Catholic Sensibility

Catholics, including their liturgists and homilists, in considering the wide stretch of Green Sundays ahead ... actually don't consider it much. Most often, it just goes Sunday to Sunday. Advent and Lent are easy enough: definitive seasons with a more cohesive thrust. Christmastime adds the value of being compact. But Ordinary Time never seems to have a good focus, at least not in parishes I've known or worked for. My worship team asked for a more thorough planning process for liturgies in the coming year. And even though we're not tackling Ordinary Time just yet (the task for 2005-06 is to master the Big Seasons), I present a brief summary of the Gospel pericopes for the Ordinary Sundays yet to come in our present liturgical year: Sundays, liturgy designation, the gospel reference in Matthew, and the briefest of summaries. date -- liturgy designation -- Matthew -- summary Sunday 5-Jun Ordinary Sunday 10 9:9-13 Call of Matthew Sunday 12-Jun Ordinary Sunday 11 9:36-10:8 mission Sunday 19-Jun Ordinary Sunday 12 10:26-33 mission Sunday 26-Jun Ordinary Sunday 13 10:37-42 mission Sunday 3-Jul Ordinary Sunday 14 11:25-30 Jesus' prayer of praise; "Come to me" Sunday 10-Jul Ordinary Sunday 15 13:1-23 parables Sunday 17-Jul Ordinary Sunday 16 13:24-43 parables Sunday 24-Jul Ordinary Sunday 17 13:44-52 parables Sunday 31-Jul Ordinary Sunday 18 14:13-21 miracles Sunday 7-Aug Ordinary Sunday 19 14:22-33 miracles Sunday 14-Aug Ordinary Sunday 20 15:21-28 miracles Sunday 21-Aug Ordinary Sunday 21 16:13-20 to the cross; Peter as rock Sunday 28-Aug Ordinary Sunday 22 16:21-27 to the cross; Peter as Satan Sunday 4-Sep Ordinary Sunday 23 18:15-20 advice to a divided community Sunday 11-Sep Ordinary Sunday 24 18:21-35 advice to a divided community Sunday 18-Sep Ordinary Sunday 25 20:1-16a growing opposition to Jesus Sunday 25-Sep Ordinary Sunday 26 21:28-32 growing opposition to Jesus Sunday 2-Oct Ordinary Sunday 27 21:33-43 growing opposition to Jesus Sunday 9-Oct Ordinary Sunday 28 22:1-14 growing opposition to Jesus Sunday 16-Oct Ordinary Sunday 29 22:15-21 growing opposition to Jesus Sunday 23-Oct Ordinary Sunday 30 22:34-40 growing opposition to Jesus Sunday 30-Oct Ordinary Sunday 31 23:1-12 growing opposition to Jesus Sunday 6-Nov Ordinary Sunday 32 25:1-13 second coming Sunday 13-Nov Ordinary Sunday 33 25:14-30 second coming Sunday 20-Nov Christ the King 25:31-46 second coming You can see chunks of Sundays group together in topic (these are *not* themes). June has the mission of the disciples starting with the call of Matthew. Once school's back in session, we get two weeks of Peter, two weeks of godly advice, followed by a long stretch of Jesus vs religious leaders. Such a guide would help musicians, homilists, and environment people planning the liturgy, leading to a greater Biblical literacy, starting with the Gospels. My dream would be the following conversation on the way to Mass starting with a question from the back seat ... "Is it another parable this Sunday, Mom? Or are we in miracles yet?" "Parable." "Aw jeez. I was hoping for a miracle this week, not another story about farmers. I liked it when Jesus used spit and dirt to heal that blind guy." "Ewwwww," says the little sister in the car seat. "I was hoping for a miracle of a peaceful drive to Mass," says the Dad. "This week's gospel is about buried treasure," says the Mom. "Really?" "Next weekend we start miracles." "Cool." Although we're told we get a full gospel each year, you'll notice that big sections, even whole chapters are skipped Sunday to Sunday. You'll need to go to daily Mass or crack out your home Bible to get the whole story. (There's actually something to be said for sitting down and reading a gospel through beginning to end, but that's another topic.)