The name makes it sound nondescript and dull. Far from it. ‘Ordinary’ comes from a Latin root which means ‘ordered’ or ‘successive’.
 
It covers the 33 or 34 Sundays which do not fall within the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent or Easter, and each of the Sundays is numbered in sequence.

 

Although Ordinary Time is a unity, it falls into two sections:

- from the day after the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord until the day before Ash Wednesday;
- and from the Monday after Pentecost to the eve of the first Sunday of Advent.

In the great Seasons we focus on the key Christian events. In Ordinary Time we explore the richness of Christ in all its aspects, working our way, week by week, through the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, in a three year cycle. The other readings deepen and widen the mystery for our reflection.

The liturgical colour is green; a symbol of youth, hope and growth