A Message from our PastorDear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary’s Basilica,Fr. Vince is off in California, representing us at the funeral of our Phoenix-born friar, Rev. Emery Tang, OFM, whose assignments were for the most part in California. |  |  |
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He was a much-loved teacher, high school principal, counselor, photographer, retreat master, spiritual director, preacher of parish missions, director of our Los Angeles-based Franciscan Communications division of (first) radio, (later) TV projects, author of poetry and spiritual books, in a word: super talented! Fr. Vince will contribute to the liturgical celebration of Emery’s death and burial. Very fitting, because the Tang family was at one time (50 years ago) very involved in Saint Mary’s parish and school, before the family settled in the Saint Agnes Parish next door.
So, Alonso comes up to the plate to pinch hit this Sunday Bulletin Letter once again. This time I thought I might contribute a little clarity to the "popular" view of what "Ordinary Time" means in the church calendar. At first glance, it might seem that the fun time is over, with the special seasons of Lent, the Triduum, the Easter season, through the 50 days of Mystagogia, culminating in the coming down of the Holy Spirit upon the church at Pentecost. After which, we have little spurts of glory in the Sundays following: Trinity Sunday, Body and Blood of Christ, then last Friday’s feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Saturday.
But we notice that even these little spurts are technically under the heading of Ordinary Time, a season that will stretch from Pentecost waaaay out, over 5 months, till Saturday 28 November—the Advent season (and Cycle C) begins the next day, Nov. 29th First Sunday of Advent. Anyway, we do the season a disservice if we picture it as telling us that the glory times are over, that now we’re back to plain ol' vanilla, ordinary Sundays. The key to proper understanding is, logically, the Latin name for the phenomenon. You remember the distinction between cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers? The cardinals are like a count-off: one, two, three, four, etc. The ordinals refer to the order in which they appear: first, second, third, fourth, etc. Our nomenclature for Sundays in Ordinary Time belongs to the latter, we speak of the Fourth Sunday in O.T., or the 12th Sunday or 26th Sunday in O.T., right up to the last one before we start Advent, the 34th Sunday in Ordinary Time, which is always the feast of Christ the King.
So it’s the way of numbering the Sundays, NOT a put-down ("we’ve had the extraordinary ones, the rest are now just ordinary Sundays"). Remember the scene at the end of the Transfiguration up on the mountaintop? The apostles were so overwhelmed by the vision that they fell on their faces. "And when they raised their eyes they saw no one but only Jesus" (Matthew 17:8). Don't you just love that? Only Jesus, the only son of God made flesh for our salvation, just the guy who worked marvels and miracles before their eyes…just an ordinary Sunday, just the day that commemorates rising from death to new life on Easter morn, just the day the whole community is called together to receive the sacred body and blood that gives it God’s life and strength...
Love,
Alonso | |
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