As we begin ordinary time in our church, how might the ordinary become extraordinary?
            We think of ‘ordinary’ as boring, routine, un-exciting, something from which we need to escape. Yet, ‘ordinary’ time is our reality. It is the reality of husbands and wives forging the bond of love that will last a life-time. It is the reality of parents who try to raise their children so that they have the values that they need to make wise choices in life. It is the reality of workers who do their jobs with honesty, integrity and commitment even when they do not receive a salary that is just, or their working conditions are poor. It is the reality of elderly persons who are alone but who continue to find meaning and value in their lives through prayer, through service to others, through the grace and equanimity with which they accept their situation. Ordinary time is neither glamorous nor exciting. But it is the reality in which we are called to live out our faith.
            When we truly live the faith that is ours, the ordinary can become extraordinary. When husbands and wives persevere in love through the hard times that are part of every marriage and their bond of affection and love grows deeper and stronger, their commitment is truly extraordinary in a culture in which divorce is common and has no stigma. When parents make sacrifices for their children and provide them with the love, structure and the discipline that they need, their efforts are truly extraordinary in a culture in which many parents abdicate their responsibility to provide models of mature adulthood. When workers do their jobs with integrity, commitment and honesty regardless of how their employers treat them, their efforts are truly extraordinary in a culture in which workers are often viewed as commodities rather than persons. Elderly persons who persevere with grace, fortitude and determination offer the extraordinary witness of the value of all human life even when that life is fragile and vulnerable. How we choose to live can change the ordinary into something extraordinary.
            Let us celebrate ‘ordinary time’ by making it extraordinary!
 
                        Fr.  Mark Hallinan, S.J.