This is the second volume of a three-volume set for Ordinary Time in the Christian Year. For the weekday readings at Mass there is a two-year cycle: Year A and Year B. Over the two years there is a different first reading from the Scriptures whilst both years share the same Gospel readings. On Sundays there is a three-year cycle.
Ordinary Time has often been described as the growing season in the Christian Year. After having celebrated the major observances in our Lord's life over the span of five months or less, the rest of the year is devoted to our Lord's ministry rather than to events in his life. It is a time to discover how the early Christian communities remembered the teaching and preaching of the Lord in light of their own experiences.
That preaching and experience we can read about in the earliest Christian documents in the genuine letters of St. Paul in the New Testament. At the centre of his preaching was Christ's death and resurrection, in which the baptised shared. Paul wrote his letters to deal with problems that arose in those first Christian communities. When we read the Pauline Letters we realise that not much has changed. Human nature is still basically the same and as a result the same problems that arose two thousand years ago we still have today. Hence St. Paul speaks also to us.
As well as the Pauline Letters, Ordinary Time covers many other parts of our Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. By meditating on the daily set readings, our lives as Christians are enriched as we come to a deeper understanding of Scripture.