Ordinary Time: Anything but Ordinary

We’ve heard the phrase “unprecedented times” too many times to count and it can make us long for “precedented” times. With the arrival of Ordinary time this week, we can feel as though, at least liturgically, we’ve made it back to normal. However, with God, there is only the “unprecedented.” Ordinary time doesn’t mean boring for God. He says in Isaiah,
 

 “See, I am doing something new!
    Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
In the wilderness I make a way,
    in the wasteland, rivers.” (Isaiah 43: 19).

 
God is constantly bringing new life to our world and to our lives. In every wasteland and every wilderness in our lives and in our world is an opportunity for God to break in and transform this world, redeeming it. We sometimes think that our situation is too far into the territory of wilderness or wasteland that we will need to scrap it and start over with God. Instead of doing this, God gives grace within these situations of wilderness and wasteland, making a way within them.
 
Our current situation in the world is one in desperate need of God’s redemption, of His way forward. As Catholics, we believe that even more than we want redemption, God desires it all the more. We know that we cannot fix the evil and disease in this world on our own. Instead, we must look to His Spirit to lead us and to move us. His promise to us is a way in the wilderness and a river in the wasteland. His grace will spring in these places that we think are bereft of His presence.

Ordinary time is not a return to normal, as much as we maybe wish it would be. It is a return to the essential mission of every Catholic, participating in God’s redemption of the world. This has been the mission since the beginning of the Church. Yet, it is so needed in our world today. We will need to stake our hope in God who does make all things new and respond to His Spirit inviting us into that redemption.