Right now in the Church we are in “Ordinary Time.” We recently finished Advent and the Christmas Season. Now for a short time, we have Ordinary Time which will soon be followed by Lent and the Easter Season. After the Easter Season ends we have a long stretch of Ordinary Time until Advent once again.
I recently heard Fr. Mike Schmitz say that the priest wears green during Ordinary Time, and the green represents growth. As I thought about this, I realized that yes, it is during ordinary time that much of our growth can take place.
Advent and Christmas Seasons are full of festivities and rich foods, joy, family, and goodwill. However, Ordinary Time is ordinary. We are back to our daily grind of school, housework, jobs, homeschooling, repetition, the mundane.
It is in these times that we grow when we embrace the ordinary and make it an offering to God. We grow when we “do small things with great love,” as Mother Teresa tells us. Often it is with those in our own home and those we work with. In other words, it is usually with those we see every day and can be annoyed with. If we are intentional about asking the Lord to help us do our ordinary daily tasks with joy and love, then we will blossom. As we become victorious in the small mundane things, then we grow in holiness.
Perhaps we can picture each ordinary act done with love as little green shoots popping up through the ground of our hearts. The more we strive for this, the easier it will become with time. Those little sprouts can become big trees, as scripture says, that provide shade and a place for the birds to build their nests. The ordinary becomes extraordinary and reaches further than we can imagine. We don’t always see it but it happens nevertheless.
In the book, “365 Mary” by Woodeene Koenigh Bricker, she writes about Mary:
“The wonder of Mary is not that she’s above us but that she’s one of us. She knows how hard ordinary life can be, but she also knows that it’s precisely in the ordinary that the most extraordinary spiritual events occur.”
As we live through this Church season, (as well as a pandemic and lockdowns), let us look for ways to grow in holiness in the actions of everyday life.
God bless,
Mary Ann / Mother Hen
Thank you for this fine reflection. There is a song from the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd the lyrics of which are
Purple and Green, Red and White
Are the Colors of the Year.
Purple and Green, Red and White
Remind Us of the Light.
Purple’s for Preparation, White is for Celebration
Green is for the Growing Time, Red is for Pentecost.
Purple and Green, Red and White
Remind Us of the Light.
http://www.montessorimessy.com/2013/02/purple-and-green-red-and-white.html