This week is the last week of what is known in the Church as Ordinary Time and next week we move into Advent

Ordinary Time is called "ordinary" not because it is common but simply because the weeks of Ordinary Time are numbered.  The numbered weeks of Ordinary Time,  represent the ordered life of the Church—the period in which we live our lives neither in feasting (as in the Christmas and Easter seasons) or in the time of penance (as in Advent and Lent), but in watchfulness and expectation of the Second Coming of Christ.

For Catholics, Ordinary Time is the part of the year in which Christ, the Lamb of God, walks among us and transforms our lives. There's nothing "ordinary" about that!

At school we will change our prayer table cloths from green to purple signalling that we are moving into a festive season.  The same happens at Church with the priest's vestments (garments) and the altar cloths.  For our children rituals such as changing the colour of cloths are wonderful reminders of a special dimension of our faith.