Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
Today we begin our season of what is called “Ordinary Time.” In our two-year cycle of daily Mass readings, this is Year I, and we will be reading semi-continuously from the gospels, beginning with Mark. Our first readings will also be semi-continuous from various biblical books. Today’s reading is from Paul’s letter to the Hebrews. But while this time is named “Ordinary,” it is not ordinary in our normal understanding of the word, which might make it seem “everyday” or even “boring.” The proper understanding of Ordinary Time, however, is that it is a counting, a numbering of the days. And, indeed, as we begin this season of Ordinary Time that precedes Lent, we find ourselves counting the days in our Church life. This is a time to focus on our daily walk with Christ; in that sense it is of the “everyday,” but it is not meant to be “boring”!
Today’s readings to a great job in helping us to think about this daily walk with Christ. In the selection from the very beginning of Hebrews, St. Paul reminds us that in Christ, God has given us a full revelation, he has spoken to us completely and directly. Jesus is God’s Son sent to us to save us by his life, death, and resurrection, and, both human and divine, Jesus is far superior even to the angels. This passage helps us to understand the time in which we live. Each year for us is a year of grace, a year in which we celebrate God’s presence and revelation in the person of Jesus. Our daily walk with Christ is one where we acknowledge the import of a God who loves us so much that he sends us his only Son to save us.
The passage from Mark, meanwhile, shows us this person of Jesus as he begins his mission following his baptism where it was revealed that Jesus is God’s Son. In what should be a familiar theme throughout the last few months, Jesus is proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is at hand; it is a message of repentance from sins and belief in the good news (Mk. 1:15). This is not simply some abstract prophecy, however. It is instead intensely practical: Simon, Andrew, James, and John all leave their daily lives as fishermen to begin their daily walk with Christ as followers of him.
So too during this season of Ordinary Time, we are called to live as disciples of Christ—grateful disciples who recognize the blessing of following Jesus day in and day out. We are called to repent of our sins, we are called to believe in the good news, we are called to partake in the Kingdom of God offered to us. Each day provides a new opportunity to us to follow Christ. May we never squander that opportunity! Today, let us take some time in prayer to renew our commitment to following Christ, so that each day may be one more day of our lives spent with God.
- Maria Morrow