Posted: January 21

Ordinary time—isn’t it wonderful?

Once Epiphany came and went , the Church returned to what it knows as “ordinary time,” the liturgical season that marches steadily towards the apocalyptic readings at the end of the year, roughly the same time as harvest in the northern hemisphere. Advent and Christmas are a special time, like Lent, only more fun. And my Christmas was truly special with a visit back to see family in the States. There were two weeks full of activities, like seeing my niece’s new infant son, her first child. It doesn’t seem that long ago that she was a young girl on a family ski trip in Colorado and I almost got kicked off the slopes for coming to a high-speed hockey stop on the skies and throwing up such a spray of snow that it knocked her over. Lynn was laughing and I was laughing, but the very earnest ski patrolperson did not find the situation humorous. (She must never have had any brothers, or maybe she had too many.) Christmas is a family time and I very much enjoyed the time to be with my family and get away from my all-male world of Jesuits here in the Curia in Rome.

The big manger scene in St. Peter’s Square is still up, but Christmas is over, Epiphany past, and now we are in the second week of ordinary time. It is actually good to be immersed in the familiar schedule, which is very productive. I have created several new sections of ‘sjweb’ and am working on the new and improved database for handling information in the offices. In one sense, there is not much news, just the steady repetition of work every day. I am already sending out emails to get ready for a long trip to northern Latin America, but it is good to roll up my sleeves and sit down at the computer for long stretches. There is a lot going on and being busy has its own pleasures, especially on cold dull days when I am not tempted to go out and take pictures. Spring will be here soon enough and more travels. For now, being ordinary is just fine.