5th Sunday of the Year 2013

Fifth Sunday of Year (C)

 (Isaiah 6:1-8; 1^st. Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11)

Today, dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we should learn from our Scriptural readings something about the spiritual life of a Christian, something essential for any would-be-faithful disciple of Christ, something quite distinct from the good Christian life commonly lauded by the world around us.

In our Gospel reading we heard that:

Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on you will be catching men."

Just as Simon and his companions used a net to catch fish, so Jesus would, He said, use Simon, and with Simon his companions, to catch men.

Notice that People of God, because many today dislike the thought of salvation being mediated to them by other human beings, they object to idea of owing their salvation to God’s goodness in Christ and through the Church: they want to have a direct personal relationship with God or with Jesus the Saviour.  They think that in their case God should catch them as does some fresh-water fisherman who goes to the edge of the river and feeling under the rocks or the bank catches hold of one fish in his hand: that is how God personally seeks and saves them, they like to think.  They cannot stomach a Church, Peter’s Church, a human organisation, being used, like some vast net, to catch them along with numberless others over the ages.  They do not want to feel humble and grateful before a universal Mother Church, and they positively refuse to obey a human authority such as the Pope, the Vicar of Christ.  And yet, it cannot be denied that Jesus did indeed say to Simon:

            Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.

That refusal of many to accept the One True Church of Christ, their denial of Peter, established by Jesus as the Rock of the Church and the Shepherd of His sheep, is an expression of the human and worldly pride of modern man, and a prominent characteristic of the false religious spirit abroad in our times.  There are other aspects too that our readings clarify for us today, aspects that are more abject than proud, but no less harmful to the true Christian spirit, no less destructive of life with and for God in Jesus.

In the first reading we heard how Isaiah had the remarkable vision of God in the glory of His holiness and majesty:

I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne, with the train of His  garment filling the temple.  Seraphim were stationed above.  They cried one to the other, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!  All the earth is filled with His glory!" 

That would be enough to fill any human being with awesome fear and humble reverence; however, we are told that Isaiah:

heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send?  Who will go for Us?"  "Here I am,” he said, “send me!"  

Does that not seem to be somewhat presumptuous on the part of Isaiah?  Does not the worldly picture of the good Christian involve the humble recital of words such as “I am not worthy”?

Let us now turn to St. Paul and observe his behaviour, for he tells us that:

Jesus was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.  After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.  Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

Now, some of the Corinthians to whom Paul was writing were inclined to denigrate him: who was he, after all?  Everybody knew about Peter individually and the group of Twelve Apostles who travelled far and wide spreading the Gospel, and then, of course, there was James the brother of the Lord and head of the Church in Jerusalem.  Who was this fellow Paul in comparison with them?  As you heard, Paul was the first to admit that he did not have the supreme authority of Peter, nor he was one of the original Twelve.  But whatever his detractors might say or think, Paul would not shrink before them: he confidently asserted, “Jesus, appeared to me also “.   And not only did He appear to Paul, He also chose to send Paul on a mission; in other words, he, Paul, was indeed an Apostle, one sent by the risen Lord to proclaim the Gospel: and he had been sent to the Gentiles, to Corinth, with that Good News.  “No matter what some of you may think”, he was saying to the Corinthians, “I am an Apostle, indeed, I am your Apostle”

For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. (1Corinthians 4:15)

So in our readings today we have not only Isaiah pushing himself forward “Send me!” but also Paul is seen fighting verbally to have himself recognised as an Apostle.

This was most important for Paul because, even in the very early Church, it was the Twelve who were, then as now, acknowledged to be of supreme importance.  Then came apostles, those disciples of Jesus, that is, who had seen the Risen Lord (cf. 1st. Corinthians 15:80), and who had subsequently been sent (Apostle means “one sent”).  In the beginning of his work Paul had been sent on his first missionary voyage together with Barnabas by the Spirit through the church at Antioch.  But it was Paul himself who had subsequently been guided and decided by the Spirit to set out on his second with Silas as his chosen companion, before undertaking his third and final missionary journey. 

Paul did not want to be thought of then or remembered later as merely one sent  out by the church of Antioch: he was, he insisted, a true, a full, Apostle.  For, he had – despite his own unworthiness as a persecutor of the Church – originally been chosen by the Risen Lord Jesus Himself to proclaim and suffer for His Name, before being expressly sent by the Spirit of Jesus on his second and third journeys; indeed, on all three journeys, the Gospel he preached and the authority he exercised came from the Risen Lord.  In defence of his missionary standing he even went on, in his second letter to these Corinthians, to sing loudly -- but most affectingly -- his own praises as he compared himself with all other apostles, whoever they might be: the Twelve, or any others accorded the title ‘apostle’ in the Church at that time:

Are they ministers of Christ? -- I speak as a fool -- I am still more, with far greater labours, far more imprisonments, far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death. (2 Corinthians 11:23)

People of God, today the popular conception of Jesus and of a ‘good’ Christian is of someone who is nice, never nasty, never pushy, never fighting for self in any way; always smiling at children and patting dogs, always speaking soothing words and totally incapable of condemning sin or punishing evil-doers.  In other words, the world’s picture of a virtuous Christian is colourless, insipid and negative, and so the Gospel is robbed of all challenge, of all its power to inspire and strengthen.  Even the good works done for others become tasteless, because they are human good deeds done for human satisfaction; since they are not directed towards God’s glory, they remain within the orbit of this world, and though they be reproduced over and over again they cannot renew the world … and ultimately are condemned to become ordinary and meaningless, just as the words “I forgive” become trite when they are not spoken in prayer to God (“Father, forgive them”), but rather offered meaninglessly to those who are not in any way either interested in, or asking for, forgiveness.

Since I am saying that the comfortable picture of a ‘good’ life painted by lovers of this world is insipid, do I thereby say that Catholics and Christians should become extremists?  By no means!  Let us look again at Isaiah and Paul.  

In the first reading, the apparently “pushy” Isaiah had had his sin taken away, as  he tells us that:

One of the seraphim (from before God’s throne) flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.  And he touched my mouth with it, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged." 

So you can begin to appreciate that Isaiah had – most probably -- been in no sense pushy: God had prepared Him for the work and so Isaiah was able to cry out with deepest gratitude and confident zeal in answer to God’s inspiring call.

Look again at St. Paul.  He was fighting to establish his own authority indeed, but only so that the Gospel truth for which he had been commissioned as Apostle to the Gentiles just as Peter was Apostle to the Jews (cf. Galatians 2:7), might not be brought into doubt by others who had more attractive worldly credentials and who were preaching a version of the Gospel which was dependent on the old Jewish understanding whilst failing to appreciate, and fully respond to, the new wine of the Gospel of Christ.  Therefore, Paul was not really fighting for himself, he was fighting for the Gospel entrusted to him by the Risen Lord, the full Gospel for his new converts whom he would not allow to be saddled with the old, worn out, Jewish prescriptions; he was, indeed, fighting for the truth of Christ, the glory of God the Father, and the spiritual fulfilment of his hearers.

Our readings today, People of God, encourage and guide us to authentic spirituality as disciples of Jesus.  We are not to conform to, settle for, the flabby, colourless, “goodness” of those who want to win the approval of modern society and accommodate modern morals, and who want, above all, to avoid the Cross of Christ.  Yet neither are we to seek to make a name for ourselves, striving to be dynamic and contradictory, flaunting authority, and ignoring normal sensibilities.  No, we have to despise both those attitudes: we must not be so weak as to seek the world’s good pleasure; we must not be so proud as to seek our own glory and set our own standards.

Zeal for God and self-forgetfulness, as displayed by Isaiah, easily lead to the world’s mockery, disdain, and contempt; faithfulness to God and courage, as shown by St. Paul, frequently bring down upon themselves criticism, antagonism, and confrontation. 

At the very beginning of His own public ministry Our Blessed Lord made abundantly clear for His specially chosen disciples the attitude they should have with Him, in His service:

Getting onto one of the boats -- the one belonging to Simon -- He asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.  Then He sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.  After He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.’  Simon said in reply, ‘Master we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at Your command I will lower the nets.’   When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing.  They signalled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them.  They came and filled both boats so the boats were in danger of sinking.  When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, ‘Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.’

Awareness of their own insufficiency, simple trust and confidence in Jesus’ guidance, grateful commitment to His command, and deepest humility before His Person ..... such were dispositions of the Apostles who left everything and followed Him.

Such dispositions were taught by Jesus at the beginning of His relationship with His specially chosen disciples; and they were most firmly anchored in their minds and hearts when, as St. John tells us, – at the end of their earthly relationship with Him and in His hour of supreme glory -- the Risen Lord appeared to them by the Sea of Tiberias where He found them once again fishing without success; He confirmed His original teaching, foreshadowing still greater fruitfulness for their future labours, and offering the surest hope of unfailing help and eternal reward.

In all things we have to seek to know, love, and obey Jesus. The mode and measure of our holiness is not our’s to produce in consonance with human conceptions, but His to give according to His unsearchable wisdom, inconceivable beauty, and supreme goodness.  

                                                                      

     

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2013)

Fourth Sunday Year (C)  

                     

       (Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19; 1st. Corinthians 12:31–13:13; Luke 4:21-30)


In the second reading today, People of God, we heard one of the most famous, the most important, and one of the most beautiful, texts of the New Testament: a text that is famous among Christians above all because of its fundamental importance, whilst among unbelievers and nominal Christians it is famous because of its beauty.
We who are disciples of Jesus know well that the Devil delights to turn good into evil by cloaking evil with a pseudo-righteousness; and today, many in our modern consumer society --  including not a few formerly faithful but now lapsed Christians – show themselves his willing disciples in this respect when, still being able to remember those words of St. Paul about the supreme worth and beauty of charity (they prefer to call it “love”), they will at times -- despite years of absence from, or almost total ignorance of, devout Church life and authentic Catholic Faith -- tell you in a triumphant tone and with crushing emphasis, that “love” is what Christianity should be all about, not religion. And of course, though using the words of Scripture -- “love” is the word used in our popular bible translations today --  they twist the meaning of those words; for, when using the word “love” they mean, at best,  “being nice”, “never hurting” “agreeing with people”, or, at the very least, “never being disagreeable to people”.  On the other hand, religion -- which for the true Christian is the God-given means and channel for the expression of and growth in, that supreme love which is charity towards God – is, to their way of thinking, more or less worthless, being concerned with merely public ritual and rites, individual pomp and posturing.
Let us, however, who want to be whole-hearted, obedient, disciples of Jesus and children of Mother Church, never mix up our apostolic faith and practice with such ‘fashionable’ objections to Catholic Christianity.  The Apostle Peter himself, did once speak in such a worldly way to Jesus, and, we are told, Jesus turned on him immediately saying:
Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. (Mark 8:33)
Now, what do you think: was that a “nice” thing to say?  Don’t many of our modern pseudo-Christians assure us that true Christianity is all about loving people, “not hurting” anyone?  Do you think those words of Jesus “hurt” Peter?  Of course they did, because they were meant to hurt him, in order to heal and protect him.  The fact is, however, that those modern humanists who use Christian words do not really care about Jesus or His teaching: they don’t seek, first and foremost, to be His true disciples; above all, they want to be at ease with the world, personally popular and successful.  And so, when they use the words of Jesus, they do so only in such a way as to promote their own ends and gain public approval, not to proclaim the saving truth for which Jesus died.
Therefore, let us now turn to our Scripture readings for today and try to learn more about Jesus: His teaching, His attitudes, and His purposes.
We are told that, after reading from the Scriptures on the Sabbath in His local synagogue at Nazareth:
He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  So all bore witness to Him, and marvelled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?" 
But then, Jesus immediately continued, as you heard:
You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.' Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 
And that was only a beginning, for He then went on to quote examples from the Scriptures where Israel had been judged unworthy of a miracle, with the result that:
All the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things.
How deep was their indignation, how wild their rage!   We are told that they even went so far as to:
rise up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.
There Jesus had been speaking to His own townspeople just as He would later speak to Peter: being quite deliberately ‘not nice’ in order to guide them along the right path and predispose them towards God’s saving truth.
People of God, one of the greatest failings today in our Western society, which formerly was proud to call itself Christian, is hypocrisy: today Western society seeks to portray itself as being good without God, multi-cultural but impervious to any serious religious convictions, committed to ostentatiously excessive human rights but indifferent to their social dimensions and consequences.  Many, indeed, still like to take up vaguely remembered Christian concepts and teachings, but these they then -- as we have seen -- attempt to twist into conformity with the atheistic and secular prejudices of surrounding society: they quote Jesus, but seek the esteem of men; they obsequiously bend the knee to political correctness but will not bow their head in faith or accept the yoke of obedience to the Word of God.
We, however, who want to be true disciples of Jesus, must always remember the words of St. Paul heard in our second reading as he taught and intended them:
(Brethren) earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. 
That greatest gift, that more excellent way, as you all know, is at the heart of our Christian faith; it is the way of that love which is charity: it is not niceness, charm, or agreeableness, nor is it sexually-accommodating: it is a unique participation in, and sharing of, God’s own love, serving His eternal purposes and expressing His unfailing goodness; and for that reason it is most properly called charity.
Christian charity has its source in the eternal love which is the bond of unity in the Holy Trinity between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and it is, more immediately, a sharing in Jesus’ own love for the Father Who sent Him, and for the whole of mankind created in His image and likeness; in us, it is a love of God and of our neighbour ever seeking to help our neighbour in the ways of God.  Indeed, Christian charity is love of God even, at times, to the total forgetfulness of self: a love that would lead us to humbly set aside all earthly aspirations and confidently scorn all worldly threats and fears.
St. Paul assures us that, we can take with us from this changing world only what will abide to eternity, that is:
    Faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. 
Let us, therefore, consider closely what he recommends and what he warns us against:
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
All the gifts Paul mentions there are sublime gifts of themselves, and the Corinthians were desirous of such wonderful blessings: such prophecy, such understanding, such faith ….  indeed, you might go on to say, such love as to bestow all one’s good to the poor (like St. Anthony and many other great saints), such charity as to give one’s body to be burnt (like St. Lawrence).  However, in aspiring to such gifts and graces, the Corinthians were unduly motivated by personal pride: wanting to be noticed, praised, esteemed and honoured in the Church, they were not truly seeking to love God supremely.
Paul therefore tries to turn them in the right direction:
Earnestly desire the best gifts. I show you a more excellent way.
He guides them to charity.  But here notice that, because of their penchant for pride, he recommends the lesser expression of charity first: the charity demanded by the second great commandment: love of neighbour; a derivative form, indeed, but an authentic and essential expression of charity towards God Himself:
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Then, once a foundation of humility has been established through such love, Paul risks apparent self-contradiction by immediately going on to recommend what formerly the Corinthians had appreciated wrongly and aspired to from pride, and what he, only a few lines before, had felt it necessary to warn them against:
I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification. (1 Corinthians 14:5)
People of God, we are all called to be witnesses for Christian and Catholic truth.   Therefore, for the love of God, and with love for our neighbour, that is, in the fullness of Christian charity, let us ‘put on the whole armour of God’ as St. Paul recommends, since the enemies of Christ … and many ‘nice’ and ‘respectable’ people are indeed enemies of Christ … are virulent in their attacks on Jesus and His Church in our times; and let us recall and take to heart God’s words to Jeremiah, the great prophet who most closely foreshadowed Jesus in the contradictions and contempt he had to endure in order to remain faithful to God and help save his people:
My people have forsaken Me; therefore, prepare yourself and arise and speak to them all that I command you.  Do not be dismayed before their faces, lest I dismay you before them; for behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land (and) against the people of the land.    They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you to deliver you.

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) 2013

3^rd. Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

(Nehemia 8:2-6, 8-10; 1^st. Corinthians 12:12-30; Luke 1:1-4, 14-21)

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to bring glad tiding to the poor.  He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, those words of Jesus “a year acceptable to the Lord” made passing reference to the jubilee of the year A.D. 28.  Nearly 2000 years on, we still know something of the significance of the jubilee tradition in Israel having experienced a modern jubilee in the year 2000.  A jubilee year was meant to be one of renewal and rejoicing: renewal for all whose ways had been wandering from the right path, and rejoicing for the suffering and needy who were to receive redress for past injuries and help in present difficulties.  Even in modern times and among nations and international organizations overwhelmingly concerned with politics and money rather than with religious issues, nevertheless, in the year 2000 that spirit of jubilee enabled many poor nations to have their debts substantially reduced.

In our Gospel reading Jesus was just beginning His public ministry, beginning with a jubilee proclamation of the Good News that, through Him, God was offering forgiveness, healing, and salvation to His People, and through His People to the whole world. Jesus was offering and inaugurating a whole new relationship with God; a relationship whereby mankind would be freed from the bonds of sin – the source of all our suffering -- and endowed with the Gift of the Spirit Who would form us in Jesus as children of God, children for whom God would be a true Father, children who would share an eternal inheritance in heaven with Jesus.  This Good News that Jesus was announcing in this ‘the favourable time’ was indeed something to be celebrated, and in this respect we should remember how Mary our Mother was urged to respond to God’s offer of a Saviour when the angel Gabriel addressed her at the Annunciation.  He began telling her of God’s offer by saying, Rejoice, Mary, the Lord is with you.  The Christian message, the Good News of Christ, cannot be mutely accepted, it calls for wholehearted rejoicing from Mary and from all her children.

Despite doubts and differences among scholars the words Jesus addressed to all those in the synagogue who were looking so intently at Him after His reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah:

            Today, this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing,

can have no real meaning other than the literal meaning, Today, this Scripture passage (which I have just read to you from the prophecy of Isaiah) received its fulfilment as I was reading it to you.

Long ago Jesus the newly-fledged ‘son of the Law’ had been too hasty in His desire to be about His Father’s business; since then He had passed many years in humble obedience to His parents, in observant appreciation and service of the human society in which they lived, and, above all, in ever-deeper prayerful communion with His heavenly Father Who spoke to Him so clearly from the Scriptures, and in synagogue and Temple worship.  As Saint Luke tells us, Jesus spent those many years in Nazareth: 

            Growing in wisdom, and in divine and human favour (2:52).

His divine wisdom and constant communion with His heavenly Father eventually led Him to join those receiving baptism from John the Baptist; thus giving honour to John as His own forerunner, who, as Jesus came up out of the waters, was uniquely privileged to perceive: 

the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon Him.  And a voice came from the heavens, ‘You are My beloved Son, with you I am well pleased’.

Endowed with such a gift of the Spirit, Jesus had been led by the Spirit into the desert where, by His incomparable knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures, He utterly confounded the Devil in direct confrontation.  His preparation for public ministry was clearly well and truly established.

At Cana in Galilee His divine wisdom and human favour enabled Him to respond to His Father and accept Mary’s special maternal blessing by performing, at her request and with great joy, His first miracle, which not only honoured her but also:

            Revealed His glory and His disciples began to believe in Him.  (John 2:11)

And so, the Baptist having been privately acknowledged and rewarded; His mother Mary reverenced and honoured by acceding to her personal request by a miracle which served not only to comfort her friends and neighbours in distress, but above all – in the Father’s wisdom -- served to alert her dear Son that His Father’s business was at hand and ready to be done with disciples at His side.   Jesus’ joy to undertake, and His power to see through, His heavenly Father’s commission was now manifestly ready and primed.

Today, in the synagogue at Nazareth Jesus actually began His public ministry to Israel and mankind by manifesting something of:  

            (His) growth in wisdom, and in divine and human favour

gained among them and with their help over some seventeen years as Son of Mary (and the now deceased Joseph the carpenter) and son of the Law.

For, after He had handed back the Isaiah scroll to the synagogue attendant:

            The eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at Him.

They were looking approvingly, and indeed, were speaking highly of Him since:

            They were amazed at the gracious words that came from His lips

What kind of wisdom has been given him? He speaks with (such) authority and power!  Where did this man get all this?   

We ourselves can and should ask such questions ... not in the aggressive manner the Nazarenes would soon manifest, indeed ... but with admiration, love and longing, for they are most penetrating questions and could prove most helpful for us if, in Mother Church, we can glean some answers that we might ponder and profit from. 

What kind of wisdom has been given Him?  It was indeed divine wisdom ... not the type gained by reasoning and through discussion and argument, but the type that must be humbly, gratefully, and patiently received, admired, treasured and protected.

He speaks with (such) authority and power!  Jesus revealed the secret of His authority when He said later to His opponents:

My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own  glory; but He who seeks the glorty of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.  (John 7:16-18)

Where did this man get all this?   From His Father:

I have not spoken on My own authority, but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak, and I know that His command is everlasting life.  I am not alone, because the Father is with Me (John 12:49-50; 16:32).

All that Jesus had was from the Father gained by Jesus as man through His constant communion with the Father in prayer, liturgical worship, and perusal of the Scriptures:

He said to (the Apostles’), ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everythings written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.’  Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.  And He said to them, ‘Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. (Luke 24:44-46)

He spoke in the same way to two disciples on the way to Emmaus after His resurrection, and their recollection of that occasion was unforgettable:

Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road and while he opened the Scriptures to us? (Luke 24:32)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus has so much to offer us all.  In this regard, we recall the sisters Martha and Mary, dear friends of Jesus, who remind us that many, like Martha who ‘did the work’, are inclined to accuse the Mary’s who continue to sit at the Lord’s feet in many different ways, as being reprehensibly idle.  Jesus calmed the situation by making clear that although not everyone can closely attend to the things of God as did Mary, nevertheless, no one --- no matter how beneficial and helpful their worldly endeavours – can exclude such attention from their lives, because, as He put it, Mary had chosen the one thing necessary.

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) 2013

2^nd. Sunday (Year C)

(Isaiah 62:1-5; 1^st. Corinthians 12:4-11; John 2:1-11)

In today's Gospel we are shown Jesus bringing great joy to a young couple threatened with deep embarrassment and no little sorrow, and we note that Jesus' blessing came into their lives through Mary.  

Today, He does the same in and through Mother Church, His Mystical Body, which works, suffers, and prays to bring the blessings of His grace and truth to all the nations, and to further the establishment of God's Kingdom here on earth; as He Himself had foretold when speaking to His disciples before His Ascension:

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.  (John 14:12)

Jesus is now seated at the right hand of His Father in glory where He is totally devoted to giving glory to His Father and winning salvation for His brethren on earth and in need: for Jesus is, indeed, totally and gloriously selfless:

And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.   (John 14:13)

In the first reading Isaiah showed Jesus' desire to bring us salvation and have us share in His own glory, by the words:

For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns.   

And looking back at Mary in the Gospel reading we see how Jesus has made her glory shine out before our eyes like a lamp burning to guide us to salvation:

When they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  

Apparently, Jesus did not think it a matter that concerned Him personally:

(He) said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come." 

However, Mary had devoted herself totally and unreservedly to the welfare of her Child: nourishing Him, protecting Him, and supremely, teaching Him all she knew of God in order that He might learn how, in human flesh, to respond to His heavenly Father and live, as His Son, among men; and now she is about to be rewarded.  She is to be allowed, indeed, to be inspired by the Father, to help her Son hear, recognize, and embrace His heavenly Father’s call to begin His public ministry of salvation.

At His recent baptism in the Jordan by John, Jesus had been manifestly acknowledged and inwardly confirmed by His Father’s heavenly proclamation.  Moreover, He had been endowed by the Gift of the Holy Spirit, and then finally prepared for His future labours and spiritual combat by His victory over the Devil in the desert contest.  He was, indeed, ready, and all was prepared and poised for Him to begin His work of salvation.  However, He would not repeat His youthful ‘mistaken’ zeal to ‘be about His Father’s business’ ... He must watch and wait for His Father’s specific commission.

Of course, Mary did not, and could not, know that of which Jesus Himself was unaware. Nevertheless, just as God the Father willed to honour John the Baptist by allowing him to baptize His Son, so too He willed to honour Mary -- the most perfect mother of His only-begotten Son -- by moving her to help Jesus start out upon the work for which His heavenly Father had destined Him, for which His earthly childhood with Mary and subsequent years of obedience as Son of Mary and Son of the Law had been preparing Him, and for which His baptismal experience in the Jordan had now primed Him.  How did Mary, under God's inspiration, do this?

Very simply, as you would expect:

            His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." 

That was indeed simply said, but it was certainly not expected.  Jesus would have seemed to want no part in relieving the rather embarrassing shortage of wine at this local wedding... after all, it was probably not such a rare occurrence when wedding celebrations went on for up to seven days with guests coming and going and when the families involved were rarely rich.  Whatever the case, Mary -- the humble handmaid of God -- gently insisted with her Son by turning to the servers standing by and saying, "Whatever He says to you, do it."  All eyes, therefore, were now firmly and expectantly fixed on Jesus.

Such behaviour, such insistence, was strange, most strange indeed for one characterised by her great humility, and the incongruity of it was enough for Jesus: He recognized His Father’s grace guiding His mother’s behaviour, just as He would later recognize His Father’s part in Peter’s humble confession and open declaration that He, Jesus, was the Christ, the Son of the living God:

Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.  (Matthew 16:17)

Here at this wedding feast in Cana Jesus recognized that His Father was honouring Mary, and indeed was inspiring her to give her Son her very own special, maternal, blessing, by calling on Him for a miracle that would celebrate the fact that the hour for Him to really start about His Father’s business had, at last, come!!

What joy filled His heart, and what expression and significance He gave to that joy!  Around 150 gallons of best wine filled those 6 stone water jars brought by the servers:

All you who are thirsty, come to the water!  Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine..!   (Isaiah 55:1)

Wine, fruit of the Vine!  I, Jesus, am the vine, the fruitful vine ... so much wine, so great a vine 

... Drink from it all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant ...  from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of My Father.   (Matthew 26)

God would not take Mary's Son from her, she would give Him as she did those years ago when presenting Him in the temple at Jerusalem.  God would not take Mary's Son from her, He had not done that to Abraham, He would not do it to Mary; moreover, Mary, being greater than Abraham, was allowed to give her supreme blessing to her Son and Saviour and thus help Him set out with great joy along the way that would lead, ultimately, to His Passion, Death, and glorious Resurrection.  Isaiah's prophecy was being fulfilled:

You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.  (Isaiah 62:3)

Mary's own words too had been prophetic:

My soul magnifies the Lord, for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. 

Today, that same work of God, that abiding desire of Jesus, for our salvation and glorification, is being carried on and brought to fulfilment through the Holy Spirit at work in and through Mother Church and in the souls of Jesus' faithful disciples, as St. Paul says:

The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. 

Moreover, Paul assures us that we are all called to share in Jesus' work:

To one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 

St. Paul could make only a small choice, because the gifts of God cannot be numbered and no one is left ungifted.  Some of those gifts are, indeed, beyond our imagining: for example, how could anyone have foreseen that the Father would inspire Mary to persist in her request even though Jesus, initially, did not want to know anything further about her concern?

People of God, all disciples of Jesus should have no doubt that He can and does will to make use of the talents of each and every one of us, thereby associating us with Himself, in His work for the glory of His Father and the salvation of souls.  We, for our part, however, must, first of all, want Him to do this with our lives; and then we must learn to listen for His voice and to respond immediately to the promptings of His Spirit, that we might be able to carry out His will and share in His  work.  Only in that way can Isaiah's prophecy be fulfilled in us:

            Nations shall behold your vindication, and all the kings your glory.

God has already begun to do this for Mother Church: the greatest empires and the mightiest kings have, over two thousand years, come -- in all their power and magnificence -- and gone, despite all their cruelty and cunning.  Mother Church has withstood and outlived them all.   And those other prophetic words:

You shall be called by a new name, pronounced by the mouth of the Lord,

are also being fulfilled for her in us her children who have been baptized and made a new creation through water and the Holy Spirit, a new creation with the new name of children of God in Spirit and in Truth. 

God wants this work to continue, He wants us, in Mother Church, to share in the glory of His Christ; and, by the Spirit, to offer His salvation to all mankind:

There are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all: the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.

People of God, despair neither of God nor of yourselves.  Some there are who say they are not gifted enough to do anything for God.  That is an attitude of mock humility, because it contradicts the words of Scripture for, as St. Paul tells us, the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all; indeed, such an attitude is sinful, since it would blame a supposed lack of generosity on God’s part to cover up personal self-love and indifference. There are others, however, more sincere and humble, who are tempted to think that because they have done nothing remarkable, therefore they have done nothing.  Some of them then go on to think that not having done anything shows that they cannot do anything, and, despairing of themselves, they are then tempted to give up.   Don't let the devil deceive you, my dear People, such thoughts as those can be the testing of a humble mind, but only provided that they do not lead you to that last step and final trap of "giving up". 

Mary knew that she had done nothing herself:

He who is mighty has done great things for me, He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden;

she was acutely aware of her lowliness and never tried to make herself anything other than what she was before God.  Mary did not seek to make herself known or appreciated by men: her desire was to do God's will, to be most truly His handmaid; and it was for that reason that she was so prompt to hear and obey God at Cana when He called her to give her last great instance of motherly guidance to her Son.   It was Mary's selflessness that made her the wonder she is: she always heard, recognized, and responded to God working in her and through her for His Son.  This Jesus had long recognized and frequently admired:

And it happened, as He spoke, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him:

 "Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!"  But He said, "More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"   (Luke 11:27-28)

People of God, God can do anything with those who are humble, those who truly seek Him first and foremost in their lives and who are willing to trust Him in all things.  Ask Mary to pray for you; beg the Holy Spirit to guide you; thank God for His goodness to you in Mother Church.  Do these things and the Holy Spirit will be with you to form you into an ever more close and true likeness of Jesus; bringing forth fruit in Him and with Him for the glory of the Father and the salvation of souls.