Ordinary Time

What is ordinary time in a liturgical sense?

It is the longest liturgical season in the Catholic Church.

Liturgical seasons reflect how we live our lives. The Church celebrates special seasons that impact the world. Also, there is time left for us to analyze and reflect teachings.

Ordinary time means numbered or ordered time. Ordinary Time in the Church's year occurs in two sections. The first part begins on the Monday following the Christmas season, which ends with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on the Sunday following January 6. It lasts through the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season. Ordinary Time resumes after the Easter Season, on the Monday after Pentecost, and continues until evening prayer on the Saturday before the First Sunday of Advent.



For Ordinary Time, readings for the Liturgy of the Word have been chosen for thirty-four Sundays and the weeks following them. However, some years have only thirty-three weeks of Ordinary Time. In addition, since the Christmas Season ends on a Sunday with the Baptism of the Lord, and the Easter Season ends with Pentecost Sunday, two weeks in Ordinary Time do not have a corresponding Sunday. In addition, some Sundays of Ordinary Time are superceded by a solemnity that coincides with a Sunday, e.g., The Most Holy Trinity or Christ the King, the last Sunday of the liturgical year.

The Sunday that follows the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. The remaining Sundays are numbered consecutively up to the Sunday preceding the beginning of Lent.

The vestments are usually green. Green represents life and growth. Ordinary time gives Catholics an opportunity to meditate on the mysteries and miracles of Jesus Christ and our faith.