Editorial

In Ordinary Time, we are called to make this year extraordinary in our faith, our love

We ended the Christmas season with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord on Jan. 11. Now the Church calendar has returned us to Ordinary Time, the days currently between the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of Lent.

But the Church reminds us that Ordinary Time also includes the days between the end of the Easter season and the beginning of Advent.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website shares: “The Sundays and weeks of Ordinary Time … take us through the life of Christ. This is the time of conversion. This is living the life of Christ.”

It adds: “Ordinary Time is a time for growth and maturation, a time in which the mystery of Christ is called to penetrate ever more deeply into history until all things are finally caught up in Christ. The goal, toward which all of history is directed, is represented by the final Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe,” which will be celebrated on Nov. 22 this year.

While the bishops’ explanation helps us better understand this season of the Church year, it is up to each of us to make the most of it.

In referencing Ordinary Time in his Angelus address on Jan. 11, Pope Leo XIV said, “This liturgical season will invite us to follow the Lord together, to listen to his word and to imitate his gestures of love toward others. In doing so, we confirm and renew our baptism, the sacrament that makes us Christians, freeing us from sin and transforming us into children of God through the power of his Spirit of life.”

We’re two weeks into the new year, and many are in the midst of tackling their new year’s resolutions. We hear of diets, cutting back on social media, spending more time with loved ones and many other worthwhile goals. But is “transformation” truly part of the plan?

Each new year is a new beginning, a time to re-examine our lives, a chance to try again. What is Jesus inviting us to do in 2026? As we try to reorient our lives toward God, why not make every effort to make not only Ordinary Time but the next 12 months extraordinary?

Faith is a bridge between mystery and love, and while love must be at the heart of our relationships with family, friends and our all-loving Creator, it must also be front and center in our prayers for so many in need around the world.

Every human is made in the image and likeness of God, and we would do well to remember that gift. We are all adopted sons and daughter of our Creator, seeking to be led by his grace.

The hungry, the homeless, the prisoner, the unborn, the stranger—our faith reminds us that love of God and love of neighbor are tenets we are called to follow, ones that are essential to our lived experience as people of faith.

When it comes to peace—which is desperately needed around the globe—our faith reminds us that there can be no peace without God. Our attempts to achieve it (such as in Ukraine, Yemen, Sudan and Myanmar) are doomed to fail unless all are open to the grace of God.

In recent history, it is hard to find a time when there was no war in the world, and our recent pontiffs have all implored us to pray for a peace that still seems so impossible to achieve.

In his recent message for the World Day of Peace, Pope Leo wrote, “When peace is not a reality that is lived, cultivated and protected, then aggression spreads into domestic and public life.”

He added, “Peace exists; it wants to dwell within us. The task is not to create it, but to welcome it, and to allow it to disarm us.”

We are taught all things are possible with God. And so, we pray that through the fruit of our prayers, some day in our lifetime, please Lord, we may indeed see a global peace.

May we also remember this prayer attributed to St. John Paul II: “Mary, Queen of Peace, save us all, who have so much trust in you, from wars, hatred and oppression. Make us all learn to live in peace and educate ourselves for peace, do what is demanded by justice and respect the rights of every person, so that peace may be firmly established. Amen.”

—Mike Krokos