We are now between the liturgical seasons of Christmas and Lent, celebrating the season of Ordinary Time. (The Christmas season ended on January 9 with the Baptism of the Lord, and Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 22.) The season of Ordinary Time gets its name from the fact that the Sundays are numbered (ordinal); the name does not imply that the season is “run-of-the-mill” or just plain and “blah”. These few weeks, and the weeks of Ordinary Time that return after the Easter Season is complete, give us the opportunity to learn about discipleship and experience Jesus’ life and teachings.

The month of November is dedicated to the memory of those who have died. It is a time for us to hold fast to the belief that when a faithful person dies, “life has changed, not ended” (Roman Missal, Preface for the Dead). Here is a 2017 article by Clare Coffey (bit.ly/CoffeyNovember) that reminds us that “[t]o mourn as a Christian is to hold both the fullness of loss and the promise of restoration at once.”  You can listen to Marty Haugen’s rendering of Psalm 23, Shepherd Me, O God at bit.ly/HaugenShepherd. Psalm 23 is a psalm of comfort for many people in the face of suffering and death.