May
12
Back to the Ordinary
May 12, 2008 |
A lot has changed in my life since the beginning of February when we embarked on the 90 something days that make up Lent and Easter. How about you? Are we better servants and followers of Christ? Have we been enriched with the Holy Spirit? Have we given over all of our fears, anxieties and worries to God? Or, in this the full majesty of Spring, are we still the same tired soul we were in the doldrums of Winter?
Today’s liturgy starts a run through the Letter of St. James. He begins by exhorting the perseverance of those facing obstacles. He then proceeds to encourage all to ask God for wisdom. He discourages doubt saying that “the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, since he is a man of two minds, unstable in all his ways.”
He wants those in lowly circumstances to reach higher and those who are rich to think of their lowliness in relation to the breadth of history. He reminds all that “[f]or the sun comes up with its scorching heat and dries up the grass, its flower droops, and the beauty of its appearance vanishes. So will the rich person fade away in the midst of his pursuits.”
These are all good thoughts to contemplate as we leave the wonderful purpose and focus of Lent & Easter and return to Ordinary Time. This time does not have to be ordinary for us at all - it can be a spiritual time for us as we go through Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi Sunday, and the Feasts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Visitation of Mary - all by the end of May. And then it’s into Summer.
Let us take the energy, discipline and peace gained over the past three months and immerse ourselves in the majesty that is our faith. These past months are meant to be a means of renewal - so let us be renewed and rededicated during this Ordinary Time to doing our best in building Christ’s kingdom here on earth.
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Optional Memorial of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus, martyrs (1st Century) - Roman soldiers who were converted by St. Peter; turned in and condemned to martyrdom.
Optional Memorial of St. Pancras, martyr (4th Century) - Roman teenager baptized by the Pope and was martyred when he refused to renounce his faith.
