First Reading - Isaiah 62:1-5 ©
Responsorial Psalm - Psalm
95(96):1-3,7-10 ©
Second Reading - 1 Corinthians
12:4-11 ©
Gospel Acclamation - 1saiah 3:9, and
John 6:68
Alternate Gospel Acclamation - 2
Thessalonians 2:14
The Gospel of The Day - John 2:1-11 ©
(NJB)
Listen!
In the reading from Isaiah we are given a
profound expression of hope for the future of Israel and by extension the entire
world. As Christians and theists we are called on to brandish that hope, carry
it forward, not only for ourselves but for all people, in all places, at all
times.
Following the teaching of Isaiah we come to
understand that this hope is like the hope of a young couple entering into
marriage. They do not know what the future will bring but they are determined
to face it together, believing that together they can endure whatever comes
their way, even those things that threaten to overwhelm them.
Together we are stronger, through our
relationships we are wiser, in a bond of unity we are better, the love they
share with one another, in the view of the prophet, is like a bright and
beautiful gemstone adorning a crown upon our heads, it is like a beacon on a
hill lighting up the night.
The prophet speaks from a position of wisdom
and ignorance both, as do we all, knowing some things and not knowing others. Isaiah
speaks well of faith and hope, but regarding the activity of the creator in the
world, there is confusion. He speaks to his belief that God, the creator of the
universe has played a role in shaping the destiny of Israel, and by extension
the world…this is an error.
Know this:
God has made both us and the entire creation
free. God does not coerce anything or anyone. God does not intervene in worldly
affairs, either for our benefit, or to our detriment. We are free, as
individuals and in the whole.
Our faith tells us to look to God for deliverance
from this world to a place of safety and joy, of love and rest, to bring us to a
place of wellbeing…not in this world, but the next.
Be mindful.
It is right to praise God; it is right and
good. It is right to treat our discourse concerning God with respect and honor;
God is holy and our discourse should reflect that, keeping in mind the sacred
nature of God’s blessed work, but it is wrong to think of God as a Lord.
God, whom Jesus called abba (papa), God
is not a royalist. Disregard the psalmist when he speaks this way.
Remember this:
God has already judged the world, God has
judged the entirety of the created order, God Judged it at the beginning while
seeing the end, God judged the world and proclaimed that it is good, and us in
it…not good “on balance,” but good in its entirety, the whole of the created
order, existing in and through the divine Logos, sustained by God’s word,
the alpha and the omega saw that it is good.
This is what our faith instructs us to believe:
God is not to be feared, but trusted.
Be mindful.
As a theist I will happily proclaim that there
is only one God. As a philosopher I will tell you that the infinite can only be
expressed by the numeral one; the infinite is one, undivided, indivisible
being. There are no other God’s, but there are other cultures and traditions
who approach the divine with different languages, and the reality of different
felt-experiences.
We should respect, cultures different from our
own and strive to understand all human language concerning the sacred and pertaining
to the divine reality, from whatever culture or whatever nation it comes.
Know this:
There is only one God and none of us
understand God perfectly…no one ever has.
Remember!
God’s salvation is close at hand; we are a
single heart-beat away from it. Therefore, have no fear, God’s grace does not
come and go according to our merits, it is always present.
God is present in all times and all places; God
is with you now, believe it without fear.
Salvation reaches everyone, not because any of
us deserve it, but simply because God loves us, every last one of us, God laid
a plan for our salvation when we only existed in potential, as a mere
possibility, we were touched by grace even then.
Be mindful.
God welcomes our participation in the work of
the faithful, and there is much to do. There is a role for everyone to play,
both inside and outside the church, but mostly outside of it. We are meant to
go out among the people, to find those who feel most alienated from the divine
and give them comfort.
Everyone of us comes to that work with
different gifts, different abilities and talents, we are called on to use our
gifts for the benefit of our brothers and sisters, for those who share the same
tradition and for those who do not.
Understand this:
The reward for your faithful service is peace,
it is peace in this life and the knowledge that you have lived well, acted
justly and done good…seek no other reward.
Consider the teaching of the apostle, of Peter
who denied Jesus three times on the night he was arrested. Peter would have us
believe that he follows Jesus because Jesus has the secret message that leads
to eternal life. His teaching here is like that of the Gnostics, which the
Church in its wisdom rejected. Peter, or those writing in his name, suggests
that there are passcodes and secret ways that lead a person upward on a journey
through the heavens, until the come to the place of everlasting paradise.
Peter puts this forward as if this were the
purpose of the Gospel, as if “believing” that Jesus is the “Holy One of God” is
the key to receiving those spiritual benefits.
This faith is born from fear, from a fear that
God will not deliver on God’s promise to bring everyone to the feast at Isaiah’s
table, at the foot of the mountain, at the end of time. This teaching is
predicated on the notion that God will not save everyone, that God is not with
us, and that our salvation is something God cannot manage without us.
Reject this fear.
The Gospel is this: it is simply this: God
loves you, and you are saved.
You are not saved for anything that you have
done, you did not earn it, you are saved because God loves you. There is
nothing more to it, there is nothing that you have to do, and the same is true
for everyone.
The promise of salvation is not that you will
be spared from suffering and torment in hell, or that when you are judged God
will forgive you.
The Gospel is this: God has already forgiven
you. You are already saved, we were saved at the beginning, and the divine
proclamation confirmed this when God looked on creation and called it good.
God has prepared you, and everyone for eternal
life; believe it!
Let the goodness of the promise flow through
you now, start living this life as if it were true.
We are not called to believe in the idea that
Jesus is this or that, the Holy One of God, we are called to act on the
principles of his faith, to live lives of charity and service to one another
other.
From
the beginning, God chose all people to receive the sanctifying spirit, God created
each person in the divine image, God placed within us a seed of the eternal
Word. Through the Good News given to us by Jesus of Nazareth, we learn to trust
(have faith) in the truth of that proclamation.
Know this:
As
people of the faith we have a duty to adhere to the truth. The divine spirit is
truth, as ministers of the faith we are meant to proclaim this truth and let it
shine in the darkness like a beacon of hope for all to see.
Consider
the Gospel reading for today, ask yourself this: Where is the truth in this
myth?
Jesus
was not a magic-maker.
God
is not a miracle worker.
Read
literally; this story is a lie.
Jesus
never turned water into wine; it is likely that there was no wedding at Cana,
that the entire event never happened…it is make believe.
Mary
did not call on Jesus to work wonders and people did not follow Jesus because
they saw him to wonderful tricks; they followed him because he spoke to them
about justice, he looked to their wellbeing, he was a minister of mercy and he
gave his life in service of the poor, the disenfranchised, the marginalized and
the outcast.
So,
what is happening here?
This
it is not a story concerning who Jesus was or what Jesus did, we are not called
on to believe anything about those things based on this narrative. It is a
story that tells us something of what people came to believe about Jesus a
hundred or so years after he was killed.
It
may be a story about Jesus and John the Baptist, an apology of sorts; it may be
a defense of Jesus given to the followers of John, insofar as John came first,
but John was the lesser-prophet of that era.
The
people might have expected the best to come first, like the wine at the
wedding, but as in the stories of the patriarchs, the second son was favored
more, and so Jesus came to surpass John.
The
Wedding of Cana is not a miracle story, it is a parable intending to convey a
simple set of beliefs; Jesus did not come to carry the mantle of John, his work
is not an extension of the former. Jesus came carrying the promise of the
covenant, his was the more inclusive revelation.
He
came with a different teaching altogether, marking a radical departure from the
prison of the law, he came to preach a message of love, of service and humility
in the furtherance of the good.
First Reading - Isaiah 62:1-5 ©
The Bridegroom Rejoices in His Bride
About
Zion I will not be silent, about Jerusalem I will not grow weary, until her
integrity shines out like the dawn and her salvation flames like a torch.
The
nations then will see your integrity, all the kings your glory, and you will be
called by a new name, one which the mouth of the Lord will confer.
You
are to be a crown of splendour in the hand of the Lord, a princely diadem in
the hand of your God; no longer are you to be named ‘Forsaken’, nor your land
‘Abandoned’, but you shall be called ‘My Delight’ and your land ‘The Wedded’;
for the Lord takes delight in you and your land will have its wedding.
Like
a young man marrying a virgin, so will the one who built you wed you, and as
the bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so will your God rejoice in you.
Responsorial Psalm - Psalm
95(96):1-3,7-10 ©
Proclaim the wonders of the Lord
among all the peoples.
Alleluia, alleluia!
O
sing a new song to the Lord,
sing to the Lord all the earth.
O sing to the Lord, bless his name.
Proclaim the wonders of the Lord
among all the peoples.
Proclaim
his help day by day,
tell among the nations his glory
and his wonders among all the peoples.
Proclaim the wonders of the Lord
among all the peoples.
Give
the Lord, you families of peoples,
give the Lord glory and power;
give the Lord the glory of his name.
Proclaim the wonders of the Lord
among all the peoples.
Worship
the Lord in his temple.
O earth, tremble before him.
Proclaim
to the nations: ‘God is king.’
He will judge the peoples in fairness.
Proclaim the wonders of the Lord
among all the peoples.
Alleluia!
Second Reading - 1 Corinthians
12:4-11 ©
The Spirit Distributes Gifts to
Different People Just as He Chooses
There
is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of
service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of
different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of
them. The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a
good purpose. One may have the gift of preaching with wisdom given him by the
Spirit; another may have the gift of preaching instruction given him by the
same Spirit; and another the gift of faith given by the same Spirit; another
again the gift of healing, through this one Spirit; one, the power of miracles;
another, prophecy; another the gift of recognising spirits; another the gift of
tongues and another the ability to interpret them. All these are the work of
one and the same Spirit, who distributes different gifts to different people
just as he chooses.
Gospel Acclamation - 1saiah 3:9, and
John 6:68
Alleluia, alleluia!
Speak,
Lord, your servant is listening:
you
have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
Alternate Gospel Acclamation - 2 Thessalonians
2:14
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Through
the Good News God called us to share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia!
Gospel - John 2:1-11 ©
'My Hour Has Not Come Yet'
- 'Do Whatever He Tells You'
There
was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and
his disciples had also been invited. When they ran out of wine, since the wine
provided for the wedding was all finished, the mother of Jesus said to him,
‘They have no wine.’ Jesus said ‘Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not come
yet.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ There were
six stone water jars standing there, meant for the ablutions that are customary
among the Jews: each could hold twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the
servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’, and they filled them to the brim. ‘Draw
some out now’ he told them ‘and take it to the steward.’ They did this; the
steward tasted the water, and it had turned into wine. Having no idea where it
came from – only the servants who had drawn the water knew – the steward called
the bridegroom and said, ‘People generally serve the best wine first, and keep
the cheaper sort till the guests have had plenty to drink; but you have kept the
best wine till now.’
This
was the first of the signs given by Jesus: it was given at Cana in Galilee. He
let his glory be seen, and his disciples believed in him.
A Homily - The Second Sunday in
Ordinary Time (Year C)
