This is the time of fulfillment...the Kingdom of God is at hand. After almost two months of preparing for, and celebrating the Christmas mystery, we too can join Jesus in declaring that the season of Ordinary Time that was ushered in as we commemorated the Baptism of our Lord (yesterday) is the time of fulfillment. Indeed, it is the time for unpacking the mysteries that were celebrated during Christmastide. We might have gotten caught in the celebratory mood of Christmas so much so that we forgot to understand or become part of the mysteries that were being commemorated. The Ordinary Cycle thus becomes a time to sit back and relax (from the hectic nature of Christmas festivities) in order to process the Christmas mysteries. In other words, this period becomes the right time for implementing the Christmas message. There is no better way to do this than by reflecting on the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry which is the content of today’s Gospel passage.
Jesus began his public ministry by declaring the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God. He referred to it as the time of fulfillment, the  jubilee moment for forgiveness of sins through repentance. This in-breaking of the kingdom is the very event that is celebrated at Christmas. Christmas celebrates Jesus coming to the world as the merciful, forgiving face of God, a God who wants to enter into a relationship with creation. Coming to the world as a child, Jesus invites creation into an innocent and sinless relationship with God and with itself. The Ordinary Time, then, becomes that time when we seek to turn our lives around by imitating the generosity and selflessness of God which has been revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ. It becomes that special time when we too become  incarnated as new creatures, for inebriated with the Christmas spirit, we have come to recognize that the Kingdom is indeed in our midst.