Ordinary Time Spiritual Reflection by Ernie Basile          Volume 2: Issue 3                                                  Page 2 Where is God?   Watching the daily news or reading the morning paper, it seems that He can be so distant .   As we begin to return to “normal” after the holiday rush, we will carefully put away the Christmas decorations so they can be enjoyed again another year, we will come to Church to also find that things are returning to normal .   Gone are the re - minders of our celebration of the Incarnation .   We will find ourselves, once again in what the Church calls “Ordinary Time . ” Like life itself, most of the liturgical year is “ordinary time . ” But what a precious time for our prayerful reflection, what an opportunity for our spiritual growth!   For the truth of the matter is that even for Jesus, thirty years of his brief life on earth were spent in ordi - nary time .   No miracles, no healings, no teaching the crowd and calling His followers .   Only eating, sleeping, working, and praying .   Listening to family, friends, and neighbors as they talked of the weather, local politics, who was getting married, who was sick .   But in this very fabric of daily life Jesus found the Father’s presence .   In this hum - drum routine, day after day and year after year, He grew in wisdom and grace . And from the wealth of human experience He later was able to draw the metaphors, the images, the parables He used to tell us about God . The source that Jesus quotes the most in His preaching — even more than the Bible — is creation, nature . Behold the fig tree ... the shepherd, the lilies of the field, the sower, the pearl of great price .    And today, from the ordinary of life He come to us sacramentally in water, oil, bread, wine .   But we also discover His presence and share His love with others in the Monday through Friday commonplace and mundane .   For love can be as simple as being on time .   Or really listen - ing to a long - winded friend who needs to talk .   Folding the laundry . Taking the car to be washed .   Eating ice cream with the grandkids .   If Christianity says anything to the world, it says that the Incarnation brought God right here, now .   As a famous spiritual author writes, “God is the Dancer, we and all of creation are the dance .   If you want to see the Dancer, look at the dance!” What precious time this is then … Ordinary Time .   During the cold dark days of win - ter we spend more time indoors .   Why not use this slower, ordinary time away from TV or computers, taking time not to do , but to be .   Perhaps if we use this slower time, we will be able to listen and look