ORDINARY TIME OF THE YEAR 2025

 

ORDINARY TIME OF THE YEAR

INTRODUCTION

Because the term "ordinary" in English most often means something that is not special or distinctive, many people think that Ordinary Time in the liturgical timing of the Catholic Church refers to parts of the calendar of the Catholic Church that are unimportant. Even though the season of Ordinary Time makes up most of the liturgical year in the Catholic Church, the fact that Ordinary Time refers to those periods that fall outside of the major liturgical seasons reinforces this impression. Yet Ordinary Time is far from unimportant or uninteresting.

WHY IS ORDINARY TIME CALLED "ORDINARY"?

Christmas Time and Easter Time highlight the central mysteries of the Paschal Mystery, namely, the incarnation, death on the cross, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The Sundays and weeks of Ordinary Time, on the other hand, take us through the life of Christ. This is the time of conversion. This is living the life of Christ.

Ordinary Time is a time for growth and maturation, a time in which the mystery of Christ is called to penetrate ever more deeply into history until all things are finally caught up in Christ. The goal, toward which all of history is directed, is represented by the final Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

It is the significance of GROWTH AND MATURITY that the liturgical colour of this ordinary season of the year is GREEN.

Ordinary Time is called ordinary not because it is common but simply because the weeks of Ordinary Time are numbered. The Latin word ordinalis, which refers to numbers in a series, stems from the Latin word ordo, from which we get the English word order. Thus, the numbered weeks of Ordinary Time, in fact, represent the ordered life of the Church, the period in which we live our lives neither in feasting (as in the Christmas and Easter seasons) or in more severe penance (as in Advent and Lent), but in watchfulness and expectation of the Second Coming of Christ.

It is appropriate, therefore, that the Gospel for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (which is actually the first Sunday celebrated in Ordinary Time) always features either the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist as the Lamb of God or the first miracle of Christ Jesus, which is the transformation of water into wine at the wedding at Cana.

Thus for Catholics, Ordinary Time is the part of the year in which Christ, the Lamb of God, walks among us and transforms our lives. There is nothing ordinary about that!

WHY IS GREEN THE COLOR OF ORDINARY TIME?

The normal liturgical color for Ordinary Time is Green. This Green is used for those days when there is no special feast. Because, even during Ordinary Time of the Liturgical year, there are days in which we have feasts and solemnities. So on these days, the appropriate colour of Red or White is used.  

This Green colour used in Ordinary Time is to represent the time of growth and expansion of the Church following the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Green is a very natural color, and is often a symbol for growth and new life.

WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?

Like all liturgical seasons, Ordinary Time is meant to be lived! We are not passive receptors of the liturgy  or at least we should not be passive receptors of the Liturgy. We are called to be active participants! Participating in Ordinary Time means that we are participating in the everyday life of Jesus.

The Church year begins with Advent, followed immediately by the Christmas season.

Ordinary Time begins on the Monday after the first Sunday after January 6, the traditional date of the Feast of the Epiphany and the end of the liturgical season of Christmas. 

Ordinary Time is divided into two parts. This first period of Ordinary Time runs until Ash Wednesday when the liturgical season of Lent begins. Both Lent and the Easter season fall outside of Ordinary Time. The second part of Ordinary Time resumes again on the Monday after Pentecost Sunday, the end of the Easter season. This second period of Ordinary Time runs until the First Sunday of Advent when the liturgical year begins again.

In 2025, January 12 is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the last day of Christmas season, and the first Sunday in Ordinary Time. Ash Wednesday is on March 5 2025, and Easter Sunday is on April 20 2025.

WHY IS THERE NO FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME?

In most years, the Sunday after January 6 is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. In countries such as Nigeria and the United States, however, where the celebration of Epiphany is transferred to Sunday if that Sunday is January 7 or 8, Epiphany is celebrated instead. As feasts of our Lord, both the Baptism of the Lord and Epiphany displace a Sunday in Ordinary Time. Thus the first Sunday in the period of Ordinary Time is the Sunday that falls after the first week of Ordinary Time, which makes it the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time.

Practically, the Sunday on which the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated is always the last Sunday of Christmas and the first Sunday in Ordinary Time.

© Rev Fr Utazi Prince Marie Benignus Zereuwa

January 10 2025