All are welcome in His Place
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
If you ask any ‘successful’ businessperson, they will tell you never to start your campaign in your home area. Avoid your own family, neighborhood and friends. They know you and your weaknesses and the weaknesses of your family. If you have any success, they will be the first to get jealous and pull you down. Your home place is like crabs in a pot. There is no need to put a lid on it. The crabs pull down anyone who wants to escape. Some parents say that it is easier to teach a child they do not know than their own children.
Poor Jesus, He addressed his own people and told them the truth about themselves. He challenged them to change their ways and to become responsible for themselves. So what did the people do? They eventually took him out and crucified him.
The Jews by the time of Jesus had almost become what we could say was “a closed group” who looked down on others. Others were inferior, they were superior. Jesus challenged that thinking. For seventeen centuries, Jews had been God's Chosen People, and they were proud of their superiority over the sinful Gentiles who did not know the true God. That very pride of theirs was their undoing. Jesus invites them to stop hiding behind their false identity and come to the truth of themselves. One of our favorite national pastimes (agreeable activity) is “passing the buck.” We have all played this game of letting someone else do what we should be doing, of handing on a job, a responsibility, or an assignment. We particularly like to pass the buck when it comes to listening to sermons. We think that some of the best homilies, retreats, conferences and lectures we hear are “meant for someone else”. We listen and say, “That’s good advice for my kids,” “My neighbors should have heard this homily,” or “That’s aimed at my office staff,” and so on. And that is precisely what Jesus’ hometown people did. They did not acknowledge that they were poor, blind or prisoners who needed a savior and liberator. Hence, they not only rejected Jesus and His “liberation theology,” but also tried to eliminate Him from the world as their ancestors had killed the prophets sent to them by God.
On a British Airways flight from Johannesburg, a middle-aged, well-off white South African Lady had found herself sitting next to a black man. She called the cabin crew attendant over to complain about her seating. “What seems to be the problem Madam?” asked the attendant.
“Can’t you see?” she said. “You’ve sat me next to a black man. I can’t possibly sit next to this disgusting human. Find me another seat!” “Please calm down Madam.” the flight attendant replied. “The flight is very full today, but I’ll tell you what I’ll do- I’ll go and check to see if we have any seats available in club or first class.” The white woman was very irritated and upset to sit with her fellow black citizen.
A few minutes later the flight attendant returns with the good news, which she delivers to the woman, who cannot help but look at the people around her with a smug and self-satisfied grin: “Madam, unfortunately, as I suspected, economy is full. I have spoken to the cabin services director, and club is also full. However, we do have one seat in first class”.
Before the woman has a chance to answer, the flight attendant continues, “It is most extraordinary to make this kind of upgrade, however, and I have had to get special permission from the captain. But, given the circumstances, the captain felt that it was outrageous that someone be forced to sit next to such an obnoxious person.” With which, she turned to the black man sitting next to her, and said: “So if you’d like to get your things, sir, I have your seat ready for you in first class up at the front...” At that point, apparently the surrounding passengers stood and gave a standing ovation while the black person walks up to first class in the front of the plane. We are victims of such situations. We see similar prejudice in today’s Gospel.
We are all equal members of God’s family. That is good to remember because there are so many divisions in society, so many boundaries, it is good to know that with God there are no divisions or boundaries between us, we are all members of his one big family of God.
The society you left as you entered the door of this church was not perfect. But sitting here in the church you are just as precious as the person next to you, behind you or before you. There are no ‘blow-ins’ in the Church, we are all adopted sons and daughters of God. We all receive the same Eucharist; we all receive the same Lord. When you go to Indian churches, temples and Mosques, you have to enter bare foot. When you enter into the holy place leaving the sandals and shoes at the door, you leave outside all your prejudices and egos and you enter as a child of God. Sometimes we forget that Jesus died to save each one of us here, that Jesus died to save the person next to you, behind you and before you.
As you and I think, this was there when the world was begun and it will be there as long as human beings are here. However, I can make a change in my life. You can in yours. You may know this joke.
A cab driver reaches the Pearly Gates and announces his presence to St. Peter, who looks him up in his Big Book. Upon reading the entry for the cabby, St. Peter invites him to grab a silk robe and a golden staff and to proceed into Heaven. A catholic priest (I will not say the name) is next in line behind the cabby and has been watching these proceedings with interest. He announces himself to St. Peter. Upon scanning the priest's entry in the Big Book, St. Peter furrows his brow and says, "Okay, we'll let you in, but you will have only a cotton robe and wooden staff." The priest is astonished and replies, "But I am a man of the cloth. You gave that cab driver a gold staff and a silk robe. Surely, I rate higher than a cabby." St. Peter responded matter-of-factly: "Here we are interested in results. When you preached, people slept. When the cabby drove his taxi, people prayed."
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
If you ask any ‘successful’ businessperson, they will tell you never to start your campaign in your home area. Avoid your own family, neighborhood and friends. They know you and your weaknesses and the weaknesses of your family. If you have any success, they will be the first to get jealous and pull you down. Your home place is like crabs in a pot. There is no need to put a lid on it. The crabs pull down anyone who wants to escape. Some parents say that it is easier to teach a child they do not know than their own children.
Poor Jesus, He addressed his own people and told them the truth about themselves. He challenged them to change their ways and to become responsible for themselves. So what did the people do? They eventually took him out and crucified him.
The Jews by the time of Jesus had almost become what we could say was “a closed group” who looked down on others. Others were inferior, they were superior. Jesus challenged that thinking. For seventeen centuries, Jews had been God's Chosen People, and they were proud of their superiority over the sinful Gentiles who did not know the true God. That very pride of theirs was their undoing. Jesus invites them to stop hiding behind their false identity and come to the truth of themselves. One of our favorite national pastimes (agreeable activity) is “passing the buck.” We have all played this game of letting someone else do what we should be doing, of handing on a job, a responsibility, or an assignment. We particularly like to pass the buck when it comes to listening to sermons. We think that some of the best homilies, retreats, conferences and lectures we hear are “meant for someone else”. We listen and say, “That’s good advice for my kids,” “My neighbors should have heard this homily,” or “That’s aimed at my office staff,” and so on. And that is precisely what Jesus’ hometown people did. They did not acknowledge that they were poor, blind or prisoners who needed a savior and liberator. Hence, they not only rejected Jesus and His “liberation theology,” but also tried to eliminate Him from the world as their ancestors had killed the prophets sent to them by God.
On a British Airways flight from Johannesburg, a middle-aged, well-off white South African Lady had found herself sitting next to a black man. She called the cabin crew attendant over to complain about her seating. “What seems to be the problem Madam?” asked the attendant.
“Can’t you see?” she said. “You’ve sat me next to a black man. I can’t possibly sit next to this disgusting human. Find me another seat!” “Please calm down Madam.” the flight attendant replied. “The flight is very full today, but I’ll tell you what I’ll do- I’ll go and check to see if we have any seats available in club or first class.” The white woman was very irritated and upset to sit with her fellow black citizen.
A few minutes later the flight attendant returns with the good news, which she delivers to the woman, who cannot help but look at the people around her with a smug and self-satisfied grin: “Madam, unfortunately, as I suspected, economy is full. I have spoken to the cabin services director, and club is also full. However, we do have one seat in first class”.
Before the woman has a chance to answer, the flight attendant continues, “It is most extraordinary to make this kind of upgrade, however, and I have had to get special permission from the captain. But, given the circumstances, the captain felt that it was outrageous that someone be forced to sit next to such an obnoxious person.” With which, she turned to the black man sitting next to her, and said: “So if you’d like to get your things, sir, I have your seat ready for you in first class up at the front...” At that point, apparently the surrounding passengers stood and gave a standing ovation while the black person walks up to first class in the front of the plane. We are victims of such situations. We see similar prejudice in today’s Gospel.
We are all equal members of God’s family. That is good to remember because there are so many divisions in society, so many boundaries, it is good to know that with God there are no divisions or boundaries between us, we are all members of his one big family of God.
The society you left as you entered the door of this church was not perfect. But sitting here in the church you are just as precious as the person next to you, behind you or before you. There are no ‘blow-ins’ in the Church, we are all adopted sons and daughters of God. We all receive the same Eucharist; we all receive the same Lord. When you go to Indian churches, temples and Mosques, you have to enter bare foot. When you enter into the holy place leaving the sandals and shoes at the door, you leave outside all your prejudices and egos and you enter as a child of God. Sometimes we forget that Jesus died to save each one of us here, that Jesus died to save the person next to you, behind you and before you.
As you and I think, this was there when the world was begun and it will be there as long as human beings are here. However, I can make a change in my life. You can in yours. You may know this joke.
A cab driver reaches the Pearly Gates and announces his presence to St. Peter, who looks him up in his Big Book. Upon reading the entry for the cabby, St. Peter invites him to grab a silk robe and a golden staff and to proceed into Heaven. A catholic priest (I will not say the name) is next in line behind the cabby and has been watching these proceedings with interest. He announces himself to St. Peter. Upon scanning the priest's entry in the Big Book, St. Peter furrows his brow and says, "Okay, we'll let you in, but you will have only a cotton robe and wooden staff." The priest is astonished and replies, "But I am a man of the cloth. You gave that cab driver a gold staff and a silk robe. Surely, I rate higher than a cabby." St. Peter responded matter-of-factly: "Here we are interested in results. When you preached, people slept. When the cabby drove his taxi, people prayed."
Holy Bible & Jesus’ Mission
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
One day in an introductory Bible class one of the participants asked: "Why are there four Gospels rather than one?" Certainly, things would look a lot easier if there was only one Gospel. Everything we read in that one Gospel would then be the gospel truth, pure and simple. When you come to think of it, if we had only one Gospel we would think that there is only one way of understanding Jesus and how he relates to us. Now that we have four different Gospels, each of them telling a significantly different story of Jesus and his mission, it becomes easier for us to see that no story of Jesus can exhaust the whole truth of what Jesus is. As limited human beings, we can only tell part of the story of God.
You may remember the story of the six blind men who set out to discover what the elephant is. The first blind man feels the elephant's side and says the elephant is like a wall. The second blind man feels the elephant's tusk and says it is like a spear. The third feels the trunk and says it is like a snake. The fourth feels the elephant's leg and says the elephant is like a tree. The fifth feels the ear and says it is like a fan. And the sixth blind man feels the elephant's tail and concludes that the elephant is like a rope. You could imagine the bitter disagreement that would ensue among them if they got together to discuss the nature of the elephant. Every one of them would insist that he is right and the others wrong. But the truth of the matter is: yes, he is right, but then so also are all the others. Each of them has a valid experience of the elephant but no one of them possesses the full knowledge of the total reality of the elephant. Even when you put all the six images of the elephant together, it still does not capture the full mosaic of the elephant.
After Vatican II, the church's reading of the Gospels on Sunday was revised into a three-year cycle: year A for the gospel of Matthew, year B for Mark, and year C for Luke. The gospel of John is read on certain Sundays interspersed (put here and there) within the three years, such as the Sundays of the Easter season. We are now in year C, the year of Luke.
A certain scholar has outlined in one word the aspect of Christ that each of the Gospels highlights. Matthew highlights the Christ of majesty (who heals by word of mouth alone, never touches people, never hungry, never angry, etc.), Mark highlights the Christ of might (who proves he is the Messiah by his acts of power and authority over natural and demonic forces), Luke highlights the Christ of mercy (who reaches out to the poor, the outcasts, foreigners and women) and John highlights the Christ of mystery (who was with the Father from all eternity and who has come into the world to reveal this hidden mystery, the truth that leads to life).
Let us go to the second part of the gospel. It was the Jewish custom for the reader to stand while reading, and to sit down while preaching (Mt 13:54; Mk 6:1). The synagogue liturgy was based on seven readings. The first four were from the Law (the Torah or the Pentateuch) followed by explanations given by the rabbi, who was the teacher of the Law. The second set of readings, taken from the prophets, could be read and interpreted by any circumcised male over thirty years of age. It was in this second capacity that Jesus read and preached on the passage from Isaiah. In this incident found only in Luke's Gospel, Jesus makes a solemn declaration of his mission in the world. We can call it the Jesus Manifesto. People who initiate a revolution usually start off with a declaration of their manifesto. Karl Mark started by publishing the Communist Manifesto. Martin Luther started off with the publication of the 95 theses in Wittenberg. Jesus has come to start a revolution of mercy and love in the world. And here in today's Gospel reading he publishes the Christian manifesto:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. (4:18-19)
The Word of God is called sacramental – in the sense that when it is spoken, read or heard, God becomes present in our midst. For that to happen, we must listen to the Word, accept it into our hearts, and then put it into practice as we live out our lives.
Sometimes we forget how precious the Word of God is .In 1964 the Romanian government released religious and political prisoners. One of them, Richard Wurmbrand, had spent nearly three of his fourteen years in prison in solitary confinement. In his book entitled In God’s Underground (pages 106-107) Wurmbrand describes how one day a new prisoner named Avram arrived in the prison. The upper part of his body was in a plaster cast. When the guards left him he drew out a small tattered book from behind the plaster cast. None of the other prisoners had seen a book for years. They asked him what the book was. It was the Gospel of John. Wurmbrand wrote that he took the book in his hand and no life-saving drug could have been more precious to him. From that day the tattered little book went from hand to hand, many learned it by heart and each day they would discuss it among themselves. That reminds us that sometimes we forget the importance of the Word of God in our lives.
St. Gregory wrote, “The Bible is a love letter sent by God to his people in which we can perceive the heart of God.” Read and listen to God’s love letter to you and me every day. St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” The Word of God in the Bible brings us healing and helps us cope with life’s problems. We may not find an answer to every problem but it will certainly broaden our vision. It is no wonder that Ps 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp for my stepsand a light for my path.”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
One day in an introductory Bible class one of the participants asked: "Why are there four Gospels rather than one?" Certainly, things would look a lot easier if there was only one Gospel. Everything we read in that one Gospel would then be the gospel truth, pure and simple. When you come to think of it, if we had only one Gospel we would think that there is only one way of understanding Jesus and how he relates to us. Now that we have four different Gospels, each of them telling a significantly different story of Jesus and his mission, it becomes easier for us to see that no story of Jesus can exhaust the whole truth of what Jesus is. As limited human beings, we can only tell part of the story of God.
You may remember the story of the six blind men who set out to discover what the elephant is. The first blind man feels the elephant's side and says the elephant is like a wall. The second blind man feels the elephant's tusk and says it is like a spear. The third feels the trunk and says it is like a snake. The fourth feels the elephant's leg and says the elephant is like a tree. The fifth feels the ear and says it is like a fan. And the sixth blind man feels the elephant's tail and concludes that the elephant is like a rope. You could imagine the bitter disagreement that would ensue among them if they got together to discuss the nature of the elephant. Every one of them would insist that he is right and the others wrong. But the truth of the matter is: yes, he is right, but then so also are all the others. Each of them has a valid experience of the elephant but no one of them possesses the full knowledge of the total reality of the elephant. Even when you put all the six images of the elephant together, it still does not capture the full mosaic of the elephant.
After Vatican II, the church's reading of the Gospels on Sunday was revised into a three-year cycle: year A for the gospel of Matthew, year B for Mark, and year C for Luke. The gospel of John is read on certain Sundays interspersed (put here and there) within the three years, such as the Sundays of the Easter season. We are now in year C, the year of Luke.
A certain scholar has outlined in one word the aspect of Christ that each of the Gospels highlights. Matthew highlights the Christ of majesty (who heals by word of mouth alone, never touches people, never hungry, never angry, etc.), Mark highlights the Christ of might (who proves he is the Messiah by his acts of power and authority over natural and demonic forces), Luke highlights the Christ of mercy (who reaches out to the poor, the outcasts, foreigners and women) and John highlights the Christ of mystery (who was with the Father from all eternity and who has come into the world to reveal this hidden mystery, the truth that leads to life).
Let us go to the second part of the gospel. It was the Jewish custom for the reader to stand while reading, and to sit down while preaching (Mt 13:54; Mk 6:1). The synagogue liturgy was based on seven readings. The first four were from the Law (the Torah or the Pentateuch) followed by explanations given by the rabbi, who was the teacher of the Law. The second set of readings, taken from the prophets, could be read and interpreted by any circumcised male over thirty years of age. It was in this second capacity that Jesus read and preached on the passage from Isaiah. In this incident found only in Luke's Gospel, Jesus makes a solemn declaration of his mission in the world. We can call it the Jesus Manifesto. People who initiate a revolution usually start off with a declaration of their manifesto. Karl Mark started by publishing the Communist Manifesto. Martin Luther started off with the publication of the 95 theses in Wittenberg. Jesus has come to start a revolution of mercy and love in the world. And here in today's Gospel reading he publishes the Christian manifesto:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. (4:18-19)
The Word of God is called sacramental – in the sense that when it is spoken, read or heard, God becomes present in our midst. For that to happen, we must listen to the Word, accept it into our hearts, and then put it into practice as we live out our lives.
Sometimes we forget how precious the Word of God is .In 1964 the Romanian government released religious and political prisoners. One of them, Richard Wurmbrand, had spent nearly three of his fourteen years in prison in solitary confinement. In his book entitled In God’s Underground (pages 106-107) Wurmbrand describes how one day a new prisoner named Avram arrived in the prison. The upper part of his body was in a plaster cast. When the guards left him he drew out a small tattered book from behind the plaster cast. None of the other prisoners had seen a book for years. They asked him what the book was. It was the Gospel of John. Wurmbrand wrote that he took the book in his hand and no life-saving drug could have been more precious to him. From that day the tattered little book went from hand to hand, many learned it by heart and each day they would discuss it among themselves. That reminds us that sometimes we forget the importance of the Word of God in our lives.
St. Gregory wrote, “The Bible is a love letter sent by God to his people in which we can perceive the heart of God.” Read and listen to God’s love letter to you and me every day. St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” The Word of God in the Bible brings us healing and helps us cope with life’s problems. We may not find an answer to every problem but it will certainly broaden our vision. It is no wonder that Ps 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp for my stepsand a light for my path.”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invite Mary and Jesus into our life
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Johnny Carson (who hosted the Tonight Show for 30 years (1962–92)) was interviewing an eight-year-old boy one night. The young man was asked to appear on the Late Show because he had rescued two friends from a coalmine outside his hometown in West Virginia. As Johnny questioned him, it became apparent that the boy was a Christian. Johnny asked him if he attended Sunday school. When the boy said he did, Johnny inquired, "What are you learning in Sunday school?" "Last week,” the boy replied, “our lesson was about how Jesus went to a wedding and turned water into wine." Then Johnny asked, "And what did you learn from that story?" After a long pause the boy said, "If you're going to have a wedding, make sure you invite Jesus and Mary!" And that is precisely the message of today’s gospel: make sure you invite Jesus and Mary wherever you live and wherever you go – they are the only ones you'll ever need. In other words, today's gospel lesson is about the sufficiency of Christ in our lives and the power of His mother’s intercession.
It was not the vehicle used – the wine – that was important; instead, it was two things: (a) Jesus responded to his mother’s intercession; and (b) Jesus joined in the compassion of Mary for the poor family in Cana who had an immediate need. Yes, dear brothers and sisters, YOU are the wine that Jesus wants to use to help others in need!
Christ’s first miracle, which John refers to as a “sign,” takes place in the village of Cana in Galilee. The hometown of the disciple Nathaniel but an otherwise insignificant town, Cana was located some eight miles northeast of Nazareth. This miracle is the first in John’s series of seven signs by which Jesus manifested his power and glory during his public ministry.
Having no wine for a wedding is a difficult situation for the young couple, and may indicate that they came from poor families. Among the Jews of that time, wine was not only considered a staple food item, but was also frequently used in times of celebration. To run short of wine at a wedding feast was certainly a serious problem, particularly damaging to the reputation of the host and an ill omen for the newly married couple.
Throughout the Bible, marriage is the symbol of the Covenant relationship between God and His chosen people. God is the Groom and humanity is His beloved bride. We see this beautifully reflected in today's First Reading, where Isaiah uses the metaphor of spousal love to describe God’s love for Israel. God’s fidelity to his people is compared to a husband’s fidelity to his wife. The prophet reminds his people that their God rejoices in them as a Bridegroom rejoices in His Bride, and that He will rebuild Israel, if they will be reconciled to Him and repair their strained relationship with Him. By our Baptism, each of us has been betrothed to Christ as a bride to her Groom (II Cor. 11:2). Symbolically, of course, we know that the wine will become his blood, and for the early Christians then, this became a sign of the Eucharist – which allows each of us to marry, become one with our God. Jesus’ first miracle then, is a celebration of the marriage of God and man, the marriage of heaven and earth, the marriage of divinity with humanity.
Even if you forget all what I said just remember these two:
1) “Invite Jesus and Mary to remain with us in our homes.” St. John Mary Vianney suggests this as the solution for many of our family problems. He used to encourage parents to create an atmosphere of prayer, Bible reading, mutual love and respect and sacrificial service at home so that the presence of Jesus and Mary might be perpetually enhanced and experienced in the family. If you have Jesus and Mary in your life, believe me my dear brothers and sisters, you have everything what you need in your life.
Secondly, "Do whatever He tells you." This is the only piece of advice given by Mary recorded in the New Testament, and it is a prerequisite for miracles in our families. This is all what our Mother tells us each time we go to her for help.
My dear brothers and sisters, we need to learn to appreciate the miracles of God's providence in our lives. God, often as an uninvited guest in our families, works daily miracles in our lives by protecting us from physical and moral dangers, providing for our needs, inspiring us and strengthening us with His Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus filled the empty water jars with wine, let us fill the empty hearts around us with love. By the miracle of Cana, Jesus challenges us to enrich the empty lives of those around us with the new wine of love, mercy, concern and care. We may say that we are not worthy and not well equipped for it. Here comes Dr Martin Luther King Jr. to inspire us. He said;
Recognize that He who is greatest among you shall be your servant.
That’s a new definition of greatness.
This morning the thing that I like about this is, by giving that definition of greatness,
that means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.
You don't have to have a college degree to serve.
You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.
You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve.
You don't have to know Einstein's "Theory of Relativity" to serve.
You don't have to know the Second Theory of Thermal Dynamics in Physics to serve.
You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love, and you can be that servant."
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Johnny Carson (who hosted the Tonight Show for 30 years (1962–92)) was interviewing an eight-year-old boy one night. The young man was asked to appear on the Late Show because he had rescued two friends from a coalmine outside his hometown in West Virginia. As Johnny questioned him, it became apparent that the boy was a Christian. Johnny asked him if he attended Sunday school. When the boy said he did, Johnny inquired, "What are you learning in Sunday school?" "Last week,” the boy replied, “our lesson was about how Jesus went to a wedding and turned water into wine." Then Johnny asked, "And what did you learn from that story?" After a long pause the boy said, "If you're going to have a wedding, make sure you invite Jesus and Mary!" And that is precisely the message of today’s gospel: make sure you invite Jesus and Mary wherever you live and wherever you go – they are the only ones you'll ever need. In other words, today's gospel lesson is about the sufficiency of Christ in our lives and the power of His mother’s intercession.
It was not the vehicle used – the wine – that was important; instead, it was two things: (a) Jesus responded to his mother’s intercession; and (b) Jesus joined in the compassion of Mary for the poor family in Cana who had an immediate need. Yes, dear brothers and sisters, YOU are the wine that Jesus wants to use to help others in need!
Christ’s first miracle, which John refers to as a “sign,” takes place in the village of Cana in Galilee. The hometown of the disciple Nathaniel but an otherwise insignificant town, Cana was located some eight miles northeast of Nazareth. This miracle is the first in John’s series of seven signs by which Jesus manifested his power and glory during his public ministry.
Having no wine for a wedding is a difficult situation for the young couple, and may indicate that they came from poor families. Among the Jews of that time, wine was not only considered a staple food item, but was also frequently used in times of celebration. To run short of wine at a wedding feast was certainly a serious problem, particularly damaging to the reputation of the host and an ill omen for the newly married couple.
Throughout the Bible, marriage is the symbol of the Covenant relationship between God and His chosen people. God is the Groom and humanity is His beloved bride. We see this beautifully reflected in today's First Reading, where Isaiah uses the metaphor of spousal love to describe God’s love for Israel. God’s fidelity to his people is compared to a husband’s fidelity to his wife. The prophet reminds his people that their God rejoices in them as a Bridegroom rejoices in His Bride, and that He will rebuild Israel, if they will be reconciled to Him and repair their strained relationship with Him. By our Baptism, each of us has been betrothed to Christ as a bride to her Groom (II Cor. 11:2). Symbolically, of course, we know that the wine will become his blood, and for the early Christians then, this became a sign of the Eucharist – which allows each of us to marry, become one with our God. Jesus’ first miracle then, is a celebration of the marriage of God and man, the marriage of heaven and earth, the marriage of divinity with humanity.
Even if you forget all what I said just remember these two:
1) “Invite Jesus and Mary to remain with us in our homes.” St. John Mary Vianney suggests this as the solution for many of our family problems. He used to encourage parents to create an atmosphere of prayer, Bible reading, mutual love and respect and sacrificial service at home so that the presence of Jesus and Mary might be perpetually enhanced and experienced in the family. If you have Jesus and Mary in your life, believe me my dear brothers and sisters, you have everything what you need in your life.
Secondly, "Do whatever He tells you." This is the only piece of advice given by Mary recorded in the New Testament, and it is a prerequisite for miracles in our families. This is all what our Mother tells us each time we go to her for help.
My dear brothers and sisters, we need to learn to appreciate the miracles of God's providence in our lives. God, often as an uninvited guest in our families, works daily miracles in our lives by protecting us from physical and moral dangers, providing for our needs, inspiring us and strengthening us with His Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus filled the empty water jars with wine, let us fill the empty hearts around us with love. By the miracle of Cana, Jesus challenges us to enrich the empty lives of those around us with the new wine of love, mercy, concern and care. We may say that we are not worthy and not well equipped for it. Here comes Dr Martin Luther King Jr. to inspire us. He said;
Recognize that He who is greatest among you shall be your servant.
That’s a new definition of greatness.
This morning the thing that I like about this is, by giving that definition of greatness,
that means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.
You don't have to have a college degree to serve.
You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.
You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve.
You don't have to know Einstein's "Theory of Relativity" to serve.
You don't have to know the Second Theory of Thermal Dynamics in Physics to serve.
You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love, and you can be that servant."
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Martin Luther King Day: Doing what God wants
In the story of Saul and Samuel, Saul was clearly instructed by Samuel, who carried prophet-like status, to destroy the enemy of the people – the Amalekites. This was to be done because of the sinful nature of that nation. But Saul interpreted Samuel’s instructions differently and greed caused him to rationalize that God didn’t really want all the Amalekites owned destroyed. He would want the soldiers to reap the benefit of their effort (not to mention Saul’s personal fortune). So when he was confronted he first said that the spoils were taken to be ritually sacrificed to God. Thinking that would deflect the Lord’s anger. For his duplicity and disobedience to God, Saul looses God’s favor.
In our own day, we also fall in to the trap of greed that destroyed the favored status of Saul. We rationalize that God would want us to be happy so we should do what makes us feel good, even though we know what he has commanded.
It is a difficult thing to do, understanding what God truly wants from us. But this we know. The test for figuring it out is straightforward. If what we do is for God’s greater glory, not our own, we are headed in the right direction. If what we choose demonstrates a love of God and our neighbor (and self), we have obeyed Christ’s great commandment. On the other hand, if what we do (or consciously fail to do) places us above God or is injurious to our neighbor (or our self), we join Saul in the Lord’s disfavor and need to seek reconciliation and forgiveness.
There is a book by the mystery writer Greg Iles titled, The Quiet Game. It is set in Natchez, Mississippi, and it revolves around the unsolved murder of a young black man killed in 1968. Everyone knows who murdered him. They also presume that they all know why he was murdered. Yet it remains unsolved 40 years after the fact because the people in that community refuse to talk about it, hence the title, The Quiet Game.
I wonder whether the following lines tell us something.
This is a small town. In small towns there are sometimes truths that everyone knows but no one mentions. Open secrets, if you will. No one really wants to probe the details, because it forces us to face too many uncomfortable realities. We’d rather turn away than acknowledge the primitive forces working beneath the surface of society.
One of Dr. King’s favorite songs was, “If I Can Help Somebody.” written in 1945 by Alma Bazel Androzzo, made famous by Mahalia Jackson, a hit in 1951 for Irish tenor Joseph Locke.
Let me share a verse with you today: “If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or a song, if I can show somebody that they’re traveling wrong, then my living shall not be in vain.”
May these words ring true as we strive to serve the people of God now and always. Amen.
In the story of Saul and Samuel, Saul was clearly instructed by Samuel, who carried prophet-like status, to destroy the enemy of the people – the Amalekites. This was to be done because of the sinful nature of that nation. But Saul interpreted Samuel’s instructions differently and greed caused him to rationalize that God didn’t really want all the Amalekites owned destroyed. He would want the soldiers to reap the benefit of their effort (not to mention Saul’s personal fortune). So when he was confronted he first said that the spoils were taken to be ritually sacrificed to God. Thinking that would deflect the Lord’s anger. For his duplicity and disobedience to God, Saul looses God’s favor.
In our own day, we also fall in to the trap of greed that destroyed the favored status of Saul. We rationalize that God would want us to be happy so we should do what makes us feel good, even though we know what he has commanded.
It is a difficult thing to do, understanding what God truly wants from us. But this we know. The test for figuring it out is straightforward. If what we do is for God’s greater glory, not our own, we are headed in the right direction. If what we choose demonstrates a love of God and our neighbor (and self), we have obeyed Christ’s great commandment. On the other hand, if what we do (or consciously fail to do) places us above God or is injurious to our neighbor (or our self), we join Saul in the Lord’s disfavor and need to seek reconciliation and forgiveness.
There is a book by the mystery writer Greg Iles titled, The Quiet Game. It is set in Natchez, Mississippi, and it revolves around the unsolved murder of a young black man killed in 1968. Everyone knows who murdered him. They also presume that they all know why he was murdered. Yet it remains unsolved 40 years after the fact because the people in that community refuse to talk about it, hence the title, The Quiet Game.
I wonder whether the following lines tell us something.
This is a small town. In small towns there are sometimes truths that everyone knows but no one mentions. Open secrets, if you will. No one really wants to probe the details, because it forces us to face too many uncomfortable realities. We’d rather turn away than acknowledge the primitive forces working beneath the surface of society.
One of Dr. King’s favorite songs was, “If I Can Help Somebody.” written in 1945 by Alma Bazel Androzzo, made famous by Mahalia Jackson, a hit in 1951 for Irish tenor Joseph Locke.
Let me share a verse with you today: “If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or a song, if I can show somebody that they’re traveling wrong, then my living shall not be in vain.”
May these words ring true as we strive to serve the people of God now and always. Amen.
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