I love the wisdom of the liturgical calendar and actually really like Ordinary Time. Perhaps what I like most especially about it is the way that we dip in and out of ordinary time in between the "extraordinary" seasons of Lent, Advent and Christmas.
I've been doing a lot of reflecting of late on our ordinary lives. As I study Christian Ethics, it seems to me that who we are and what we do in the ordinary circumstances of our lives is just as important as what we do in the extraordinary moments. For one thing, we spend most of our lives grounded in the ordinary. That's where most of our little actions happen and where the big actions take root.
The Church in its wisdom of course helps us to celebrate the Ordinary through our liturgical season. The Second Vatican Council also recognized the power and responsibility of the ordinary:
"To those, therefore, who believe in divine love, He gives assurance that the way of love lies open to humankind and that the effort to establish a universal brotherhood and sisterhood is not a hopeless one. He cautions them at the same time that this charity is not something to be reserved for important matters, but must be pursued chiefly in the ordinary circumstances of life." (Gaudium et Spes #38, emphasis added)
We also know from the wisdom of Thomas Aquinas, and today's virtue ethicists, that who we are impacts what we do, and what we do in turn influences who we become.
So who are we? If we listen closely to today's Gospel reading we will know ... "You are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter. With you I am well pleased."
Imagine what kind of a world we could co-create together if we truly lived from that conviction, both in the extraordinary and the ordinary moments of our lives. No, really, .... imagine it. Take a moment or two or three. Dream the impossible. And then remember .... nothing is impossible for God.
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