Parochial Administrator’s Corner – Week of January 19, 2025

As Christmas comes to an end with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord – which we celebrated last Sunday – we begin what the Church calls Ordinary Time. It is called “ordinary” because the weeks are numbered in order – 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. It is time – usually 33 weeks – ordered by God’s grace in between the sacred seasons of Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter. The priest wears green vestments. Our church’s Christmas decorations have come down and we all have returned to a regular home, work, and school schedule.

Ordinary Time, however, is not at all plain and simple. On the contrary, as we come together to worship God week after week, we are given the opportunity to explore all facets of Christ’s life rather than just celebrating and delving into one aspect – His birth, as we did during Advent and Christmas, or his death and Resurrection, as we do during Lent & Easter. What could be ordinary about exploring the full sweep of Christ’s works and teachings? The green of Ordinary Time, like the green of nature, encourages us to grow and mature in our faith. As the color of hope, it also calls us to anticipate the gifts of God’s kingdom.

We are living in a time that most of us would agree is anything but ordinary. We all feel the effects of the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the wild swings in the weather with its devastating effects in so many areas of our country and, indeed, around the world. Our nation and so many other countries worldwide are struggling with the extreme edges of society and politics disrupting the lives of the majority. We need the order that God has intended from the beginning and to see what happens when we disregard his order.

The Church provides us with a sense of order during this Ordinary Time, presenting our Lord’s ministry and teachings in an orderly way. We will hear about our Lord primarily from the Gospel of Luke throughout the Sundays of this liturgical year. The Gospel of Luke is generally thought to be written between 80 and 90AD in Syria. Intended for Greek converts to Christianity, it sought to encourage them to be confident that Jesus was, indeed, the Savior and that God’s plan for salvation included them and, in fact, all Gentiles. Like the other gospels, the text does not identify the author. Although it was traditionally thought to be a Syrian physician, modern scripture scholars identify him as a well-educated non-Palestinian Gentile convert – possibly Luke, a companion to Paul. He admits at the very beginning of his gospel that he is not an eye-witness of Jesus but has “decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence…so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received” (Lk 1:3+4).

As we begin to embrace the initiative that Archbishop Pérez introduced recently – to become missionary disciples – we are encouraged by this gospel to join in the essential mission of the Church: to share with everyone we meet the Good News of our salvation in Jesus Christ. As we begin Ordinary Time, let us listen carefully to all the readings – and especially the Gospel of Luke – which are proclaimed to give us hope as we prepare for the Kingdom of God!

~ Msgr. Hans Brouwers