By the time late June rolls around each year, we are fully immersed in the season of Ordinary Time and I 👏am 👏here for it. While the word “ordinary” sometimes conjures synonymity with “dull” or “mediocre”, it really it just means normal, routine, or expected.

 

But sometimes it's easy to forget to look for God in the ordinary, everyday things of this world.

 

At the Ascension, Jesus disappears into the clouds, and the disciples just stand there, silently gaping at the sky. Two (presumed) angels appear and archly ask, “Why do you stand looking into heaven?” (Acts 1:11) This scene shakes the disciples (and us) out of our spiritual stupor, reminding us not to stand idle, staring into the heavens and twiddling our thumbs while we wait for the big finale. Jesus gave us a job to do!

 

Possessing a proper understanding of the mission of the Church oriented toward the on-going redemption of God’s created world protects us from eschewing the earthy work of family, neighbor, worship, and creation care as a base distraction or necessary evil. All parts of our life – even, and especially, the most ordinary and mundane – are sacred because God created them, Jesus redeemed them, and the Spirit is sanctifying them.

 

Let us be faithful to the deeply ordinary and deeply good work the Lord has called us to in our own time and place!