Good Shepherd Catholic Parish

THE SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: YEAR C READINGS: Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 7-8, 9-10 (R: “Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations.”); 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; John 2:1-12 Isaiah speaks out: “For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch.” Even though the people have returned from exile and are back in their holy city and land, there is still work to be done. Isaiah wants other nations to see what the LORD has done for his people, and how precious (“my delight”) and beloved (“espoused”) the people are in the LORD’s eyes. Isaiah uses the imagery of marriage to speak about this close, loving, committed relationship that the LORD has with his people, and that the LORD wants his people to have with him. Just as Isaiah is using marriage as an image, a backdrop, so, too, the Evangelist John uses a wedding as a back drop for another epiphany story about Jesus, the Word made flesh. While Isaiah focusses on the marital relationship as his metaphor for the LORD’S relationship with his people, John focusses on the joy and communal celebration that the marriage ceremony is to be. We don’t know a lot about wedding practices of the time—though it seems safe to say that this couple’s families must have had some means! The Evangelist John writes no details about the couple, the other guests or anything about the venue in the small Galilean town of Cana (BTW, I picked up some of the “Cana wine” when I visited there—very sweet, not my palette). Rather, John tells us at the end of this story that this is the first of the “signs” done by Jesus. There are seven “signs” performed by Jesus throughout the Gospel. They point to Jesus’s identity and the power and glory of God at work in and through him, for “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1). Jesus’s signs don’t prove who Jesus is, but if one truly sees the significance of the signs, they come to faith in Jesus, the Word made flesh (Jn 1:14; see below* for the seven signs). In the sign of changing water into wine, we begin to see in Jesus “grace in place of grace” (Jn 1:16b), for the grace of ceremonial washing is replaced by the grace of Jesus bringing true joy which the wine reflects: “I have told you this [I am the vine] so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete” (Jn 15:11). It seems safe to say, this also foreshadows the Eucharist. Moreover, the way John tells the story lifts it beyond this one wedding party that’s suddenly gone dry! It is rather curious that Jesus’s mother is never named as Mary in the Gospel of John. Here she comes to Jesus with what seems a simple report: “They have no wine.” Jesus addresses her as “woman”, which is polite when addressing someone other than one’s mother. Perhaps that is the point: This is not about doing something for family, but for a people. This may also be at the heart of Jesus’s question (literally), “What is this to me and to you?” Jesus also notes that his “hour has not yet come.” As in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus’s “hour” refers to the time of his salvific act in his passiondeath-resurrection-ascension (the ascension is not in Mark). Both Mark and John show a Jesus who is concerned that people might mistake his powerful works—“signs” in John—for his “hour”. Jesus’s mother has “interceded” with Jesus, and now she leaves it to him and to those in charge of serving the wedding guests: “Do whatever he tells you.” Because they do what Jesus tells them, the best and most plentiful wine is made available, which was a sign of Jesus’s glory. We hear nothing of the wedding guests (too busy toasting and drinking?), but the disciples “began to believe in him.” Isaiah is not silent; Mary is not silent; Jesus is not silent. I hope we are not silent either. As much as Isaiah wants the people to know how much God cares for them, I hope we find ways to do the same. As much as Mary is concerned about a party run out of wine, I hope we can be concerned about those who are in need. May we, as Paul encourages the Corinthians, use the gifts of the Holy Spirit to build up community and unity. Like the waiters, may we do what Jesus asks of us. For the sake of our Church, our nation and our world there is much we can say and do. The approaching of the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade reminds us that we can speak up and take action on the value of life and the dignity of the human person. As our nation remembers Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights activists, we can speak up and take action to honor and protect the rights of all persons. Racism is abhorrent, for it denies the God-given dignity of every human person. Laws, policies or programs that discriminate certainly do not acknowledge that all persons were created by “the same God, who produces all of them [i.e., the gifts of the Holy Spirit] in everyone.” When you and I profess, “I believe in one God”, may we take that seriously and refuse to be silent for the sake of all our sisters and brothers—born and unborn—created in the image and likeness of God. *The Seven Signs [σηµείων; sēmeiōn] in John’s “Book of Signs” (2:1–12:50): 1. Water into wine at Cana (2:1–11); 2. The cure of the royal official’s son (4:46–54); 3. The cure of the paralytic at the pool with five porticoes (5:1-18); 4. The feeding of the multitude 5000 men (6:1-15); 5. Walking on the waters of the Sea of Galilee (6:16-21); 6. The sign of the young man born blind (9:1-41); 7. The raising of Lazarus (11:1-44).

This is a “Stewardship Prayer” from Our Sunday Visitor. This prayer provides all of us good food for reflection.

My parish is composed of people like me. I help make it what it is.
It will be friendly, if I am.
It will be holy, if I am.
Its pews will be filled, if I help fill them.
It will do great work, if I work.
It will be prayerful, if I pray.
It will make generous gifts to many causes, if I am a generous giver.
It will bring others into worship, if I invite and bring them in.
It will be a place of loyalty and love, of fearlessness and faith,
of compassion, charity and mercy,
if I, who make it what it is, am filled with these same things.
Therefore, with the help of God,
I now dedicate myself to the task of being all
the things that I want my parish to be.
Amen.