PONDER, MAKE HASTE TO FIND, MAKE KNOWN
“Now there were shepherds living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock.
The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them.
The angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.’
“The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.” Luke 2:16-20
May the Gospel stories that the wise and prudent Holy Mother Church places before us in this Christmas season lead us to:
PONDER. The shepherds were quietly watching their sheep when they heard the angels speaking to them. Perhaps if we can find some time to ponder God’s workings in all of creation, we might be able to recognize that more is happening than just our ordinary “watching over our flocks.” God gave us the capability of stepping out of our everyday lives, our “ordinary time” to see things in God’s “Ordinary Time.” One way to assist us here is to ponder the Readings of the Church Liturgical Year. (The first seven weeks of the 2023 Liturgical Year Ordinary Time will be the weeks of January 10 through February 21. See the Liturgical Year below.)
An important function of the Church is to provide an environment and tools so that we, the Church, the community of God’s people, can come together, learn, grow, share, remember and re-member ourselves into a people that sees God everywhere, in all created things, including ourselves, our circumstances and encounters. Is the way things are, their and our reality, what they appear to be in our perception of their “ordinariness”? Or is the way things are that which is “Ordinary” to God? An important function of these Christmas stories is to make us ponder and enter into that which is “Ordinary” to God, to let experiencing the “Ordinariness” to God chip away at our non-real ordinary lives, leaving us willing to go with haste in finding our way to God.
MAKE HASTE TO FIND. Once we move into what is “Ordinary” to God, let’s allow ourselves to experience the presence of God, to relate with God, talk to God as our Beloved. Then we, like the shepherds, can go in haste and gaze on all the people, events and responsibilities of our days in God’s “Ordinariness.”
MAKE KNOWN. We will then want to share and proclaim what we have heard – God wanting us to join Jesus in giving glory to God and establishing peace with all of us on whom God’s favor rests. (Luke 2:13-14)
Sister Loretta
Liturgical Year – Christmas Time, Easter Time and Ordinary Time
“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.” Prayer and Worship, US Conference of Catholic Bishops