Ordinary Time

From the end of the Christmas Season until Ash Wednesday, and from the end of Pentecost until the first Sunday of Advent, the Church is in Ordinary Time . . .

"Ordinary" comes from the word ordinal, and means "counted". In other words, each week has a number, for example, 'The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time'.

During Ordinary Time, the Sunday Gospels follow Jesus from story to story in Matthew, Mark or Luke. Each of these Gospels is read for a year in the Church's three-year cycle of Sunday Mass readings. In the year 2015 we read the Gospel according to Mark (See link below). Sunday after Sunday we also read through the various letters of Paul and others in the New Testament.

The rhythm of the liturgical seasons reflects the seasons of the year and the rhythm of our own lives. If we are to mature in the spiritual life we must come down from the highs of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, to a time of quiet growth and maturing in the faith as lived out in our local church. Such a time is Ordinary Time.

In vestments usually green, the colour of hope and growth, the Church counts the thirty-three or thirty-four Sundays of Ordinary Time, while meditating upon the whole mystery of Christ - his life, miracles and teachings - in the light of his Resurrection.

Ordinary Time is full of the feast days of the saints. In its last weeks, we keep All Saints' Day on November 1st and All Souls' Day on November 2nd. The whole month of November becomes a time to rejoice in the communion of saints, and to remember that our true home is in the heavenly Jerusalem.

* For details of individual saints, or the saint of the day, click on "Church Calendar" on the Main Menu, or below, then click on the saint's name tab.