A Season for Greening

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, January 19th, 2025:
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Psalm 96

R.​ Declare the marvellous works of the Lord among all the peoples.

O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. 

R.​ Declare the marvellous works of the Lord among all the peoples.

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous works among all the peoples. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods. 

R.​ Declare the marvellous works of the Lord among all the peoples.

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts. 

R.​ Declare the marvellous works of the Lord among all the peoples.

Worship the Lord in holy splendour; tremble before him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The Lord is king! He will judge the peoples with equity.”

R.​ Declare the marvellous works of the Lord among all the peoples.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

And just like that, we find ourselves in Ordinary Time. Though we may find the time we’re in to be anything but ordinary, I’m finding comfort in the predictability of turning the page to find the next season titled as such: Ordinary Time. There is a deep wisdom expressed in the traditions of our Church as she pendulates between the dazzle and splendour of Christmas on the heels of the preparations of Advent and this space in time carved out to simply be ordinary. The beauty in this lilt between the two is the greening of new growth that occurs as we nurture the seeds sown during the many feasts we have celebrated in recent weeks – if only we can take the time to let the roots sprout and spread.

In an attempt to practise what I’m preaching, I spent a morning reviewing my journal entries from the last year. I wanted to remember the seeds He had sown so I could freely ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. I flipped back through my journal with some trepidation, considering the weight the previous year carried within it. To my surprise, though, my entries of lament were far outnumbered by my reflections on His blessings. I tend to lean toward a critical mindset as opposed to one of outright positivity, so this disproportionate recording of gifts was not an attempt to haze myself by ignoring the trials I had faced. Nor was it a glossing over of what was, in many ways, a particularly difficult year. It was rather an expression of – and a practical example of – His holy splendour. Though it seems improbable, in this past year His marvellous works shone far brighter than any of the obstacles I had come up against.

Another trend I discovered during my review was that many of the blessings were revealed in times of stillness. When I ceased the doing, the fixing, the pacing, the avoiding; when I paused from the frenzy, the numbing, the distractions – it was there, in the pause, where I heard a new song.

Sister, if for you the bygone season of Advent was a hopeless flop, and the Christmas season felt draped in darkness, I want to encourage you: He is still here. If you had great aspirations, as I did, to pray more, give more, to reap the fruits of the season with holy abandon, but it somehow still seemed to fall flat – please know you are not alone. Together, let’s arm ourselves with shining swords and slice through the fabric of darkness before us until the Light is streaming in on all sides. Let’s sit together looking upon the seedlings He has planted in us – long ago, or in this very moment – and bathe them in the light of His holy splendour. No matter the season, His salvation is from day to day. Today, in this ordinary time, we can sing a new song, and the ordinary will become extraordinary.




Originally posted on January 12, 2022, by Lori MacDonald

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