The ordinariness of Ordinary Time is setting in—not just liturgically, but even culturally. The wreaths are gone, the crèches are put away, and the Christmas trees have been disposed of. As we return to the Ordinary Time of the liturgy, we return also to the ordinary time of our daily lives. The friends and relatives we hosted have returned to their own homes, school is beginning again, our household decorations are back to their ordinary arrangement. It’s all just back to normal again.
But the ordinary times of our lives are not simply ordinary. The Christian tradition has always shown that every time is touched by Christ. Take the Church’s great Christmas patrimony. As goes that ancient Christmas hymn, Christ “is Alpha and Omega, / he the source, the ending he, / of the things that are, that have been, / and that future years shall see / evermore and evermore” (Prudentius, “Of the Father’s Love Begotten”).
The Easter liturgy itself speaks in similar terms. On the great and holy night of the Lord’s Resurrection, the Christian is privileged to hear the Church’s great proclamation of “Christ yesterday and today, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega. All time belongs to him, and all the ages. To him be glory and power, through every age and for ever. Amen.”
All time belongs to Christ. Every moment of time has its be-all and end-all in Christ. Every second revolves around Christ. As Christians, we offer our time back to Christ as spiritual worship. We offer him our day at work and even our sleep at night. Throughout the day, we recall that this or that moment—whether pleasant or difficult—truly comes as a gift from Christ. We thank him for it and offer it back to him. Before going to bed, we ask Christ for sleep—for even sleep is his gift (Ps 172:2)—and we offer our time in sleep back to him. We ask that he restore our bodies and minds so that we can offer him another day.
All these offerings are themselves a great grace given to us by Christ. For in offering all our time back to Christ, we follow the Christic focus of time itself. Not only does time belong completely to him, but our time—our ordinary time—becomes completely his. Our every second revolves around Christ. And so we, creatures in time, likewise begin to revolve around him, and come to be more and more completely Christ’s. We too then find our own be-all and end-all in Christ.
Lord Jesus, all time belongs to you, the source and end of all that is, of all that has been, and of all that future years shall see. Take my time—my ordinary time—as an offering to you.
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Photo by Ocean Ng on Unsplash
