Scripture Readings: The Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

Scripture Readings: The Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

First Reading: Isaiah 62: 1-5

For Sion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for the sake of Jerusalem, I will not rest till her just one come forth as brightness, and her saviour be lighted as a lamp. And the Gentiles shall see your just one, and all kings your glorious one: and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. And you shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be called Forsaken: and your land shall no more be called Desolate: but you shall be called My pleasure in her, and your land inhabited. Because the Lord has been well pleased with you: and your land shall be inhabited. For the young man shall dwell with the virgin, and your children shall dwell in you. And the bridegroom shall rejoice over the bride, and your God shall rejoice over you.

Second Reading: First Corinthians 12: 4-11

Now there are diversities of graces, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of ministries but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but the same God, who works all in all. And the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man unto profit. To one indeed, by the Spirit, is given the word of wisdom: and to another, the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit: To another, faith in the same spirit: to another, the grace of healing in one Spirit: To another the working of miracles: to another, prophecy: to another, the discerning of spirits: to another, diverse kinds of tongues: to another, interpretation of speeches. But all these things, one and the same Spirit works, dividing to every one according as he will.

Gospel: John 2: 1-11

And the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage. And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus said to him: They have no wine. And Jesus says to her: Woman, what is that to me and to you? My hour is not yet come. His mother says to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do. Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece. Jesus says to them: Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And Jesus says to them: Draw out now and carry to the chief steward of the feast. And they carried it. And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine and knew not whence it was, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water: the chief steward calls the bridegroom, and said to him: Every man at first sets forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse. But you have kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

Reflections:

Back into Ordinary time at last (okay, so it actually started last week), we find ourselves in what I consider to be one of the more comedic Gospel stories. In any case, I find it amusing, in a ‘profound, inspired-by-the-Holy-Spirit’ kind of way. There’s the way Jesus apparently dismisses Mary’s concern about the wine, only for her to turn around and tell the waiters that He’ll do something about it. Then Jesus responds by making a ludicrously oversized surplus of wine.

            Whatever else, I think this story clinches the fact that Jesus has a sense of humor.

            In all seriousness, there is a lot going on here, especially regarding Mary. In the first case, it’s interesting that (despite what I said above) Jesus never actually dismisses Mary’s concerns, and, even more interesting, Mary never asks Him to do anything. She merely appraises Him of the situation and lets Him proceed as He sees fit. What we have here is a glimpse of two people who understand each other perfectly. All Mary has to do is tell Him what the situation is, and she knows that He will do something about it. Moreover, she takes steps to ‘prepare the way’ for Him to work. It’s actually a remarkably clever move; she doesn’t give the waiters any specific instructions, since she doesn’t know what, if anything, her Son is going to do. Instead, she simply tells them to “do whatever He tells you.” She trusts that He is going to do something, but she doesn’t try to direct Him in anyway.   

Jesus, for His part, responds with a question: “Woman, what is that to me and you? My hour has not yet come.”

 First of all, it’s interesting that Jesus frames the issue as a communal one (“what is that to me and you”). In so doing, He includes Mary in His ministry and purpose (“my hour”). That is to say, He implies that it is a ‘team effort’ so to speak.

Now, this does two things; first and most obviously, it points to Mary’s own role in salvation as to bearer of Christ, not only literally, as His mother, but also spiritually, as seen when she directs the servers to Him (the servers otherwise would have no reason at all to look for help to one of the guests). Secondly, it speaks to the communal aspect of the Church. Jesus expects us, like Mary, to be ‘part of the team’ as it were; that our concerns should be His, and His ours. The Church, we see (as outlined more concretely elsewhere), is a team; a squad. It’s essentially communal in nature, both between each individual and Jesus and between individual Christians.           

Moving on, Jesus says that “My hour has not yet come.” Now, this implies that He was not yet ready to begin His public ministry, but He does so anyway. So, it seems that that wasn’t what He meant by “my hour.” Rather, I think it refers to His Passion, which is, obviously, the most important moment of His ministry.

So why would a mere question about wine lead Him to refer to His Passion? Because of the wine. Jesus’ Passion will one day be made manifest in wine (and bread, but that doesn’t come up here). What Jesus is saying here is, basically, “it isn’t the time for the true wine that I will give them, namely my blood for their salvation. But, that they may believe, I will give them ordinary wine.”

Related to that, the phrase “me and you” in this context takes on yet another meaning; the wine that Jesus will eventually give them is His blood, but it is Mary’s blood as well. I’ll delve more into this point in a later post, but, briefly, since Mary was Jesus’ mother, and since He had no earthly father, genetically they would have been identical. Hence, the blood that flows in His veins, which He will offer as wine, is the exact same blood that flows in her veins as well. So, when Jesus says “what is that to me and you,” He is also saying “they can’t have the wine which is our blood yet.”

Vive Christus Rex!

Scripture Readings: The Fourth Sunday of Advent

-->

First Reading: Micah 5:1-4

And you Bethlehem Ephrata, are a little one among the thousands of Juda, out of you shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. Therefore will he give them up even till the time wherein she that travails shall bring forth: and the remnant of his brethren shall be converted to the children of Israel. And he shall stand, and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the height of the name of the Lord, his God: and they shall be converted, for now shall he be magnified even to the ends of the earth. And this man shall be our peace,

Second Reading: Hebrews 10: 5-10

Wherefore, when he comes into the world he says: Sacrifice and oblation you would not: but a body you have fitted to me. Holocausts for sin did not please you. Then said I: Behold I come: in the head of the book it is written of me: that I should do your will, O God. In saying before, Sacrifices, and oblations, and holocausts for sin you would not, neither are they pleasing to you, which are offered according to the law. Then said I: Behold, I come to do your will, O God: He takes away the first, that he may establish that which follows. In the which will, we are sanctified by the oblation of the body of Jesus Christ once.

Gospel: Luke 1: 39-45

And Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda. And she entered into the house of Zachary and saluted Elizabeth.

And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. And she cried out with a loud voice and said: Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold as soon as the voice of your salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed are you that have believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to you by the Lord.

Reflections:

What we have this week is one of those key passages that especially point to the unique roll of Mary in Salvation. Mary, after receiving Gabriel’s message and accepting her role in God’s plan, goes off to stay with Elizabeth, her relative. Remember, she had been told by the angel that Elizabeth too had been miraculously made pregnant in her old age, so presumably they would have a lot to talk about.

Now, as soon as Mary arrives, literally bearing Christ, John the Baptist leaps in Elizabeth’s womb. But note; he leaps at Mary’s voice; Mary’s arrival is the signal that Jesus has arrived. Where Mary is, Jesus must be. So here, John’s first act as the prophet of Christ’s coming is done in response to Mary’s arrival; John first points out Jesus by pointing out Mary.

At which point, Elizabeth is ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ and begins to prophesy in her own right, declaring Mary to be ‘Blessed among women, and blessed is the fruit of [her] womb’ then identifying her as ‘the Mother of my Lord.’  

Here’s another interesting point: John can’t very well prophesy while he’s in the womb, or at least, he can only prophesy to one person; his mother, who then acts as his spokeswoman. Now, Scripture doesn’t record Jesus doing anything similar within Mary, but it does make an interesting point; the mother is ‘in tune’ with her child. That is, the person that a child has the closest connection to, and the most perfect communication with is his mother, who is the very first person he can communicate with. Hence, Mary can rightly be called the very first Christian; she is the one who first received Christ’s message, even before He left her womb.

Just as John the Baptist first found Jesus through Mary, so it is even to this day; Mary is the first and most immediate means to encounter Jesus.  

Vive Christus Rex!

A Brief Discourse on the Immaculate Conception

                Last Saturday was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception; one of the most controversial Catholic doctrines among fellow Christians (there are two categories of ‘controversial’ Catholic doctrines: those that the secular world has a problem with and those that other Christians have a problem with).

                The doctrine, simply put, is that God, foreseeing Mary’s role as bearer of Jesus, preserved her by a special grace from Original Sin from the moment of her conception: the guilt that is passed down from Adam to all men and the accompanying inclination to sin. In other words, Mary was the first totally innocent human being since the creation of Eve.

                The reason this is so controversial is because this seems to be saying that Mary didn’t need to be saved by Jesus’ redemptive death and resurrection. If she was totally sinless, then she was exempt from the saving work of Christ, right?

                Wrong. That might be the case if she were sinless of her own accord (somehow). But consider: if Jesus had never came and never died and rose again, would Mary still have been sinless? Of course not!  The only reason for that special grace was to make her a fitting vessel to bring Jesus into the world. Her preservation from original sin was as dependent upon the saving works of Christ as our redemption from it is.

                The difference is that this special grace is anticipatory; you might think of it as a kind of “retroactive Baptism.” Remember, all time is present to God, so the fact that Christ’s saving works were still forty-some years in the future wouldn’t prevent Him from applying the results of those works to someone living beforehand.

                That’s one half of the equation. The other half is the fact that we know that God grants His people grace to different degrees and in different forms: one man might be preserved from all but the most insignificant sins his whole life, another might only repent at the last minute and be saved by the skin of his teeth as it were.

                Now, if we take these two factors – God’s timelessness and the “division of Grace” – we can see that there is nothing theologically wrong with the Immaculate Conception; it fits in with what we know God can and does do. So the only thing left is the question of whether it seems like something appropriate for Him to do.

                Quite clearly, it was very appropriate. This is the means God uses to enter the world as man. This is the woman whose flesh and blood will form His Sacred Flesh and Precious Blood. This is the woman who will raise Him, who will be responsible for Him (and He for her), and whom He will have to be obedient too. This isn’t just appropriate; this is the only way the situation is even remotely tolerable.

How could “Mary, whom God kissed in Galilee” be anything but sinless?

Vive Christus Rex!