Letter from the Pastor -- January 16th, 2022

Greetings my beloved parishioners,

Hope your year is off to a good start. In the spirit of continued gratitude, I want to thank all of you who made
my Christmas a memorable and graced one. Your participation at the Christmas liturgies, your prayers, words of
support and encouragement, baked goodies, cards and gifts are deeply, deeply appreciated. Be assured of my prayers for you and
your families. A priest never forgets his benefactors.

There is a tradition that celebrates three main events on Epiphany Sunday, the Visit of the Magi, the Baptism of the Lord and the
Wedding feast at Cana. With the passage of time, these three events were assigned to three different Sundays in the Liturgical
Calendar. We have commemorated the first two, and this weekend we have the opportunity of reading from John’s account of the
third. We see in these events the manifestation of Jesus’ glory.

The metaphor of marriage is widely used in Scripture to image God’s relationship with the people. YHWH is often referred to as
the husband of Israel. This imagery of spousal love is popularized by prophets such as Hosea who while charging Israel of
infidelity against God speaks of God’s endless love for the people. We hear this same reference to marriage in our First Reading
for this weekend. The vindication of Jerusalem is depicted as a wedding feast for God and his spouse. We also see this reference
to a wedding in our Gospel this weekend. Jesus would use this same spousal language in referring to himself as the Bridegroom.
When responding to the Pharisees who had asked why his disciples did not fast like the disciples of John the Baptist did (Mark
2:18), Jesus asked, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?” Jesus continues the metaphor by speaking
of his presence and ministry as “new wine” which requires new wineskins (Mark 2:22).

This background helps us appreciate John’s account of the wedding feast of Cana. This account is laden with a lot of symbolisms
that speak to the arrival of the messianic era and the fulfillment of the Covenant. John tells us the water jars were stone jars, not
made the usual way from ceramic but sculpted out of stone, suggesting they must have cost a fortune. They were the very best,
pure and nonporous. They were used for the Jewish ritual washing, they were six, not seven, meaning they were incomplete.
Jesus provides wine in abundance, one hundred twenty to one hundred eighty gallons of wine. The wine is the best of all. This
account speaks to one truth, that the Jesus is the ultimate bridegroom; he gives the new wine, and the wedding party of the new
covenant has begun.

In John’s account of the wedding at Cana we see the compassion and trust of the Blessed Mother on display. As an invited guest,
Mary could have just sat there and enjoyed the party like many others who were also invited. Was she the only one who noticed
that there was no more wine? Did she observe the commotion that such a lack could have caused? Were there others who were
enraged by the depletion of wine? Were there guests who chose to cast aspersions on the couple or even hurl invective at them?
Was the embarrassment of the couple so obvious that Mary could notice it? Or did she preempt all of these different reactions?
We were not told what came before; but that she saw a need and knew where to go for a solution is telling. She was sensitive to
the need of the people, and she did not wait for them to come to her to ask; she knew who it was who had the answer to any
question and the solution to any problem. She goes to Jesus. She is not discouraged by what appears as his indifference to the
plight of the couple; she turns to the disciples and tells them, ‘do whatever he tells you.’ From that instant she left it to him. We
too must learn to leave it to Jesus, whatever it is. Once we have prayed concerning anything, let us not worry, but trust that Jesus
is more concerned about that which troubles us than we are about it ourselves.

In our own lives, are we vigilant to see our own needs or the needs of others? Are we proactive to help or pretend not to see the
need of others so we do not feel responsible to act? Do we know where to turn to when the wine of our lives is running low? Do
we turn to Jesus in confidence and ask him to turn our water into wine? We can once again hear Mary say, “Do whatever he tells
you.” These words would be echoed at the Transfiguration by the voice of the Father who declares Jesus as his beloved Son and
urges those present to ‘Listen to him’ (Luke 9:35). No matter what we go through in life, no matter what the news media is
saying, no matter what the government is doing or saying, no matter what the economic situation or global politics is, our joy,
our fulfillment in life, rests on these five words, “Do whatever he tells you!”

May Jesus bless you, and may Our Lady protect you.
With blessings from my heart,