Ordinary Time
With the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the Church begins “ORDINARY TIME.” In the Liturgy of the Eucharist during this time we are invited to ponder a continuous reading of the Gospel of Luke in the Sunday celebrations and a continuous reading of the Gospel of Mark in the daily celebrations.
For those who follow Ignatian spirituality (and anyone who seeks a deeper relationship with Jesus) this is an excellent time to include a reading of the Gospel of the day into your spiritual practice.
Being a Christian (a follower of Jesus Christ) requires us to have a clear and deep knowledge of the one we are following. Discipleship is fundamentally a matter of continuing the Christmas mystery. At the birth of Jesus, we ponder and celebrate Emmanuel (God-with-us). This is not just something that just happened for a while 2000 years ago.
Jesus continues to live the midst of our world to this day through the Community of Believers: those who have received the Spirit of Jesus Christ in Baptism, and who affirm his presence in our lives and in the world through our participation in the Eucharist. Here we frequently receive his Body and Blood into ours. Jesus continues in the world in and through us who have taken in his message and make his mercy, love and goodness present by how we live our lives.
St. Ignatius insists that the only way we can do this effectively is by pondering the life, actions and words of Jesus and incorporating them into our lives, actions and words. In his Spiritual Exercises Ignatius invites us to carefully contemplate the different episodes in the life of Jesus and in every prayer to ask for this grace:
“I will ask for what I desire. Here it will be to ask for an interior knowledge of our Lord who became human for me, that I may love him more intensely and follow him more closely.”
Spiritual Exercises #104
There is a simple logic in asking for this particular grace. It goes like this: We will not follow someone we do not love, and we cannot truly love someone who we do not know.
The knowledge we seek is “interior” knowledge. We seek to know- not only the facts about his life- but also what goes on in his mind and heart. We cannot do and say exactly what Jesus did. Our lives and world are quite different. But we can make his attitudes and sensitivities ours as we respond to the situations that we face every day.
What always makes Ordinary Time extraordinary is the daily opportunity to make present in our lives, in whatever we are doing or going through, “the same mind and heart” that Jesus had (see: Philippians 2:1-5). This time is a great opportunity to walk with Jesus, share in his life through prayer, and to make it manifest in what and how we live each day.
Frank Kaminski, S.J.
The J.O.Y. Meditation
In the J.O.Y. Meditation you meditate on Jesus, Others and Yourself.
1. Before beginning my prayer, choose some Gospel passage to pray over. I have it open and at my side so that I will not have to fumble with it during my prayer.
2. I breathe quietly for a while and after reaching a state of solitude and inner quiet, I read the passage very slowly, trying to take in everything that is happening in the particular scene. After reading, I try to sink back into the solitude by becoming aware of my breathing again.
3. I focus now on Jesus. What was on his mind and heart that day? How did he feel about the people he was addressing? Why did he say and do these particular things to these particular people that particular day? What was his purpose? What was his message?
4. After a while, I slowly read the Scripture a second time, and then return to my breathing. I reflect on the other characters in the Gospel story and imagine where they were standing or sitting in relation to Jesus. Why were they there? What were they seeking? What were their thoughts? Their feelings? Their prejudices? Their fears? Their hopes? How do they feel about Jesus at the beginning of the scene? How did these feelings change as the scene progressed?
5. I slowly return to the Scriptures a third time. While breathing slowly, I imagine Jesus now facing me and saying and doing to me what he said and did that day. How am I feeling about Jesus as he speaks and acts? Why is he approaching me in this way? What is he really trying to say to me? How would my life change if I were to allow this gospel message to take root in my heart? How willing am I to make those changes?
6. If I feel called to do so, I say, “Yes!” to Jesus’ invitation for transformation within me.
7. I return again to my state of quiet, asking God to transform me into the person the Gospels call me to be.
From ARMCHAIR MYSTIC, Mark E. Thibodeaux, S.J., St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2001, pp. 82-85
Prayer: Christ Has No Body
Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks
Compassion on this world
Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good
Yours are the hands with which He blesses all the world
Yours are the hands
Yours are the feet
Yours are the eyes
You are His body
Christ has no body now on earth but yours
A beautiful musical meditation on this prayer by Josh Garrrels can be found on YouTube.
Additional Prayer Resources
- Many parishes publish the Scripture readings references for each day of the week.
- Some subscribe to daily missalettes such as Magnificat or Give Us This Day.
- The Daily Mass Readings can always be gotten on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (usccb.com). Click on: Daily Readings. Here you can request to have them emailed to your telephone or computer daily.
- Pencil Preaching: An excellent reflection on the daily Mass readings by Pat Marrin (former editor of the Liturgy magazine, Celebration)
- Sacred Space: The Jesuits of Ireland offer a structured approach top praying some part of the Daily Scripture every day (an App is also available.)
- Pray as You Go: the Jesuits of Britain offer a 10-15-minute guided meditation of one the daily readings. There is also an App that can be downloaded.