How do you live out a season that is ordinary?
It was a question “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley asked of Father Tom Margevicius, director of worship for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, about the Church’s liturgical season of Ordinary Time.
“Ordinary Time is something of an unfortunate term we use in English; the Latin says literally: Sundays through the year,” Father Margevicius explained.
Father Margevicius said there are “two windows” of Ordinary Time in the liturgical year: The first “window” follows the seasons “of Advent and Christmas up until Ash Wednesday,” he said. The second begins after Pentecost.
Ordinary Time “is an orderly, systematic walk through of the life of Christ,” Father Margevicius said.
During the Second Vatican Council, Father Margevicius said, it was determined the Church would divide up the Sunday readings at Mass into a three-year cycle. During Year A, “we walk through the Gospel of Matthew.” During Year B, “we walk through the Gospel of Mark.” And during Year C, “the Gospel of Luke,” Father Margevicius said.
“Now, the Gospel of John, because it’s particularly interesting and doesn’t seem to follow the same chronology of the other three synoptics, that gets sprinkled in and around throughout the various years and the various parts of the liturgical season,” he said.
What does all this mean for a Catholic’s spiritual life?
Ordinary Time focuses on Jesus’ daily life, which offers guidance for the faithful in their routines, Father Margevicius said.
“We wake up, we pray, we go to work or take care of the kids or whatever that we’re doing. And then the next day kind of repeats with a few, little variations. So, if daily life is sort of that way, if it has an ordered or chronological or systematic structure to it, then it makes sense that we would follow the life of Christ systematically so that we would have insight how to live our day-to-day lives.”
To hear the full interview, including Father Margevicius’ explanation of why the liturgical color of Ordinary Time is green, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which debuts at 9 p.m. Oct. 6 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM and repeats at 1 p.m. Oct. 7 and 2 p.m. Oct. 8.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes an interview with Father Rich Simon, host of Relevant Radio’s “Father Simon Says” daily Bible study, who discusses the rosary during this month of its dedication; and Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Texas-based Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, and keynote speaker at an “Immigration: Crisis in America” event in St. Paul Oct. 19. Sister Pimentel offers her perspective on immigration and the shared responsibility as people of God to care for others.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at anchor.fm/practicing-catholic-show.
