Rollin' on a river of green through the church year

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

First in an Advent series

"Big wheel keep on turnin',
"Proud Mary keep on burnin',
"Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river."

When John Fogerty wrote those lyrics on the riverboat Mary Elizabeth in the late 1960s, he probably didn't think about the calendar. Certainly not about the calendar of the church year. However, the image of a big paddle-wheel boat moving down the big river is a good one for the church calendar - which turns over again on Dec. 2.

	A d v e n t Time of Preparation

Unlike the leaves of a calendar, the church year cycle moves like a big wheel. And a color wheel at that. The wheel of the church year is divided into four main colors: green, purple, white and red (with a few oddities thrown in). Over the next weeks, we will look at each of the colors - and seasons - of the church year.

The largest amount of color on the church's calendar is green. Green is the liturgical color of Ordinary Time, which makes up more than 60 percent of the church year. There are two seasons of Ordinary Time each year:

• The first - and shortest - is the time from the Monday after the feast of the Baptism of the Lord to the Tuesday before Lent (Mardi Gras).
  
  
• The second span of Ordinary Time starts on the Monday after Pentecost and lasts until the Saturday before the First Sunday of Advent. (That's Dec. 1 this year.)

As Kermit the Frog sang, "It's not easy being green. It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things."

It's often that way with Ordinary Time in the church year as well. And Ordinary Time does mean that it's the time that is not part of a big season, like Christmas, Lent or Easter.

However, it is called "Ordinary Time" because of the Latin word ordinalis, which means ordered or counted, because the Sundays of Ordinary Time are counted. That is why we have numbered Sundays - such as the Third, Fourth and Fifth Sundays, etc., of Ordinary Time.

Ordinary Time, while not highlighting any major church festival time, does highlight the life and teachings of Jesus. It is during these Sundays that we hear the parables, the Beatitudes, the stories of healing and of new life. Ordinary Time is when ordinary life happened all around Jesus - except that it was colored by his presence.

In the same way, our celebration of Ordinary Time happens while we live in the ordinary seasons of life. But, as Christians, these ordinary times for us are colored by the presence of Christ.

Fr. William Saunders, professor of theology at Christendom College in Virginia, explains that the teachings and readings of Ordinary Time "engender great hope in the mystery of salvation. We focus on the life he shared with mankind during his time on this earth, the life we share now with Him in the community of Christ and through his sacraments, and we look forward to sharing everlasting life with him perfectly in Heaven."

There are 34 Sundays of Ordinary Time, with the 34th Sunday celebrating the Feast of Christ the King. On these Sundays (except Christ the King), you will see the color green - appearing in the vestments, some of the altar cloths and the sanctuary decorations. The color serves to remind us of the growth that is life, both the fresh green of spring and the full green of full summer, and the growth that comes through following Jesus, the Teacher whose lessons we receive during the Gospels of the Sundays of Ordinary Time.

Next: The Color Purple