This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
As usual, today’s readings and this moment in the liturgical year are multi-layered, like some sort of amazing millefoglie cake.
Today is the first day of ordinary time. Humdrum, one might think–time to get back to the routine grind. Upside? Maybe the predictability of it, and the thought that we can use the routine for growth and progress.
But our first reading and psalm come off as anything but ordinary.
The first reading speaks of the refulgence of Christ’s glory, of God speaking to us in the last days through His Son, of the Son’s stature as superior to the angels. This reading is positively oozing with glory.
And not surprisingly, the psalm punctuates the first reading: “Let all the angels worship Him.”
This all seems rather extraordinary, until we realize that status quo (“ordinary” if you will) for God is a state of glory. For us, the just-past Christmas season is about glory; the glorious bursting of God into the world. For God, Christmas was a descent, even a sort of self-abasement, for our sakes. Similarly, while the “ordinary” for us implies humdrum and earthly, for God it is nothing short of unending exaltation.
What is exciting for us about this, in our ordinary lives, as clearly comes through in the placement of this first reading at the beginning of Ordinary Time: Even in the midst of our “ordinary,” we can participate in God’s extraordinary “ordinary,” through union with Him–in anticipation of His “ordinary” becoming our “ordinary” as well.
As if this all were not enough, the gospel for today brings us to a completely different place, parallel in its richness: Jesus begins His “ordinary” ministry the day after we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, which marks the beginning of that ministry. We have the opportunity of meditating on what it was like for Him to begin His labor in earnest, as we begin the labor of a new year.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus how He combined the arduous reality of His daily ministry with a continuous connection through prayer to the glory of His Father in Heaven. Ask Him how He would like you to combine these two realities in your life.
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