Clergy Notes — March 2, 2025
The season of Christmastide concludes with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The season that follows is called, rather unimaginatively, “Ordinary Time” and this ends with the beginning of Lent. The length of Ordinary Time varies according to the date on which Easter falls in any given year. It can be as few as five and as many as nine weeks. The liturgical colour is green. Over the past few years, more attention has been paid to today, the last Sunday of Ordinary Time. The readings are now taken from those for the Feast of the Transfiguration. They remind us of our true nature in Christ and they look forward to Easter. We are invited to see the hope of our salvation at Easter prefigured in the Transfiguration.
Looking further ahead, Ordinary Time continues after the close of Eastertide and continues right through until the end of the Christian year. The final Sunday of Ordinary Time is kept as the Feast of the Reign of Christ. It is understood as pointing forward through the season of Advent to the coming of Christ in His Incarnation at Christmas and in glory at the end of time.
But let’s stay with this morning’s Gospel. We hear how the magnificent glimpse of God’s glory on the mountain gave the disciples the energy and strength to continue their work down on the plane. Let it help us as, in Lent, we try to stand by Jesus in his temptation and fast. Also, later, in Passiontide, when we enter spiritually into his suffering and death.
Fr. Neil G.