AN EXTRAORDINARY ORDINARY

It has been a fabulous spring around St. Sebastian (though we could use a little rain.)  The azaleas that we almost lost year to some sort of disease were treated and blossomed this year with a vengeance.  The tulips and daffodils grew like dandelions and the lilacs are almost choking in their fragrance.  I kicked Sebastian’s (my dog) ball into a pine tree and it looked like the tree caught on fire so much pollen rose into the air.

 

But all that is fading and now we are entering into summer; a season known more for its greenery that flashiness of color.  But that doesn’t mean growth isn’t still going on.  The bush trimmers, weed pullers, and grass cutters can testify to this.

 

It is much the same for the spiritual life.  We just came out of a season of flowers, fine vestments, extra candles, extravagant music, and extra pomp and circumstance.  Save for some exceptions (such as this weekend and next) the priest will be wearing the green of ordinary time.  This, however, does not mean a return to the ordinary of last summer.  We do not cast off everything that happened this last season and growth does not stop.  It might not be the splashy growth of celebrating the resurrection, but there is growth none-the-less.  We are to take the advances we made in Lent and Easter and now make that part of the new normal so that when we enter into the next spring of our growth, it will lead us to a new level so that the next ordinary will be extraordinary.