My Kingdom of Days

For days now the lyrics of a Springsteen song and a transition in the Church’s liturgical calendar have been stuck in my head. At random times throughout the day my brain has attempted to make sense of these two disparate ideas.

The liturgical calendar just transitioned out of Christmas Time into Ordinary Time. This designation always makes me smile and also gives me pause. Ordinary Time. You’d think the Church would come up with a more theologically weighty name. But instead its just “Ordinary. “

After a bit of research, I found the name comes from the Latin word ordinalis, which means numbers in a series (rather than our typical meaning of commonplace, of no special interest). And so Ordinary Time is divided into weeks which are named with an associated number; for example, The Second Week of Ordinary Time.

The Church recognizes that we don’t spend the entire year in the “special” times of Advent/Christmas/Lent/Easter. Ordinary time makes up the majority of the liturgical year. During this time the readings tell us about days (both ordinary and not) in the life of Jesus. This time is meant to focus on our attention on learning how to live the way Jesus shows us.

Reflecting on this makes me think about the ordinary days in my life. Although there are momentous days each year, most days are insignificant in the overall scope of my life. But then again, its really the sequence of ordinary days that define what my life is.

This accumulation of ordinary days into passing years builds my kingdom of days. There’s the Springsteen song that I can’t get out of my head. He acknowledges the power of ordinary days: noticing the autumn breeze and the feel of wet grass, spending time with someone you love, laughing about growing old together.

So each day matters. Not in a “live like it’s your last day on earth” way with a spotlight focus on every action. But in a mindful way, resting in the paradox that each moment doesn’t matter, but then again it does.

A Closing Prayer

God, please grant me the clarity and insight to see the blessings in the ordinary days. Let me take a moment in gratitude to acknowledge the beauty and gifts which I take for granted most of the time. When the inevitable difficult times come, give me faith that ordinary days will come again. Thank you for another ordinary day of life in this extraordinary world you have created. Amen.