Welcome to Our Lady of Consolation Parish

Opened as an Italian personal parish, Our Lady of Consolation is proud to be serving the community of Tacony in Philadelphia for 100 years and counting. Our parish has a plethora of ministries that appeal to just about everyone. We are certain that one or more parish ministries will touch speak to your heart.

The Meaning of Ordinary Time

Ordinary Time is called “ordinary” not because it is common but simply because the weeks of Ordinary Time are numbered. The Latin word ordinalis, which refers to numbers in a series, stems from the Latin word ordo, from which we get the English word order. Thus, the numbered weeks of Ordinary Time, in fact, 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 more severe penance (as in Advent and Lent), but in watchfulness and expectation of the Second Coming of Christ.

It’s appropriate, therefore, that the Gospel for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (which is actually the first Sunday celebrated in Ordinary Time) always features either John the Baptist’s acknowledgment of Christ as the Lamb of God or Christ’s first miracle—the transformation of water into wine at the wedding at Cana.

Thus 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!