Today Saint Paul rejoices today in the
various ways the Holy Spirit, the “Lord and Giver of Life,” works
within the believing community of Christians to form many parts into
one body. It is a beautiful thing that we are different, for the
unique strengths and weaknesses we each bear allows us to rely on
each other more and experiences the give & take of love in more
concrete ways, some more common and others rare. In the Gospel
today, we are invited to focus especially on the communion of man &
woman, bridge & groom, which as we hear in the first reading from
Isaiah, is meant to be a symbol of the relationship of God to his
people. This longing of God is fulfilled in a definitive way in
Christ Jesus, and will be completed in heaven, when we are united in
the “Wedding Feast of the Lamb.” Here in the Gospel, where Jesus
reveals himself at a wedding, we see the wine run short. This is no
small situation. Since weddings were celebrations that lasted for
days and would have included many relatives, running out of wine
would have been both an abrupt end of the party and the public
humiliation of the hosts who did not even have the ability to
celebrate properly.
With this in mind, Mary runs quickly to
Jesus. Think, thirty years have gone by of these two together.
Joseph, it is commonly understood, must have passed away sometime
after Christ had learned the trade and was able to provide for his
mother. Just recently Jesus went to visit his cousin John and was
baptized in the Jordan River like so many others, perhaps to a bit of
confusion to Mary, who knows her son's heart more than anyone but
still has no more control over him than the rest of us. And yet,
because she knows Jesus so well, she comes to him.
Two times are Mary's words recorded in
John's Gospel, and we hear them both. They summarize Mary's life. 1
– First, looking to her son, she says “They have no wine.”
Mary is an intercessor. There is not legitimate need of ours (now
her children through our baptism into Christ Jesus).
2 – Second, she turns to the workers
(to all of us), and says the words of advice that she has learned
through her entire life. “Do whatever he tells you.” Whatever!
No not as in, whatEVER,
but as in “anything and everything.” Listen. Obey. Follow. Say
yes. This is Mary's advice, and she backs it up with her own life, a
total yes to God forever. She has already tasted the finest wine of
the Father's Providence and wants us all to enjoy the same.
But
here is where we find the challenge, right in the midst of the
invitation. It is not easy to have this kind of Marian openness. We
question. We wonder why. The sound bytes of our culture run through
our heads. The disorders of our heart turn our eyes from the love we
see on the Cross and in the Eucharist. Will we respond like Mary
advises? How will our response of faith in 2016 be different from
all the other years?
Faith
is not something we alone can muster up. Faith is a gift from God.
Let us beg from Jesus like the twelve did, “Give us faith!” But
we should also remember, faith is like a muscle: it must be used
daily if it is to get stronger. There is no way I'm going to walk
into a weight room and bench press 250lbs. I would probably find
myself in a hospital. But if I did 10 push-ups a day for a month,
then 30, then 50, and started benching 150lbs, 185, 215, I'd get
there eventually. We have to put the gift of faith into practice
every day. We need to be people of prayer. We need to “do
whatever he tells us” in the small ways. Then we will be not just
kinda-happy Catholics who go to Mass, we will be saints whose lives
are a bright light for our dark world. Mary our Mother, pray for us
to grow in faith. Amen!
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