2 nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) 17 January 2010

In my life as a priest I have been present at a big number of weddings. It is a great privilege to have shared in the joy and the happiness of so many couples and their families. Some had big numbers of guests and some were very small groups. All had moments of real love.

Suppose that you had been a guest at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee all those years ago. You would never forget it. You could tell the story for the rest of your life about the embarrassment when the wine ran out. In fairness, we must remember that a Jewish wedding lasted for a whole week. You could tell how this Rabbi called Jesus was there with His Mother, Mary, and his disciples. Maybe you overheard the conversation between them as she gently pointed out the need to do something to help the couple out of the difficulty. The first response of Jesus asking why she thought it was His business may have struck you as not too promising.

Then, Mary says an extraordinary thing to those serving at table – “Do whatever he tells you.” Immediately, Jesus tells them to fill the big stone jars with water and go to the top steward. There is now almost 200 gallons of top class wine. The crisis is averted and can you imagine the look of quiet satisfaction on the face of Mary as the couple are spared any further embarrassment.

You may have discussed with someone at the wedding as to why Jesus addressed His Mother as ‘Woman’. Far from it being an insult or lacking in warmth, it is His way of publically acknowledging her as the ‘New Eve’. She was the one who will now become mother of all the living. On the Cross this will happen when with His dying breath, Jesus speaks to her for the last time on earth, ‘Woman, this is your son’. To Saint John at the foot of the Cross, and to us, He says, ‘This is your Mother.’

If you had been there at the wedding in Cana it would have been wonderful. But look at what is happening at every Mass at which we are present. Jesus is present as truly as He was at Cana. At Mass, He doesn’t just perform a miracle but He gives Himself to each one of us in the Eucharist. He comes to us under the form of bread and wine. He is really, truly and substantially present to us and within us.

Every Mass is a wedding celebration. Do you remember what Jesus said when complaints were made that His followers did not fast? He asked how it would be possible for His followers to fast as long as ‘the bridegroom’ was present. He called Himself the bridegroom. Every Mass is Jesus back among His people loving, feeding, encouraging and as at Cana turning our lives around as He did for that couple over 2,000 years ago.

Mary is at every Mass just as she was at Cana for the wedding. Mary did not just gently talk to her Son for that one couple. It is the mission of Mary to constantly plead for each one of us before the throne of God until such time as we arrive at our home in Heaven.

Her advice to us on every occasion is the same as she gave to the servers at the wedding feast – ‘Do whatever he tells you’. It is such sound advice from Mary. Jesus wants us to do what is good and wholesome. His commandments are not there to restrict us but to save us from making mistakes. He loves us so much that it breaks His heart to see us go astray.

Aidan Troy, C.P. [Aodhán ó Troighthigh, C.P.]