Understanding our Faith

Ordinary Time!

Does this seem a strange title for a season of the liturgical year? The two great times of celebration are what we call cycles: there is the Christmas cycle (Advent and Christmas season) and there is the Easter cycle (Lent and Eastertime, that is Ash Wednesday to Pentecost).

There are then 34 Sundays of the rest of the year. These 34 Sunday liturgies fall into two parts: the Sundays between the end of the Christmas cycle until Ash Wednesday and then the Sundays between Pentecost Sunday and the First Sunday of Advent. So the number of Sundays in these two parts of the year varies in accord with the date of Easter. Whether Easter is early or late, decides the number of Sundays which precede Ash Wednesday.

On all of these Sundays, the colour of the vestments is green which is also the colour of suitable liturgical decorations when used.

There is a three-year pattern to these Sundays, generally known as Years A, B and C. Which year’s readings are to be used is determined by making every year which is divisible by 3, year C and then the other two years follow in sequence.

In year A we read passages from the gospel of St Matthew. In year B we read passages from the gospel of St Mark supplemented by passages from St John’s gospel and in Year C we read passages from St Luke’s gospel. The first reading for each Sunday of the three years is a passage chosen from the Old Testament which relates to that gospel passage – sometimes more successfully than at others! The Second Reading has no intentional direct to the gospel. It is called a continuous reading, that is, passages from one of the letters of the apostles in the New Testament are read in sequence.

Sometimes if a feast of importance falls on a Sunday, the readings and prayers of the feast will be used instead of those of the Sunday. This could happen with such feasts as the Transfiguration of the Lord or the feast of the Cross or the Assumption of Our Lady.

By Fr Frank O’Loughlin

Published: 7 June 2024