The Puzzle of "Ordinary Time"

Every now and again I glance at a new blog or at least a blog that's new to me, rather than just checking out ones I already know and like. In that vein I started looking at My Heart was Restless, a blog kept by a convert lady from Yorkshire. She describes her experience of the pre-Lent season (from Septuagesima onward) in the Old Rite as richer than the continuing "Ordinary Time" of the new liturgy.

I had an analagous experience some time ago. A friend who stayed over after coming to dinner accompanied us to Mass. He made a reference to "the [whatever] Sunday of Ordinary Time" and assumed that we were on the same calendar. However, my wife and I are members of the diocesan TLM chaplaincy, and thus we keep to an annual cycle rather than a 2 or 3 (or A/B/C) system. (A bit like nature itself, in fact.) So we had to point out that everything in the traditional form is dated to or from a feast, or a fast. Theologically it makes more sense too; after the Resurrection at Easter, and the start of the Apostle's ministry at Pentecost, how could time ever be "ordinary" again? There is in reality no "Ordinary Time". All of time before Christ was a preparation for the Incarnation and the Nativity; since the Passion and the Resurrection, all of time waits for the Parousia, the Coming in Glory of Christ at the end of time. We come from a definite point and we are progressing toward a definite consummation of time (albeit on a timetable known only to our Heavenly Father).

Of course, that leads to my other favourite hobby-horse. We are emaphatically NOT an "Easter People". I wasn't there on Easter Sunday, I don't know (as Doubting Thomas does) that Christ rose bodily from the dead. I do firmly believe it, however and profess it as all orthodox Christians do. So unlike the Apostles themselves but exactly like the people they preached to on that first Pentecost, I believe in Christ Crucified and Risen. And I believe in a very literal sort of way; not a Resurrection "experience" but a real Man who ate fish, cooked breakfast and when necessary showed off his physical scars. So I am (like most of the Church's year in the real Roman calendar) a Pentecost Person. I believe and I hope while gratefully receiving and practicing Charity. I will know when I see God face to face, if it pleases Him to save me. But this side of Heaven, we have no utter abject sorrow because we always have Hope; thus Laetare in Lent. We also have no unalloyed joy, because we have not been finally saved yet. Thus we always have Christ and Him Crucified, even on Easter Sunday.

Res Latinae

All things Latin are coming back into vogue with the restoration of the Usus Antiquior to a place of honour in the Church. Our Pontifex Maximus having given us this great gift, many people are now looking for accessible Latin texts. Besides the celebrant's Missal (Altar Missal forthcoming from PCP, God bless them) there are also bilingual Missals available from various places. (The second bilingual link leads to Angelus Press, an SSPX operation; I don't agree with SSPX/Angelus generally but their Missal has larger print than Baronius and is easier to read especially for the older Mass-goer.)

As well as a Missal for full and actual participation in the Mass itself, one of the most important books for a Christian is the Bible. So is it available in Latin? Yes, as I explained here. I've since discovered that a combined Vulgate & Douai-Reims New Testament is available here, from Loreto Publications, the same firm that reprinted Deferrari & Barry's Lexicon of St Thomas Aquinas. (Though buying D&B from PCP might make more sense, as it's almost $20 cheaper!) Remember that the Douai-Reims-Challoner is as close and literal a translation of the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate as you're likely to get, so you'll always have a crib ready-to-hand for when you get stuck!

Finally, what if you have no Latin at all but would like to learn? There are two options for the Irish would-be Latinist. Firstly, set aside 8 weeks and approximately €2,5000 and do it in University College Cork. Alternatively, and more modestly, you can download a complete, absolute beginners Missal-based course in Latin from the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales. (Not to be confused with our own LMSI.) The LMSEW site seems to be down at the moment but this link will take you to an archived version of the page. It has the whole course in discrete .PDF modules or as a single .ZIP file, and is available for free download. So for all those budding Latinists, there is hope yet!

Their site is back up again, so Simplicissimus is available here too!