Kaukauna Catholic Parishes

Each year, we begin a cycle of spiritual renewal that leads us into the great mystery of our experience of God’s love. The year starts with the Advent journey, a time of joyful anticipation of the coming of Christ. It is a season of preparation that leads us into the
Christmas experience and the glory of God with us.

Between the Christmas and Lenten seasons, we enter into the first period of Ordinary Time. We cannot speak of Ordinary Time without speaking of Sundays. The seven-day celebration of the Lord’s Day is the basic structure upon which the church year is built. Of all of our liturgical seasons, Easter has the most expansive celebration of particular aspects of the Paschal Mystery. These seasons in no way
minimize the critical importance of the Sunday celebration throughout the year. Ordinary Time is not very ordinary at all. The Sunday celebration is the identifying mark of the Christian community that comes together to remember on the first day of the
week that the Lord of Life rose from the dead. Sunday is a day of worship and rest and is a sacrament of redeemed time. How we live on Sunday proclaims to the world what we believe about redeemed-time, now and forever.

What happens in our churches every Sunday is the fruit of our week. Sunday, like all the sacraments, is the point of arrival and departure for Christians on their way to the fullness of the Kingdom. This is not ordinary at all! It is the very fabric of Christian living.
As we enter into these next weeks of Ordinary Time, we carry with us the wonder and awe of God with us as we seek to live in the light and truth of God’s love.

Peace and Joy,
Fr. Don