Happy New Year everyone! We are back to Green Ordinary Time. Sometimes people get a little sad about ordinary time. It’s a time in the Church when we take down the wreaths, the Christmas tree, the Nativity Scene and start taking down the Christmas lights. The joyful holidays, like Christmas, New Years, and Epiphany are over. The colors in the church change from shiny, happy gold to green. It is a time to return to ordinary life. I would like to propose to you how extraordinary ordinary time can become for you if you let it.

You’ll love ordinary time if you love the color green. I just happen to like that color. It’s the color of Oregon because Oregon is filled with life. I’ve been to many other parts of the world and most are not really as green and life-sustaining as it is here. Life is the reason for the green of Ordinary Time. The Green of this time in the liturgical year signifies our life with Jesus sustained by the Holy Spirit. We’ve had the benefit of being inspired to live a better life through Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Now we can be sustained in that life by following through on the inspiration. This gets difficult and we need the Holy Spirit, whom we call the Lord and giver of life, to keep our Christian life moving toward the ultimate goal: heaven.

Ask yourself this week what inspired you to live a better Christian life during the last two months. Once you’ve verbalized this inspiration ask God to help you sustain this inspiration by living it out both in the Church and in the world. Stay sustained by the life giving sign that green means in Ordinary Time. Happy N e w Y e a r

Fr. Jeff