Sunday Morning

Here we are at the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, or as I prefer to call it, the 119th Sunday, because Ordinary Time seems to take an Extraordinary amount of time to get through. There are 34 Ordinary Time Sundays in all, between Epiphany and Lent, and then between Pentecost to Advent I.

As mentioned before, some of the best Mass readings of the year are during Ordinary Time. For example, the second reading today from Ephesians

All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling
must be removed from you, along with all malice.
And be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

Those lines contain some extraordinary statements that challenge us at every level of our personality. Georgenz, my faithful commentator, has written that my last few posts have sounded "critical (with a degree of bitterness)." That is undoubtedly true. What also is true is the day to day life of each Christian is one where we must relearn, again and again, to put away "bitterness, fury, anger, shouting and reviling."

Am I always always able to avoid those things listed in Ephesians? No. Are they permanent parts of me? No. Do they occasionally invade my life? Yes. One thing I do claim is being able to forgive. Many seem to have lost that ability. I get white hot mad, then it cools off in about as long as it took me to get mad, then I'm ready to forgive and forget, even if I'm the aggrieved party. Why? Because "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us."

In Ordinary Time I learn that I, personally, am ordinary, not special, not a saint, and not even particularly holy. That is not a surprise to me, but it seems to be for some people. So if you have some over exalted opinion of me, I wish to disabuse you of any such thoughts. I am a sinner who tries to walk in the way of Christ. Sometimes I fail, sometimes I succeed. Never do I quit. When I fall down, I get up and keep going.