Reflection - Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/010818.cfm
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
Mark 1:7-11

According to the church calendar this is the first week of Ordinary Time. That is to say it’s not Advent; it’s not Christmas; it’s not Epiphany, it’s not Lent, it’s not Easter; etc., etc. It’s Ordinary Time. Now, in the liturgical cycle, the concept of Ordinary Time has its own significance. But from a purely human perspective, it’s just plain, old, ordinary, nondescript time, the same as it’s always been. Today is the same as yesterday. This year will be the same as the last.

Children will still go hungry both here and elsewhere. People will still die of mudslides on the west coast. People will still freeze from bitter cold on the east coast. There will be wars and rumors of wars. Murders will continue to take place in the cities — and in the countryside. Nations will threaten one another with weapons and armies. Some persons will be crazy and others will overwhelmed with despair. Our entertainment will still revel in violence, so, just as art has imitated life so will life imitate art. As I said: from a purely human perspective, it’s just plain, old, ordinary, nondescript time, the same as it’s always been. And all these are fostered by evil, not just for their own sakes, as wicked in themselves, but also because they are useful distractions from the presence and power of good.

We’ve just now, just this week, moved on from that annual period of being re-initiated into the warmth of family and love, the joy of excitement and celebration, the pleasures of fellowship with both God and man

For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was half gone, God’s all-powerful word leapt from heaven, from the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed. (Wisdom of Solomon 18:14-15)

Evil tolerates infrequent excursions into the occasional environment of amicable camaraderie and sacred celebration. He can tolerate it because he knows that we will return to ordinary time — or at least what he wants us to see as ordinary time. That is why, at least in my vision of the liturgical calendar, the Church offers us the Scriptures which she does to begin this phase of the liturgical cycle.

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
upon whom I have put my spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations.

These words, and so many others like them, inspire confidence as we anticipate the full establishment of the Kingdom. But what of the interface between the ordinary time of man, which Satan so actively cultivates, and the divine, Extrordinary Time of the Church which seeks to lead us into Christ’s Kingdom?

While it is true that both the mundane and the evil of ordinary time are distractions that would turn our attention from what our Savior has accomplished for us, we cannot ignore them. Jesus, himself did not ignore them.

As he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. (Matthew 14:14)

As he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her. (Luke 7:12-13) And he returned him to his mother.

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, " I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and have nothing to eat." (Matthew 15:32)

The sick, the suffering, the lonely, the hungry — Jesus had compassion on them all, but never to the point that they became a distraction from the work his Father would have him do. Further, his compassion alone could never fully undo the tragic consequences of what Adam and Eve had done. Only the work which his Father had given him to accomplish could do that.

Now is the judgment of this world, [he said] now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.

(John 12:31-32)

Those were his words.

And to what purpose?

To lift all men up.

For it is only in being lifted up that we shall see the Father.

Our primary work in life is to know and give glory to our Father. The sick, the suffering, the lonely, the hungry — Jesus had compassion on them all, and so should we. But the evils and excesses of this world, and our corresponding compassion for those who endure them should never became a distraction from the work our Father has also given us to do.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)

We all know of sheep without a shepherd. They struggle within to cope with life’s circumstances and the pains they have inherited. Do we know of any human ill, or suffering, or desperation, or desolation, or anger, or hatred, or deformity that cannot be soothed by the intimate presence of God? We cannot give what we do not have. If we are to have true compassion we must work towards a compassion that sees the sheep of this world without a shepherd, and appreciates the magnitude of the absence. In our compassion our chief task is to bring the presence and power of God to others. The sheep are many, but the laborers are few.