Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026)

If you go to a Catholic Church this weekend you're going to see something different.

For the first time in quite a while, everything is green again.

The vestments are green. The altar decorations are green. After weeks of white and red, the Church has returned to Ordinary Time.

And at first glance, that sounds a little disappointing.

We have just celebrated Easter. We celebrated the Ascension. We celebrated Pentecost. Last week we celebrated the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. We have spent months reflecting on the greatest mysteries of our faith.

And now we are back to Ordinary Time.

But Ordinary Time does not mean unimportant time.

In fact, Ordinary Time is where most of the Christian life is lived.

The great feasts remind us what God has done. Ordinary Time challenges us to do something with it.

And fittingly, the first Gospel we hear as we settle back into Ordinary Time is Jesus calling ordinary people and sending them out into the world.

At the sight of the crowds, Jesus' heart is moved with pity. He sees people who are troubled and abandoned, "like sheep without a shepherd."

Then he calls the Twelve and sends them out.

Notice who these men are.

Peter, Andrew, James, John, Matthew.

Not kings. Not scholars. Not celebrities.

Just ordinary people.

Fishermen. A tax collector. Working men.

Yet through these ordinary people, God would change the world.

I think that's an important reminder for us because sometimes we underestimate what God can do through ordinary people.

We think holiness belongs to saints whose statues stand in churches.

We think missionary work belongs to priests and religious.

We think changing the world belongs to someone else.

But Jesus looks at ordinary people and says, "Go."

Go and bring healing.

Go and bring hope.

Go and bring compassion.

Go and bring God's love into the world.

Now, most of us are not going to literally raise the dead or cleanse lepers this week.

But we can bring life where there is despair.

We can help heal a wounded relationship.

We can visit someone who is lonely.

We can encourage someone who is struggling.

We can forgive someone who has hurt us.

We can be patient with a difficult family member.

We can offer a listening ear to someone who needs it.

In a world that often seems angry and divided, those things are not small things. They are powerful acts of discipleship.

The Gospel reminds us that before Jesus sent the disciples, he first filled them with his presence and his teaching.

The same is true for us.

We have celebrated Easter. We have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. We have reflected on the mystery of the Trinity. We have been nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ.

Why?

Not simply so that we can admire these mysteries.

Not simply so that we can celebrate them.

But so that we can live them.

It's as if the Church is saying to us today:

You've celebrated the Resurrection.

You've received the Holy Spirit.

You've been fed with the Eucharist.

Now go.

Go into your homes.

Go into your workplaces.

Go into your schools.

Go into your neighborhoods.

And live what you have received.

Because that is what Ordinary Time is all about.

It is taking the extraordinary gifts God has given us and living them out in the ordinary circumstances of daily life.

And if enough ordinary disciples do that, God can still change the world.