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Weeks 711-720
 

Oratory of Divine Love Reflection 713: The Wedding at Cana as the First Supper: A Reflection on the Gospel of John (John 2 : 1-11)

1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.

 

3 When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 [And] Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”

 

6 Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it.

 

9 And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.”

 

11 Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.

 

In the Gospel of St John, the passage we have just heard begins with the phrase, “On the third day there was a wedding at Cana”. The fact that the wedding took place on the third day is not just a minor detail which we can ignore. It gives us a hint as to how to interpret this morning’s Gospel. The meaning of this passage seems to be the spiritual transformation of human life which Christ brought about, and the mention of the “third day” to any Christian who knows the Creed, would be a reminder that Christ “rose again on the third day”. If we look at the wedding feast in the light of the resurrection, there is a wealth of meaning to it, and the Church herself seems to suggest the connection by having this Gospel read on a Sunday, the weekly commemoration of the resurrection.

The whole of Jesus’ life and ministry is a passing over, a Passover, from death to life, just as the angel of death passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, and as they passed over the waters of the Red Sea dry shod, and commemorated these events every year in the feast of Passover. In the same way, Jesus’ public ministry begins at a feast, a wedding feast, which itself suggests the Passover to the Jewish mind, because the series of love poems in the Song of Songs is traditionally read during Passover as a sign of God’s love for his people. Here, at what might be called the First Supper, Jesus transforms, at a meal, one of the elements which he will further transform at the Last Supper, which was a Passover meal.

As this Gospel begins, Jesus is not yet widely known: it is actually his mother who was invited to the wedding feast; he is asked to come along, and his disciples together with him. From first to last, from the wedding feast to the foot of the cross, Mary will accompany Jesus at the major phases of his passing over. She was the gate through which the Son of God passed over from heaven to earth, and here she introduces him to the world. Her role is always to provide an opportunity for salvation to others. Her humility is summed up completely in the sentence, “They have no wine”. She does not do anything herself; she makes no demands, she only calls attention to human needs, so that God can fill us with his plenty, because that is God’s will for her.

Jesus replies that his hour has not yet come. This “hour” is the hour of his death during the feast of Passover. It is then that his glory was to be made known, when the Lamb of God was nailed to the cross, at the same hour when the Passover lambs were being sacrificed in the Temple. Any hint of his glory before the hour of his death could only be a sign that there was glory with him all the time, although it was hidden; and that is why the Gospel does in fact call this miracle “the first of his signs”.

Mary isn’t taken aback by this response. She doesn’t even bother to reply to Jesus. Instead, she turns to the servants and says, “Do whatever he tells you”. Here again, Mary brings people to Christ, and she says the same thing to us as she said to the servants at Cana, “Do whatever he tells you”.

The servants act out of obedience and faith. They fill the jars with what they know to be ordinary water, but it turns into the finest wine. It is a wine of supernatural origin that Christ gives to his friends at the wedding feast. The red wine suggests blood, and is a sign of the shedding of the blood of the Passover Lamb of God. At the Last Supper during the Passover meal, Christ would take the wine and turn it into a drink of supernatural origin, his own blood, which he would give to his friends who were present at the feast. And at that time he would add a phrase which recalls what Mary said to the servants: “Do this in memory of me”.

Our Eucharist this morning is a Passover meal for the friends of Christ. It is a sign worked by the same Lord who changed water into wine at Cana, wine into his blood at the upper room, and death into life at his own passing over. As at Cana and at the cross, at this Eucharist it is Mary who brings people to Christ. In the words of St Peter Damian, “As Eve induced Adam to eat the forbidden fruit which brought death upon us, Mary now prompts us to eat the Bread which gives us life”. Let us respond like the servants at Cana, do this in memory of him, and let what must die in us be transformed by the risen Christ into what will live forever with him.

by Fr. Justin Sheehan

 

Prayer: “Holy Mary, Obtain for me the help that I need, to do my very best using all the powers within me and all the talents and skills I posses, according to my possibilities, to fulfill God´s plan in every circumstance of my life. Amen”

 

Quote from a Saint: “We take for granted the slow miracle whereby water in the irrigation of a vineyard becomes wine. It is only when Christ turns water into wine, in a quick motion, as it were, that we stand amazed.”—Saint Augustine

Questions for reflection:

  1. Have you ever looked at the wedding at Cana in the light of the Resurrection?

  2. What parallels do you see between the First Supper (the Wedding at Cana) and the Last Supper?

  3. In what ways do you see Mary bring people to Jesus in the Gospel?

  4. What are some ways that you see Mary bring people to Jesus through the devotions and teachings of the Church? Are there any Marian devotions that you practice, such as praying the Rosary?

  5. What can we do to be like the servants at Cana? How can you “…let what must die in us be transformed by the risen Christ into what will live forever with him?” What kinds of things do we need to let be transformed by Christ?

  6. Imagine that you were one of the servants who had to fill the jars with water at the wedding at Cana. How would you respond to that water becoming wine--not just ordinary wine but wine that the headwaiter praises as being exceptional? Do you think that it would change how you felt about the rabbi who seemed to perform a miracle?

  7. Do you practice obedience like Jesus does with Mary? Have you had an experience where you were obedient and it led to unanticipated results?

  8. What is or was your relationship like with your mother? Were you always obedient to her? If your mother is no longer living has Mary become more of a mother figure for you?

  9. When you receive the Sacrament under both species, does the wine make you think about the miracle of the wedding at Cana?

--Benjamin & Kristen Rinaldo, CfP  

Oratory of Divine Love Reflection 712: Sacred Beauty: A Reflection on the Books of the Prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 43: 1-7)

1 Then he led me to the gate facing east, 2 and there was the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east! His voice was like the roar of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory.

 

3 The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the vision I had seen by the river Chebar—I fell on my face. 4 The glory of the LORD entered the temple by way of the gate facing east.

 

5 Then the spirit lifted me up and brought me to the inner court. And there the glory of the LORD filled the temple! 6 I heard someone speaking to me from the temple, but the man was standing beside me. 7 The voice said to me: Son of man, do you see the place for my throne, and the place for the soles of my feet? Here I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel, neither they nor their kings, will ever again defile my holy name, with their prostitutions and the corpses of their kings at their death.

 

“Lord Jesus Christ, make this a temple of your presence and a house of prayer. Be always near us when we seek you in this place. Draw us to you, when we come alone and when we come with others, to find comfort and wisdom, to be supported and strengthened, to rejoice and give thanks. May it be here, Lord Christ, that we are made one with you and with one another, so that our lives are sustained and sanctified for your service.” Today, the diocese of Rochester recalls the 2005 rededication of Sacred Heart Cathedral. The rite of dedication speaks not only of the brick-and-mortar building. It also speaks of the building made of living stones. The church building houses the worshiping church, the People of God.

The beauty of the architecture affords us a glimpse of the grandeur of God. The sanctity of the assembly affords a glimpse of God’s glory. The church building is the gathering place where we discover the mysteries of redeeming love, have the Scriptures broken open for us and the Bread of Life is offered to us. Gathered in the House of the Lord we come to know ourselves as the beloved sons and daughters of God. The prophet Ezekiel shared with us a vision of the temple that was filled with the glory of God. As we celebrate the anniversary of the rededication of the cathedral, we are given a vision of the church filled with the fire of divine love. As the heart of the Father is the resting place of the Beloved Son, so the heart of Christ becomes the resting place of all his beloved disciples.

The commemoration of the dedication of the cathedral is presented as a celebration of hope. We should not forget that the prophet who shared with us the vision of the glory of the Lord filling the temple was the same person who stood in the valley filled with dry bones. Remember these heart-rending words: “Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost, we are completely cut off” (Ezek. 37:11). This passage reminded me of a line from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. “O, shut the door! and when thou hast done so, Come weep with me--past hope, past cure, past help!” We see a decrease in vocations to priesthood and religious life. We see an increase in the number of divorces and dispensations from vowed life. We see the empty pews every Sunday. With each revelation, we get more discouraged.

Now would be a good time for us to recall God’s word to the people who wandered in the valley of death. “O my people, I am going to open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you back home to the land of promise” (Ezek. 37:12). I was touched by something Joseph Ratzinger wrote in 1969. “The church will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning… It will be hard-going for the church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy… But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man's home, where he will find life and hope beyond death.”

Today’s celebration reminds us that God is faithful to his word. The seer in Revelation tells us: “Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev. 21:5). He seems to be reiterating the words of Isaiah: “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Is. 43:19). We need to look at the church from the perspective of Christ’s victory over sin and death and cling fast to his faithfulness. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning” (Lam. 3:22-23). The rededication of the cathedral reminds us to look to God’s Word and absorb the newness of life he promises us. Gathered close to the heart of Christ we will find the path to true peace. As we walk in the newness of life in Christ, we will no longer be overburdened by guilt and discouragement.

As we recall the rededication of Sacred Heart Cathedral, let us remember that “we are living stones that God is building into his spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5). In this spiritual house, the Father and the Son promise to make their dwelling with us. God comes to dwell within this community of faith that we might dwell in the communion of love of the Trinity. Whenever the church gathers in the church, may the glory of the Lord fill our hearts. As we enter into communion with the Living Word, may we reflect the glorious light shining on the face of Christ (CF. 2 Cor. 4:6). Then, having beheld the glory of the Lord, may we witness to the Love of Christ who has looked upon us and called us to communion with himself.

O God, who from living and chosen stones prepare an eternal dwelling for your majesty, increase in your Church the grace you have bestowed, so that by unceasing growth your faithful people may build up the heavenly Jerusalem.

Fr. Jerome Machar, OCSO

 

Prayer: “Dear God, We thank You for the mystery of creation: for the beauty that the eye can see, for the marvels that the ear can hear, for all the amazing mysteries that fill the universe with wonder. Help us to grow in knowledge and appreciation of Your Creation, To be good stewards of what You have given us, And to always remember that every good gift comes only from You. Amen.”

Quote from a Saint: “Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to transcendence. It is an invitation to savour life and to dream of the future. That is why the beauty of created things can never fully satisfy. It stirs that hidden nostalgia for God which a lover of beauty like Saint Augustine could express in incomparable terms: ‘Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you!’”—Saint John Paul II

Questions for reflection:

  1. The Church is more than just a physical building. Do you feel that way? Do you think of the members of the Church as the living stones that make up the Church?

  2. In what ways have you been inspired by sacred architecture? How can the beauty of a church help you to better understand and imagine God’s glory?

  3. Have you ever attended a dedication of a church? Did this affect you spiritually?

  4. What role does the physical Church play in your life? Do you discover the mysteries of redeeming love and receive the Bread of Life? Or does Church feel dull to you? If so, what can you do to change the way you view your time at church?

  5. Have you witnessed the decline in the Church that is mentioned in the reflection? If so, what have you done or are you doing to counter it?

  6. How do you find hope in a world where it seems like the Church is declining? In what ways can your parish church and the Mass help you to find hope?

  7. Is there a certain church that is special to you or inspires your faith? Is there a certain style of church architecture that that you find especially uplifting?

  8. How does the reminder of the newness of life that God promises bring you peace?

--Benjamin & Kristen Rinaldo, CfP  

Oratory of Divine Love Reflection 711: God is Close to the Broken Hearted: A Reflection on Psalm 34 (Psalm 34 : 17-23)

R. (19a) The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
The LORD confronts the evildoers ,to destroy remembrance of them from the earth. When the just cry out, the LORD hears them, and from all their distress he rescues them.
R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves. Many are the troubles of the just man, but out of them all the LORD delivers him.
R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
He watches over all his bones; not one of them shall be broken. The LORD redeems the lives of his servants; no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him.
R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

 

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.” That was our Responsorial Psalm today. And if we look in the gospels, we see this is very true. Jesus, in his compassion, extends himself to those who are grieving, even when they don’t directly ask him for anything.

One passage that leaps to mind is when Jesus catches sight of a crowd carrying the corpse of a young man out of a house with his widowed mother weeping behind him. Nobody ASKED Jesus to intervene, still, Jesus approaches, touches the litter being used to carry the dead man, and brings him back to life.

After Jesus’ own death on the cross, he appears to Mary Magdalene while she’s grieving at Jesus’ tomb. He appears to Thomas when he doubts. When Peter is confused and says, “I’m going fishing,” and the others accompany him, Jesus appears again. When two disciples in fear, decide it’s time to high tail it out of Jerusalem and head for Emmaus, Jesus appears to them.

The Lord IS close to the brokenhearted. But why then? A couple reasons I think. The first I already said, Jesus is often motivated by his empathy for us. The second, is that when we’re brokenhearted, our prayers get really, really honest.'

I often say in funeral homilies, “maybe you’re mad at God right now. “If you need to be mad at God right now, it’s OK, be mad. “God is a big boy. Trust me, he can take it. But talk to him about your feelings, ESPECIALLY the angry ones.”

And I say that, because the angry prayers are the most honest with God we’ll ever get! I know in the past when I’ve done that, when I’ve gotten angry in prayer, that’s when I feel the greatest consolation from God. God respects honesty. Right now my mom is starting to feel the effects of my dad’s death. Now that the busy-ness of the funeral is done, now that people have stopped coming to house to visit and everything is quiet, it’s setting in.

My mom said to me on my day off this week, “I keep looking at his chair and he’s not there. I miss hearing his cane coming down the hall. “I look for him on the porch and it’s empty.” Strangely though, I can’t grieve. I haven’t shed one tear for my father, because I know he was a good man. I’m confident in his salvation. I know I’ll see him again. And I’m happy he’s no longer suffering. People have told me it hasn’t hit me yet. Maybe that’s so.

But what makes ME brokenhearted, is when I check in on former students I had in Catholic school, now in college, and I see their Facebook status change from “Roman Catholic,” to atheist, or agnostic, or no affiliation. THAT breaks my heart.

When so many people work so hard to try to make this parish work, and others have to diminish it by starting silly rumors, suggesting ulterior motives, THAT breaks my heart. When I look at the world of politics and see NOTHING but nastiness! People can’t even have a civil conversation about issues anymore without it turning in a name-calling contest. THAT breaks my heart.

And so this is what we need to take to prayer. The things that break our hearts. Because that’s where the Lord will be closest to us.

by Father Michael Sisco

Prayer: “God, I surrender my broken heart to you. I need you more than ever, Lord. Give me the strength to rely on you during this time. Only you God can heal my broken heart, and only you can show me the life I am supposed to live. Thank you for giving me the strength and desire to spend more time with you. Help give me the passion and desire to sit with you and read your word as you heal my broken heart. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

 

Quote from a Saint: “Live in faith and hope, though it be in darkness, for in this darkness God protects the soul. Cast your care upon God for you are His and He will not forget you. Do not think that He is leaving you alone, for that would be to wrong Him.” – St. John of the Cross

 

Questions for reflection:

  1. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.” Have you ever felt God’s closeness when you have been brokenhearted? In what ways has He comforted you?

  2. Do you feel that your prayers are more honest when you feel brokenhearted? Why might they be more honest at such times?

  3. Have you taken your big feelings to God? Have you ever prayed angry prayers? Do you believe that God can handle your prayers even if they are angry?

  4. Has anyone in your life left the Church to become atheist or agnostic? How did you feel? How do you think God feels?

  5. Where have you seen Catholics resort to name calling and nastiness instead of having a civil conversation? Have you ever done that? What can you do to prevent yourself from falling into this trap?

  6. What does a civil political discussion look like? How do you have a conversation with someone who has a different political outlook than you? How do you think Christ would have such a conversation?

  7. Have you encountered situations in your parish or local Catholic community where people start rumors or suggest ulterior motives that disrupts the unity of the community?

--Benjamin & Kristen Rinaldo, CfP

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