church. 

      The high intensity liturgical seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter call for extra effort on the part of us all, especially liturgical ministers and those responsible for music, environment, lectors, homilies and so forth, not to ignore those who cook and bake and offer hospitality. For them OT offers a respite, a relaxation, a relief. A relaxation from the great central mysteries into the life of Christ that we celebrate over its thirty-three or so weeks. A time to mature as Christians until that day comes when Christ will draw all people to himself at the end of time. 

       Until then we lower the stress, calm ourselves, and try to live as we are called. For monastics there is an expression “the regular observance” that is quite appropriate for this Ordinary Time. Lent will arrive on our calendars soon enough, with the reminder from St. Benedict that our lives “ought to be a continuous Lent”. Let us enjoy the few weeks of the regular observance before we are called to a higher degree of intensity in our Christian lives.

      Sr. Christa Kreinbrink, OSB

Christ's Hands in Ordinary Time

       Now that we are liturgically in" ORDINARY TIME" , I thought to settle back into ordinary days.  Of course, there is no such thing. Bad weather and polar temperatures in the Southeast Ky mountains where I serve in a rural health clinic as a family nurse practitioner has provided multiple challenges. It has been difficult to get to work with icy mountain roads for providers as well as for patients.  This leads to multiple phone calls trying to diagnose and treat medical problems per phone calls. That is never a safe or healthy practice.

       Amidst the confusion and frustration within myself and patients, I settled my meditation into Teresa of Avila's passage:

 

                    Christ has no body on earth but yours,

                           no hands but yours,

                            no feet but yours.

                     Yours are the eyes through which Christ's

                             compassion is to look out to the world.

                      Yours are the feet with which Christ is to

                               go around doing good.

                        Yours are the hands with which Christ is

                                 to bless all people now.

 

       So now is the time for myself and all of us to brace up and serve one another with kindness, goodness and patient compassion all the while praising our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Peace be with all.

      Sr. Joan Gripshover, OSB