Remembering who we are in the Grace of Ordinary Time

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

It never seems like I am ready to say goodbye to the Christmas season. The joyful days of Christmas always pass by so quickly. Our churches look so beautiful during Christmas with the Nativity scenes, the trees and poinsettias but it is only a couple of weeks long.

For Easter we celebrate the season for 50 days until our Lord’s Ascension, but Christmas is so much shorter. We all remember the song about the 12 days of Christmas and the gifts given on each of those days. Twelve days is generally about it for the season as we celebrate on the following Sundays the Holy Family, Epiphany and then the Baptism of our Lord, closing our Christmas season.

The Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord was celebrated on Monday, the day after Epiphany this year. The lights on houses disappear for another year, the wonderful scent of our Christmas trees and wreaths disappear and while the joy of Christmas and family stay with us, we lose these physical reminders so quickly.

This edition of The Catholic Spirit has a few Christmas remembrances for us to help pick up our spirits reminding us of the blessed season we have finished.

I find the Baptism of the Lord a good way to end the Christmas season and transition us back into “ordinary time.” It is always a beautiful celebration and reminds us of our own baptism, too, which is important, as our baptism is the foundation of our relationship with God; it immersed us into the very life of the Trinity and made us adopted sons and daughters of God.

“Ordinary time” is one of the regular parts of the liturgical year where we are not celebrating the great solemnities of Christmas or Easter, nor celebrating Advent or Lent when we are preparing ourselves spiritually for those great celebrations.

However, practically speaking, most growth in our lives takes place in ordinary ways throughout the year. When we read the lives of the saints, we see that most of their holiness comes during the “daily grind” of their lives.

Generally, it is not for some heroic or exceptional act that they are proclaimed saints, but for how they lived and loved each and every day. They do ordinary things in daily life with extraordinary love. We are reminded that God is working with us throughout even the most mundane moments and not just in the grand moments of our lives.

Sometimes it is helpful to look at our lives over a longer span, so we can compare ourselves with where we were five, ten or 20 years ago. Over time, we can see our further dependence on God and the deepening of our friendship with Him. Sure, there are the exceptional moments when we feel God’s presence in our lives clearly, but that’s not the majority of our experience.

As the new year began, I was on retreat with the bishops of New Jersey and New York, so let me offer you a little prayer for us to make together as we begin Ordinary time. At Jesus’ baptism, we are told the heavens opened and a voice could be heard, “This is my beloved Son on whom my favor rests.” That didn’t just happen to Jesus, but it happened to each of us, too. This is what Jesus came to do, not just to save us but as we were baptized, we were made members of His own mystical Body, the Church, and adopted as His sons and daughters.

God said those same words to us, “This is my beloved Son … This is my beloved daughter.” Look into the mirror and say those words to yourself. Do we really believe that I am an adopted daughter or son of God the Father? Then pray that we can truly understand that we are unconditionally loved by God, as we are part of Jesus’ Body, His Beloved, His sons and daughters. That is the blessing of our life in Christ!

As we remember the joys of our recent Christmas, let us thank God for the blessings that are ours, every day. Know of my love, prayers and gratitude for you, and please remember to pray for me, too! God Bless.

Most Reverend James F. Checchio, JCD, MBA
Bishop of Metuchen