About Ordinary Time
Rather than meaning “common” or “mundane,” Ordinary Time gets its name from the word ordinal, meaning “numbered,” since the Sundays of Ordinary Time are expressed numerically (i.e., “The Third Sunday After Pentecost”). Ordinary Time encompasses that part of the Christian year that does not fall within the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, or Easter.
There are two periods of Ordinary Time in the church year. The first begins after Epiphany at the end of the Christmas season (Christmastide) and runs until Ash Wednesday. The Second period runs from the Monday after Pentecost until Advent. In some denominations, the Sundays of the second period of Ordinary Time are numbered “Sundays After Pentecost.” There are usually 33 or 34 Sunday’s of Ordinary Time in the entire church year.
In Ordinary Time, the Lectionary readings help us to live out the Christian faith in our daily lives. They center especially on the evangelical mission of the church to the world and its responsibility of proclamation. It is during this time that many families focus on specific themes of interest or importance.
The liturgical color for Ordinary Time is green, a sign of life and hope. In Christian tradition, green came to symbolize the life of the church following Pentecost, as well as symbolizing the hope of new life in the resurrection. Ordinary Time is all about growing in our faith and practice as followers of Jesus Christ. That gives a whole new slant on the phrase “going green”, doesn’t it?
