What is Ordinary Time?

I recently stopped by a 1^st grade faith formation class and saw that they were learning about the liturgical seasons. They had a big chart on the chalkboard (or maybe it was one of those new smart boards), with the different liturgical seasons and what color corresponded with the season.  Now I hope that you know that the next liturgical season that we celebrate is Lent, but Lent starts at a later date this year, to be exact it starts on March 9, which is not until next month. Because of this the whole month of February we will be in the liturgical season of Ordinary Time. Whenever, we think about Ordinary Time we usually think that there is nothing exciting about it, rather we are just waiting until the next season starts, which would be Lent in this case. However, if we take this perspective then we are missing out on a great opportunity to truly grow in our faith and also carry over what we have learned from the other seasons to the rest of our life.

What we need to do is take what we learn from Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter and apply it to all of our life, our ordinary life. This is what Ordinary Time is all about; a time that we always try to grow closer to Christ and serve him.  Let’s not waste this Ordinary Time in our life, rather let’s take advantage of it through prayer, service, and continued conversion, so that when it does come time to enter into Lent we are better prepared than we were in the past. Remember, we are always called to improve in our life, let’s take advantage of the time we have.