Return to Ordinary Time
One part of our everyday life that is not hard to get back into with jetlag is getting to Mass. In fact, it's a little easier getting the kids up and dressed when they are asleep by 6 pm and up before 4 am.
Even though it was the second week of Ordinary Time, it really felt like the first for us, because it was our first of our regular Sundays this year. Marking the weeks on the liturgical calendar, we're also marking the weeks until our next trip home. After a while of longing, we'll hit an Ordinary Time groove, possibly losing count in the meantime until another season surprises us with its timing. What? Lent already? Huh? We leave next week?
In the meantime, if I have to be anywhere on the 常年期第二主日 (Chángnián qī dì èr zhǔ rì), it may as well be in our current home parish.
We did experience the odd juxtaposition of our lives' seasons and those of China. We were just getting back from our Christmas trip, and the seminarians were about to start their three-week Spring Festival break. We arrived at our church just in time to wish them safe journeys.
While the seminary officially serves the Diocese of Beijing, many of the seminarians come from distant parts of the country where the dioceses are too small to support their own seminary. Some of them will be taking the trains to as far away as Yunnan Province in the southwest corner of China. We're praying for all of them as they return home and celebrate Spring Festival.
Even though it was the second week of Ordinary Time, it really felt like the first for us, because it was our first of our regular Sundays this year. Marking the weeks on the liturgical calendar, we're also marking the weeks until our next trip home. After a while of longing, we'll hit an Ordinary Time groove, possibly losing count in the meantime until another season surprises us with its timing. What? Lent already? Huh? We leave next week?
In the meantime, if I have to be anywhere on the 常年期第二主日 (Chángnián qī dì èr zhǔ rì), it may as well be in our current home parish.
We did experience the odd juxtaposition of our lives' seasons and those of China. We were just getting back from our Christmas trip, and the seminarians were about to start their three-week Spring Festival break. We arrived at our church just in time to wish them safe journeys.
While the seminary officially serves the Diocese of Beijing, many of the seminarians come from distant parts of the country where the dioceses are too small to support their own seminary. Some of them will be taking the trains to as far away as Yunnan Province in the southwest corner of China. We're praying for all of them as they return home and celebrate Spring Festival.
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* camera lens lateral chromatic aberration of sunlight refracted through various windows? I'm no physicist, but you probably captured an irrepeatable luminous mystery, congratulations!