17/01/2010 - 02 ORDINARY SEASON - C
Ist Reading Is 62,1-5 Psalm 95 IInd Reading 1 Cor 12,4-11 Gospel Jn 2,1-12
We have seen that Jesus defines eternal life as the knowing of the only true God
and the one whom you sent. To give eternal life is the mission of the Church, it's
in her the mission of the apostles: we hold too that this is the mission of the
priests, who are the first co-workers of the apostles. In what way can a man make
known God? The first one is surely the telling of his great works, especially those
told by the Holy Scriptures: Creation and the continuous intervention of God on
man's behalf, the History of Salvation starting with Adam to Jesus, and in particular
the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord. To know God we need to know what
he has done and what is he doing in our lives. This risk to be mere knowledge though,
on an intellectual level, that won't change one's life. Those who know a lot about
God, cannot say that they know him. Knowing him is to meet him and share with him
his ways of behavior. It is the mission of the apostle and of the priest to help
others to meet with God, to have an experience of God and of his love. To bring
people to God one needs certain instruments that are not proper to oneself but given
by Jesus himself: the holy sacraments, signs that give divine life, his love, his
power. When the priest blesses in the name of the Lord, God himself comforts, strengthen,
and saves. Hence the word of the priest, expression of his faith, makes know God's
presence, his love and his mercy, to man. Already he does so living his life in
union with God. This is not only the mission of the priest: it is the mission of
the whole Church, of all the faithful, of those who have already met with the God
of love and of peace.
Christmas Season is over already last Sunday, but the Church wants that the celebration
of the Epiphany of the Lord, that is his manifestation, be made whole. Therefore
there could not be the proclamation of the wedding in Cana. The is already mentioned
in the antiphons of the Epiphany. After Jesus was presented to the world by the
angels to the shepherds, by the star to the Magi, by God himself to sinners by the
Jordan, now he shows himself to his disciples and to his people at Cana. The wedding
celebration where there was also Mary, to which Jesus and his disciples were invited,
is only a great opportunity so that he shows himself with that title given earlier
by the Baptist. He spoke of himself as the friend who rejoices for the arrival and
the presence of the bridegroom, and spoke of Jesus as the one whose place he could
never take: he meant the place of the one who was to love the bride who was in a
condition of not enjoying the love of the bridegroom. For those who were listening
it was clear that the reference was for the people of Israel, loved by God like
a bride loved by the bridegroom, but unable to enjoy him because of all the unfaithfulness.
Who could make real and visible the love of God for his people? Here is the "bridegroom"
who gives the joy that gives birth and takes off the embarrassment of brought low
and sad men.
In what way can Jesus presents himself as the "bridegroom" that represents
God? The wedding is the occasion and Mary intervenes through God's will. Has the
wine run out during the wedding feast? It's a normal situation that makes the life
of men sad and unhappy when these moments should be the most beautiful ones. If
in the union between the bride and the bridegroom there is no joy, who can give
light and peace to the world? The situation that was at Cana is a sign of what is
happening among the people: relationship with God turned out to be weak and sick
and does not hold any joy. Can someone intervene? Mary knows that her Son has a
great mission, that to be and to give people the life of God, to fulfill all the
beautiful and consoling promises. Some we have already heard today by Isaiah: "The
land shall have a bridegroom" and " as the bridegroom rejoices for the
bride, so shall your God rejoice because of you"!
Today the Church is aware that the situation at Cana is being repeated: in the spousal
relationship of many of its faithful there is no joy, and that sadness is taking
some to that unfaithfulness among themselves and with their own children, that many
feel that they are not able to take upon them the spousal commitment. The lack of
joy is a symptom of lack of love and the ability to remain in love. In such a way
the life of the Christians is not any more significant, is not any more a proclamation
of God's love for his people and of the love of Jesus himself for the Church. The
Church is impoverished in her witness, and because of this joy is missing in the
whole of society. Jesus needs to intervene, pushed by Mary and our constant prayer.
The presence of Jesus gives the couple the power to suffer to live and witness love,
and so the situations in which there is sufferings will be changed in occasions
of a more and powerful love, and occasions of joy. Water will be turned into wine
that makes the family and society happy once again.
We, as a church of God, can steal Mary's words and continue to say to Jesus: "They
have no wine"! Jesus shall tell the obedient waiters, and these with their
various charismas they have, will give to Jesus the necessary material to revive
joy in families and in the Church.