The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

The Wedding Feast at Cana

       Several recent studies by the Center for Disease Control suggest that a daily glass of wine is healthy. Some specialty shops host wine tastings. Professional wine tasting is the sensory examination and evaluation of wine. These professionals use five basic steps: They examine the color, how it swirls in the glass, the aroma, the taste, and the savor or aftertaste. These steps are also known as the “five S’s”: see, swirl, sniff, sip, and savor.

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Entrance Antiphon: Ps 66(65):4 — “All the earth shall bow down before You, O God, and shall sing to You, shall sing to Your name, O Most High!”

First Reading: Is 62:1-5 — “The bridegroom rejoices in his bride.”

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 96:1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10 — “Proclaim His marvelous deeds to all the nations.”

Second Reading: 1 Cor 12:4-11 — “One and the same Spirit distributing them individually to each person as He wishes.”

Alleluia: 2 Thes 2:14 — Alleluia, alleluia. “God has called us through the Gospel to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: Jn 2:1-11 — “Jesus did this as the beginning of His signs at Cana in Galilee.”

Communion Antiphon: Ps 23(22):5 — “You have prepared a table for me, and how precious is the chalice that quenches my thirst.”

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         God so loves us that He sent Jesus. And if you think about it … to each of us, Jesus is God’s love incarnate. This love is so profound that Isaiah in the First Reading says God rejoices in us as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride. Jesus would later testify that God’s reign is like a wedding feast to which we are all invited. And in this weekend’s Gospel, Jesus and His disciples were invited to a wedding feast at Cana in Galilee. With a push from His mother, Jesus will perform the first of His signs. The contents of the six jars will be changed from water for ceremonial washing into wine and presented to the headwaiter. The headwaiter performs a sensory examination and evaluation of the contents of the jars and declares it to be a wine of superior quality. Jesus Himself is the abundance of salvation symbolized by the wine. He has come to serve and not to be served.

         So here is a lesson each of us should have learned and what each of us should remember from Confirmation and from our celebration of Pentecost. As Jesus promised His disciples … when He returned to the Father … He sent the Spirit to build up the Church. The gifts of the Spirit are the true riches given to build up the Body of Christ. Each member of this community is gifted for the benefit of the whole community and the world in which we live and work. You are challenged to know and use your own gifts and to help your sisters and brothers to know and exercise their own gifts. Today in the Second Reading, Saint Paul lists the gifts of the Spirit to build up the Body of Christ. Think about which gifts are yours and which you recognize as belonging to another member of our community.

         Wisdom. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that “‘wisdom cannot be taught because it is a gift of the Spirit.’ This gift is knowledge deepened by love. It is the knowledge of the heart by which the heart sees rightly what is invisible to the eye. Wisdom leads into the heart of God. Instead of standing in the world looking for God, the wise person stands in God and looks out at the world. The cross is where the wisdom of God is revealed.”

         Knowledge. This gift prompts us to enflesh the word of God in our lives. In other words, it prompts us to make the Word of God real in our lives by what we say and what we do and how we act. It prompts us to an honest self-knowledge and an awareness of what is going forward in God’s creation.

         Faith. God takes the initiative in drawing us into relationship. Through many spiritual attractions in the physical and relational universe, God draws us ever closer and closer.

         Healing. A few people are gifted to exercise physical, emotional, social, and spiritual healing. Some of our members have trained professionally to exercise these gifts to further the health of our members. We should also be grateful for the healing Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick and to obtain their graces regularly

         Prophesy. It is said that the role of the prophet is to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable. Throughout salvation history, God has called women and men to speak the truth to power and to uphold the sufferings of those considered least in society. Prophets suffer because of their ministry. Jesus was a prophet.

         Discernment. We are constantly encouraged to read the signs of the times. We discern the truth in the formation of conscience. Some exercise the gift of discernment as spiritual directors. We have been praying after the Prayers of the Faithful since the beginning of Advent to be led by the Spirit in discerning how to best serve our Parish and our Diocese.

         Saint Paul remind us, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit … there are different forms of service by the same Lord … there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.” May we use our gifts to further the ministry of Christ.

         As the bread and the wine are presented, may we remember that it is the offering of our gifts to bring us into communion with the risen Lord.