Commentary
Sunday, 1/20/2019, Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Bridegroom Rejoices in His Bride
First Reading Commentary: Isaiah 62:1-5
What goes through a man when he decides to take on a bride? He experiences all kinds of emotions as he thinks about the responsibilities which he will undertake. But in the end, there should be only one thing that drives his decision to marry and that is love. He rejoices as he ponders the joy and happiness that he will share with his new bride and she responds in kind. So, it is between us and our Groom in heaven: Christ.
We are the ones who shall be vindicated and the whole world shall know. We are the ones who are the Bride of Christ because we are the ones who say, “Yes” to Christ in the same way that a woman says, “Yes” when a man asks her to marry him.
That "Yes" is unconditional, driven by love and never ending. That means that a married couple stands by each other, never stops loving each other and never allows anything or anyone to come between them.
When we have this kind of love with Christ, we are His bride. We are no longer forsaken because we belong to Him. Our land is no longer desolate because our land becomes the Kingdom of Heaven. We have a new name as God calls us “My Delight.”
Isaiah says, “As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you.” Notice the cap on “Builder.” Our Creator in the person of the Son is our Groom in heaven. Isaiah continues, “And as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.”
When we say, “Yes” to Christ, we become His delight; He rejoices in us and best of all, He lives with us by His Name: Emmanuel—God is with us.
We All Have Charismatic Gifts
Second Reading Commentary: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Today’s reading from St. Paul in 1st Corinthians is about our charismatic gifts. When we think of the charismatic gifts, we usually limit our thoughts to just one which is the gift of tongues. The charismatic gifts come from the Holy Spirit and there is much more involved to them than speaking or praying in tongues.
According to the Catholic Dictionary, the word “charismata,” is from the Greek charisma(ta), which refers to a ‘free gift.’…special gifts that, as service directed to the Lord, manifest the work of God through the Holy Spirit all for the common good of the body of believers, the Church. This ‘work of God’ includes a myriad of behaviors, and especially a knowledge of God.”
Apply this definition to what Paul tells us today and one could discern that any gift bestowed on us by the Holy Spirit could be considered as a charismatic gift when used for the common good of the Church which is the Mystical Body of Christ.
The Spirit may bestow on us a special gift of being able to provide service to others. When we think of people who are famous for their ability and commitment to serving others, we think of people like Mother Teresa of Calcutta who undoubtedly was full of this gift.
Others have a special gift of being able to express wisdom, knowledge and faith. We know that these are gifts of the Holy Spirit but we do not normally think of them as charismatic gifts. The Apostles, many of our popes, saints who are proclaimed as being doctors of the Church and many of our present-day preachers are blessed with these gifts which are for the common good of proclaiming God and the Church.
There are those who have the gift of healing and can perform mighty deeds—miracles. One of the criteria for becoming a canonized saint is having at least two confirmed miracles. This means that virtually all canonized saints have the gift of performing mighty deeds many of which were or still are miracles of healing.
There are the gifts of prophecy and discernment of spirits. The Old Testament is full of people like Isaiah who we hear from today in his prophecy of God taking delight in us and rejoicing when we say, “Yes” to Him and enter His Kingdom.
Finally, Paul talks about the gift of tongues which comes in more than one form. There are those who can speak (which means to pray) in tongues, those who can interpret tongues and those who can do both. Speaking in tongues; is the most well-known charism and people who do not understand it will usually shy away from those who have it out of fear.
This fear, I could never understand especially from Christians and most especially from Catholics. All we have to do is look at what happened to Mary and the Apostles on Pentecost Sunday. When we meet someone, who has the ability to speak in tongues, we are meeting someone who has been blessed in the same way that Mary and the Apostles were blessed on Pentecost. That person is therefore someone to embrace and not fear.
Paul tells us that the Spirit distributes His gifts to us individually as He wishes. I have three thoughts about this. 1- God has a plan for each of us and He bestows His gifts on us as needed to carry out His plan. 2- As I have said many times, each of us is an individual working part of the Mystical Body. Our gifts are bestowed on us as needed for us to do our part for the common good of the Body. 3- We all have charismatic gifts and by virtue of our free will, it is up to us to use them. We may not realize that we have certain charisms but if we say, “Yes” to God, we will discover them as we begin to experience things that we did not think were possible.
Say “Yes” and He Will Do Anything for You
Gospel Commentary: John 2:1-11
What Jesus did at the Wedding Feast at Cana is not as important as the reason why He did it. The miracle itself in comparison to the other great works of Jesus is not such a significant thing. The fact that this miracle of Jesus is the first of His great works is not what makes this gospel so important. We could consider this great work as a forerunner to Jesus changing bread and wine into His Body and Blood but I do not see that as the important factor of today’s gospel either.
I believe that the most important thing for us to understand about today’s gospel is the reason why Jesus changed water into wine. Simply put, the reason is because Mary said, “Yes.”
God always says “Yes” to us when we say “Yes” to Him and Mary gave the perfect and greatest “Yes” of all time when she agreed to be the mother of Jesus and willingly took on all of what came with being the mother of Jesus. The pain and suffering of watching her Son on the cross and the responsibility of being our mother in heaven; Mary said, “Yes” to all of it.
So, God always says, “Yes” to Mary and this is what makes her our greatest intercessor with her Son Jesus. This is also one reason why Mary is the Mediatrix of all Grace and we see this in what occurred at the Wedding Feast at Cana as she interceded for the groom. Interesting—remember that Jesus is our Groom in heaven.
Let’s consider the following things. When Mary told Jesus that there was no wine, Jesus said, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” That sounds like a hostile answer if we do not take the time to think about it.
Again, we have to remember Genesis 3:15 where God said to the devil, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers.” Mary is the woman and Jesus is the offspring so by addressing Mary as “woman” in this Gospel, he was not disrespecting His mother. Rather, Jesus was emphasizing the fact that Mary is the “woman.”
By saying that His hour had not yet come, Jesus was making it very clear to Mary that He was not ready to start performing great works. When we look at the way that the gospel is written, it is obvious that Mary was totally undeterred. She said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Mary knew that her Son would not let her down. She had faith that Jesus could and would perform the miracle. Faith is an important key here but the point that I want to make is that Jesus did not refuse Mary out of obedience as a Son. Jesus performed this great act because of Mary’s “Yes” and as a result, Jesus never refuses Mary anything at any time or for any reason.
The gospel tells us that Jesus did not just turn water into wine. He turned water into the best wine. Well, that’s God for you! Nothing but the best comes from Him! Yes, it is ok to get a chuckle and a smile out of that. We should because it is true—nothing but the best from God!
When we say, “Yes” to God, we can count on Him saying, “Yes” to us. Just as the servers at the Wedding Feast at Cana did not expect the best wine, we may not expect exactly what God gives us in answering our prayers. But what we can count on is what is being blessed with whatever is best for us!
This is the Second Luminous Mystery of the Rosary and anytime that we have doubts about why we should pray to Mary and the saints or whether God will really answer our prayers, we should remember this mystery and study its Gospel.
