September 20 – Ordinary Time

Though we may not have known it, we have been traveling through “Ordinary Time” . . . for some time now.

For monastics, the weeks and months between the end of Easter and the beginning of Advent, and between the end of Christmas and the beginning of Lent are the days of “Ordinary Time.” Of course the Church has lots of special liturgical events taking place in between: loads of Saints’ Days and special calendar celebrations, but if nothing else, the Prayer Book is a little easier to follow.

For the typical modern family today there is the crescendo between Thanksgiving or Harvest Festival activities and Christmas, there is summer vacation and spring break . . . and scattered personal and national holidays, of course . . . but these don’t seem to keep rhythm for us.

We are very close to our last hundred of this Cor Unum year. Shall we make them extra - ordinary? Why not?

What part of the monastic life, if it could be lived out enclosed, is most appealing? What could each best bring into an enclosure? What would make us REALLY want to stay? What would scare us away?

It’s “Recreation” in the Abbey . . . let’s have a bit of conversation on the subject.


St. Katharine's Abbey
Mt. Sinai
by permission/Wikipedia