MARY’S INTERVENTION IN LIFE’S PROBLEM
Our lives are full of complexities, but the best solution to these challenges or problems is through Mary’s intervention or prayer. With Mary’s powerful intercession, whatever difficulties there are in our lives, marriages, families, communities, societies, churches, or the world have quick and effective solutions.
Jesus would never deny his dearest mother anything, even when his intervening time was not attainable. Through Mary, God will always intervene in our situations, and things will not remain the same.
Our lives are transformed for good and change forever. However, we need to collaborate with God to bring about the changes we want to see in ourselves, others and the world. Hence, we need the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit to help and guide us through life’s challenges.
ORDINARY TIME OF THE LITURGICAL CALENDAR OF THE CHURCH
The Ordinary Season in the Church’s liturgical calendar is a moment when the Church focuses on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. It is the longest of the Church Seasons! It is the underlying of our normal natural, human, and spiritual growth in the Lord. The other seasons celebrate something (Christmas, Easter) or anticipate something (Lent, Advent).
Ordinary Time is when we cover most of the day-to-day story of Jesus’s life. Here, we see his preaching, using parables, and doing mighty works, along with his daily struggles and successes. Ordinary time is represented by the green colour, which means hope, life, and growth—that is, faith, hope, and charity.
OUR THEME
Our principal theme of the scriptural readings is that, like Mary and Jesus, we should help without being asked and without fuss or demand. They are also central to the intervention of God, which is a life-changing blessing for the best.
Indeed, the readings of this Sunday are most appropriate for the beginning of a new season. That is the liturgical calendar of the Church and for the start of a New Year. They assure us of the provisional intervention of God in our lives and daily situations.
GREAT THINGS HAPPEN WHEN GOD MIXES WITH US
The Catholic song “Great Things Happen When God Mixes with Us” summarises the theme of today’s celebration. This is because God’s loving Presence transforms us and our situations.
When God mixes with us, great, beautiful, and wonderful things always happen. Some find life, peace, joy, health, hope, and a better understanding of themselves and can begin to live and love. While others could see better, trust wholly, and change for good.
THE CENTRAL THEME BY FR ANTHONY KADAVIL
Fundamentally, the wedding in Cana where Jesus reveals Divine power by transforming water into wine is proof of the intervention in our seemingly hopeless situation. Contextually, the Bible begins with one wedding, that of Adam and Eve in the garden (Gn 2:23-24), and ends with another, the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rv 19:9, 21:9, 22:17).
At Cana, Jesus did not only bless the human marriage with his physical presence. His divinity and timing intervening in the lack of our human institution. Perhaps, it could be said that the wedding event at Cana was the moment Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Matrimony.
Biblically, marriage symbolises the Covenant relationship between God and His chosen people. God is the faithful bridegroom, and humanity is His beloved bride. Today, it is appropriate for us to pray for God’s daily miracles in our families, societies, and Churches.
FIRST READING: ISAIAH 62:1-5
In his prophecy of Isaiah to the people of Israel during the Babylonian exile, Prophet Isaiah offers assurances, consolations as well as the intervention of God to the emotionally and spiritually wrecked people. In essence, God will prepare a joyful feast for his people. Prophet Isaiah sees the Presence of God transforming Israel from forsaken and desolate people into delightful and espoused people. The people or nation beloved, cherished and bequeathed with graciousness and endless joy.
In summary, this Prophecy of Isaiah 62:1-5 was one of God manifesting his absolute mercy in the situations and events of our lives. In other words, God changed the brokenness of human history into a living hope of healing, restoration and wholeness.
PSALM 96: 1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10
In the responsorial Psalm (Ps 96), the Psalmist encourages us to sing to the Lord a new song and proclaim his marvellous deeds to all nations.
SECOND READING: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:4-11
The Holy Spirit of God is not just the Spouse of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Mother Church. He is also the beloved Spouse of all Christians. Hence, the many gifts from this Beloved Spirit of God are meant for the good of all.
The Holy Spirit is the new covenant of God with all Christians. He is the endowment and empowerment that makes us authentic followers of Christ.
- The Holy Spirit is the Giver of life, grace, and gifts.
- He is the unifying force that preserves Christian unity at all times or in all forms.
- The varieties of gifts, services, or works are the sanctifying actions of the Holy Spirit.
- The Holy Spirit inspires all to work for the common good.
- The Holy Spirit creates unity in diversity and blesses individuality in the community of Christians.
- He is the Distributor of Charisms according to individual capacity: the Spirit of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, and their interpretation.
- The Holy Spirit creates balance and harmony of purpose in/around us, for us to cooperate as a term and tolerate differences among us.
- The truth of Christian life is that we cannot live without the Presence of the Holy Spirit to animate and guide us.
- St. Paul reminds us of the key to authentic Christian witness and the need for teamwork and team spirit. It is something our lives, societal affairs, or successes depend on
- Therefore, he calls us to mutual respect, as well as talents, gifts and endowments for the glory of God and the common good and service of humanity.
- Equally, for St. Paul, the Holy Spirit: the Sanctifier and Transformer of gifts and graces endows on us with spiritual and serviceable gifts for the common good and redemption of all.
In summary, the idea of Paul in this section is to stress the essential unity of the Church. The Church is the Body of Christ, and the characteristic of a healthy body is that every part of it performs its function for the good of the whole. Equally, he warns us that unity does not mean uniformity. And therefore, within the Church, there are different gifts and functions.
It is important to note that our gifts are designed and given to us by the same Spirit. They are not for the glory of the individual members of the Church but for the good of the whole Church.
Finally, Paul’s vivid picture of the Christian Church is that it is alive and active through the Spirit. Astonishing things happened in the early Christian Church, where the Christian life was heightened and intensified. For Paul, there was nothing dull and ordinary about the early Church. Paul knew that all this was vivid. The power of testimonies and miracles were activities or works of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God gives each man his gift to use for all.
GOSPEL: JOHN 2:1-11
The intervention of Mary at the marriage at Cana to save the seemingly hopeless situation of the newly wedded couple evokes the first miracle of Christ.
In the Gospel of John, the Presence of Mary and Jesus not only transformed water into wine. Their divine assistance also saved the day for the newly wedded couple and nascent family from ruin and bitterness. The Presence of Jesus and Our Virgin Mother, God can still do many in our lives today.
Jesus’s intervention at a wedding in Cana through the intercession of his Blessed Mother Mary overturned the shamefulness of human lacks and needs from an embarrassment into a lively scene of plenty, abundance, and joy.
THE SETTING OF CANA
Cana of Galilee was a village quite near to Nazareth. St. Jerome, who stayed in Palestine, said he could view Cana from Nazareth. In Cana, there was a wedding feast to which Mary went, and she held a special place.
She had something to do with the arrangements, for she was worried when they ran out of wine. Hence, she used authority to order the servants to do whatever Jesus told them.
Some later gospels, which never made it into the New Testament, add enlightening details to this story. One of the Coptic gospels tells us that Mary was an aunt to the bridegroom.
There is an early set of Prefaces to the books of the New Testament called the Monarchian Prefaces. It tells us that the bridegroom was no other than John himself and that his mother was Salome, the sister of Mary. We do not know whether these extra details were factual, but the story is so vividly told that it is an eyewitness account.
THE WINE OF JOY
The use of wine was essential for a Jewish feast. A certain Rabbi once said, “There is no joy” when wine is absent from Jewish meals and feasts. It was not that people were drunk, but in the Middle East, wine was essential. Drunkenness was a great disgrace. As such, they drank their wine in a mixture of two parts wine and three parts water.
At any time, the failure of provisions of wine would be seen as a problem. This is because hospitality in the East is a sacred duty. Then the lack of wine at a wedding would be a terrible humiliation for the bride and the bridegroom.
So Mary came to tell Jesus that they were no wine. Confidently, she was like saying to her son the marriage event was on the brink of disaster. If there is anything he could do, it could save this new young couple from marital and family shame.
MARY AS WOMAN
For many biblical scholars and commentaries, the tone of Jesus. Woman, what concern is that to you and me? My hour has not yet come. It was one of discourteous. It makes him say: Woman, what have I to do with thee?
Hence, it seems Jesus’s utterance was angry and sharp. However, some see Jesus’ comment as saying to his mother, “Do not worry; you do not quite understand what is going on, I implore you to leave things to me, and I will settle them in my way.”
In other words, Jesus told Mary to leave things to him and that he would have his own way of dealing with the situation.
The word “woman” (Gunai in Greek) is also misleading. It sounds rough or abrupt. However, it is the same word Jesus used on the Cross to address Mary as he left her in John’s care (Jn.19:26).
In Homer, it is the title by which Odysseus addresses Penelope, his well-loved wife. It is the title by which Augustus, the Roman Emperor, addressed Cleopatra, the famous Egyptian queen. So far from being a rough and discourteous way of addressing it, it was a title of respect.
THE FAITH OF MARY IN HER SON
However, when Jesus spoke, Mary was confident of him. She told the servants to do as Jesus told them to. Furthermore, this story beautifully shows us two things about Mary’s faith in Jesus.
(i) Instinctively, Mary turned to Jesus whenever something went wrong. She knew her son. It was not till he was thirty years old that Jesus left home. And all these years Mary lived with him.
There is an old legend, in tens of the days when Jesus was a baby in the home in Nazareth. It tells how in those days when people felt tired or worried, hot and bothered and upset, they would say: Let us go and look at the child of Mary. They would go and look at Jesus, and somehow all their troubles rolled away.
It is still true that those who know Jesus intimately instinctively turn to him when things go wrong–and they never find him wanting.
(ii) Even when Mary did not understand what Jesus was to do? Even when it seemed that he had refused her request. Mary still believed in him so much that she turned to the serving servants and told them to do whatever Jesus told them to do.
Mary had faith that allowed her to trust even when she did not understand. She did not know what Jesus was going to do. However, she was sure that he would do the right thing.
Every life comes with, a moment of darkness when we do not see the way. When things happen, we do not know why they happened or grasp any meaning in them. Happy is the man who still trusts in God, even when he cannot understand.
THE MENTALITY AND PERSONALITY OF JESUS
We could note three general things about this miraculous deed that Jesus did.
(i) It is within the context of a wedding feast. Jesus was perfectly at home on such an occasion. He was no severe, austere killjoy. He loved to share in the happy rejoicing of a wedding feast.
Certain religious people shed a gloom wherever they go. They are suspicious of all joy and happiness. For them, religion is a thing of black clothes, lowered voices, and the expulsion of social fellowship.
It is important to note that Jesus never counted it a crime to be happy. Why should his followers do so?
(ii) The miracle of Jesus happened in a humble home in a village in Galilee. This miracle was not wrought against the background of some great occasion or in the presence of vast crowds. It was wrought in a home. The action of Jesus at Cana of Galilee shows what he thought of a home.
There is a strange paradox in the attitude of many people to the place they call home. They would understand that there is no more precious place in the world. Yet, at the same time, if they are more honest with themselves, they would also have to admit that in the home. They claim the right to be far more discourteous. They are more boorish, selfish, or impolite than they would dare to be in any society of strangers.
Many of us treat the ones we love most in a way that we would never dare to treat a chance acquaintance. Often it is strangers who see us at our best. Meanwhile, those who live with us would see us at our worst.
For Jesus, charity, courtesy and loveliness must start from home before being extended to others. For Jesus, a home or family was a place for which nothing but his best was good enough.
(iii) In the Middle East, hospitality is seen, as a sacred duty towards the guests. It would have brought embarrassing shame to that home that day if the wine had run down.
It was to save a humble Galilean family from the hurt that Jesus put forth in his power. Jesus acted with sympathy, kindness, and understanding for simple people.
Nearly everyone can do the big thing on a big occasion. However, it takes Jesus to do the big act on a simple, homely event like this. There is a kind of natural human maliciousness that rather enjoys the misfortunes of others. Then with a sense of delight, make a good story of them over the teacups.
However, Jesus, the Lord of all life and the King of Glory used his power to save a simple Galilean couple from humiliation. It is through such deeds of understanding and simple kindliness to others that we, too, can show that we are followers of Jesus Christ.
Ultimately, John tells us that in Jesus, the imperfections have become perfection. In Christ Jesus, grace has become illimitable. There is also a sufficient of it, and more than superabundance in every need.
Hence, this story is a way of John saying to us: If you want the new exhilaration, become a follower of Jesus Christ. There will be a change in your life, like water turning into wine.
FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS
At desperate times do you trust in Jesus to handle your issues in his way?
Is your faith action one that seeks understanding, or is your faith based on what you do not understand like Mary?
Do you have a sense of teamwork, team spirit, tolerance and acceptance of differences in your individuality and personality?
DIVINE ASSISTANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND MARY
It is appropriate to ask for divine assistance at the beginning of the year. Thus, let us come to God’s divine presence with confidence and inspired trust through the intercession of the Most Blessed Mother.
We need Mary’s help to enrich, transform, and change every moment and situation in the valley of tears. Equally, we need the Holy Spirit’s shower of gifts to transform our lives.
It is with these gifts from above that we can listen to the Word of God radiate the divine charisms and fruits of the Holy Spirit and build up our Christian communities in love, faith, and hope.
OUR PRAYER
Lord Jesus, when the wine of joy, peace, love, faith, hope, grace and daily sustenance runs dry or besets with human lacks. We implore you to grant us the fullness of the BEST WINE replacement through your loving Mother and our Mother too. May Our Lady Mother of Perpetual Help us in all we ever need. Amen
