SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – C – 2022
v The Christmas celebrations are over.
v In the second vespers of the Epiphany we read an
antiphon which summarizes in a very beautiful way the meaning of the Christmas-Epiphany
season.
Three mysteries mark this holy day: today the
star leads the Magi to the infant Christ; today water is changed into wine for
the wedding feast; today Christ wills to be baptized by John in the river
Jordan to bring us salvation.
v The meaning of Christmas is the manifestation
of the Son of God made flesh; manifestation when he is born, when he is adored
by the magi, in the wedding feast when the water is changed into wine and in
his baptism when the voice of the Father
said “You are my son in you is my delight.”
v Let us see what the today’s reading tell us,
we continue with the theme of the epiphany of the Lord, his manifestation by
means of the sign of the water changed into wine.
THE BOOK OF THE THIRD ISAIH
Ø For a long time, the Church considered that
the book of the prophet Isaiah was a single book.
Ø However, since the studies and investigation
of the Bible go on continually, the specialists realized that this book has
long sections of several chapter that refer to different historical times very
distant from each other and thus, they were in front of a book that, in reality
was three books: First Isaiah or Isaiah from Jerusalem. Second Isaiah
or Deutero-Isaiah, and Third Isaiah or Trito-Isaiah. These books, written by different authors and from different times, had a basic unity at the
literary and theological level.
Ø What is the theme of the Third Isaiah? The
Third Isaiah lets us know that there is a conflict among the people of Israel
when the exiled returned. The group that returned, the conservative group,
comes with enthusiasm to rebuild what had been lost, they consider themselves
and believe they are the true Israel since they have been purified by the
sufferings of the exile. The group that remained in Jerusalem which is
more prophetic looks at those who have returned as contaminated by their
coexistence with the pagans and that they have changed in some way their
traditions, their way to see life. The prophet has a mission somehow like that
of the Second Isaiah, to console and also to denounce sin and awaken the
prophetic spirit.
FIRST
READING : Is 62:1-5
ü The prophet cannot be silent until the
liberation of Jerusalem is known by the nations.
ü The second paragraph, very poetic and
inspiring, speaks of the beauty of the city.
o
She will be like
a diadem in the hand of her God.
o
She will not be
anymore the abandoned city, dominated by the foreigners, now she is the
beloved bride that delights her
God.
ü These words said to Jerusalem, are also said for
each one of us.
o
In our baptism we
received a name and in confirmation a new name.
o
God has us
tattooed on the palm of his hand, according to what we read someplace else in
the Bible. This, which is so poetic and maybe even
romantic, what does it mean? When we want to remember something or the name of someone,
we write it on the palm of our hand, the lovers have the name of their beloved
tattooed. The Lord loves us with eternal and true, close and affectionate love.
o
We are thus the
delight of our God, despite our sins and infidelities.
o
Our God marries
the church and, in the church, each one of us.
o
This comparison
of God’s love for us to the conjugal love has its origin in God’s revelation to
his prophets who are his voice.
o
Let us meditate and allow the Lord explain to us
the meaning of these beautiful words.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM – Ps 96
R. (3) Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing
to the LORD, all you lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless his name.
R. (3) Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations
Announce his salvation, day after day.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among
all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
R. (3) Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations
Give to the LORD, you families of
nations,
give
to the LORD glory and praise;
give
to the LORD the glory due his name!
R. (3) Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations
Worship the LORD in holy attire.
Tremble
before him, all the earth;
Say among the nations: The LORD is king.
He
governs the peoples with equity.
R. (3) Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations
§ We are invited to sing
the greatness of our Lord.
§ And to tell the peoples
that the Lord reigns, reigns with tenderness, justice and love.
GOSPEL Jn 2:1-11
As we read this
episode from the Gospel of John, we cannot ignore how this gospel was written,
because it is very different from the other three which we call the Synoptic
Gospels. John narrates and event that has happened, but he is not interested in
the details of the event, his interest is in the hidden and profound meaning of
the event which becomes an opportunity to invite us to discover what the Lord
wants to reveal to us.
There is a
wedding at Canna in Galilee and John says, that Mary the mother of Jesus was
there. I like to think that she was at the wedding feast like the rest of the
women. In the little towns and villages
and probably everywhere the women are in the kitchen and making sure that
everything goes well, that everybody has enough food and drink, in a word, they
make sure that the guests enjoy the celebration.
John continues to
says that Jesus with his disciples were also invited to the feast. Maybe the
bride or the bridegroom were friends of Jesus. Since we do not know, we are
allowed to dream, imagine, whatever…
The wine is running
short and the celebration will continue for several days. Mary realizes that,
and looks for a solution.
We do not know if
she thinks of her son because she has seen him perform other miracles, although
John says that this is the first sign, we do not know if God moves her
internally to dare and decide to ask her son for help, or simply she wants him to
know, so that he does what he deems
appropriate. She simply says to him "They don't have wine."
Jesus’ answer is
always difficult for me , even if Ilook at different translations and editions
of the Bible. “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not
yet come.”
o
We do not like
the way he talks to her
o
We do not like
that, he calls her woman; but this is the most beautiful title or word he can
use to address her, she is the woman of Genesis whose offspring will crush the
head of the serpent, the devil.
Mary, who knew
well her son, understands in some way, in these words of Jesus that he is going
to do something; so she says to the servants “do whatever he tells you.”
o
These words are
addressed also to us, to each one of us, to the whole Church.
o
Yes, the only
thing we have to do is to do what he tells us, and he has already told us “love
one another as I have loved you.”
o
Let us be faithful to what he says to us. Let us be faithful like her.
And the great
sign that has fascinated all generations of believers is produced.
When the servants
draw the water from the jars, it is water no more but wine.
Likewise, if we
do what he tells us, our water(life) so many times cloudy, tasteless, not
transparent will be turned into wine, the wine of joy, hope, enthusiasm,
tenderness; we will be truly happy even if what surrounds us remains the
same
THE CITY OF CORINTH
v Corinth was the capital of the Roman Province
of Acaya since the year 27 before Christ. It came to have half a million
inhabitants. It was situated at the South of Greece in the Western coast
opposite to Athens.
v It had two harbors and a temple to the pagan
goddess of love Aphrodite, sacred prostitution was practiced in that temple.
v There was a conglomeration of religions of all
species, very varied itinerant preachers, many languages and races. Abundance and economic prosperity went
hand in hand with an immoral life.
v Paul came as one more preacher, and the
religion he preached was very estrange.
v He arrives after the “failure” in Athens, he
comes humiliated and humble, trusting only in his gospel.
v Aquila y Priscila, a Jewish married couple,
exiled there by the Emperor, welcome Paul in their home.
v The Jews rejected Paul, so he began his
community with humble people of the village and with slaves.
v He formed them, he dedicated time and energy
to this community.
v Let us think about who formed the community
and to them he wrote this letter. If
they understood it and it helped them, can't it help us? Won't we be able to
understand it?
SECOND READING – 1Cor 12:4-11
Ø Paul explains to his community of Corinth how
God gives his different spiritual gifts to each one for the building of the
community.
Ø Let us imagine the picture that this fragment
puts before our eyes:
o
God, as a father
of family, or as the leader of a community, or as the director of a movement,
an organization, distributes the
responsibilities among the members of the group and with the responsibility
comes the gift to fulfill it.
o
This has several
consequences, the first is that the gift is given to serve, whom? Those we are
supposed to serve in our family, in the work place, in the recreation areas, in
a word every human being who needs our help.
Ø We all have gifts, and we have to use them and
not to hide them as the man in the parable Jesus told. They do not belong to us, they are given to be
administered for the common good.
Ø We need to be grateful and give thanks to God for the gifts we have received, even if the use of them requires effort and sacrifice from us.
CLARETIAN CORNER
2.
Year 1842, one night while I was at prayer pleading to Christ crucified to
remedy the necessities of the church, which in that time were many, that had
cost him so much, I offered him my life in sacrifice as I have done before many
times, well aware that my life was not of much value to sacrifice for so many
evils, but as I had no virtues to offer him, I begged him to deign to teach me
what should I do in order to give him pleasure and glory accomplishing his most
holy will.
3. In this petition
which, later I understood, was very much to the liking of His Divine Majesty,
because it was done with much simplicity and good will, our Lord has deigned to
teach me with much pleasure how He would like to be
served by this ungrateful creature, it was in this how He set before my
eyes the observance of His most Holy Law and evangelical counsels, and told me
to observe them with much perfection; he told me with intense sorrow that He
had nobody in Hid house to observe them,
for the great extent that all the religious orders had gone lax in the
observance of His most Holy Law and because of this He permitted with grief,
their destruction.
4. I was shocked at this because I had
always believed that all persons who profess perfection served God faithfully
and for this, I wanted to be a religious. Here, once more our Lord put, as of
what I can understand, before the eyes of my soul, because with my bodily eyes
I did not see anything, His most Holy Law and Evangelical Counsel
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CONFERENCIA DE OBISPO DE ESPANA. Sagrada Biblia. Versión oficial. B.A.C.
Madrid 2012
BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO. (Biblia del Peregrino – América Latina) Texto de Luis Alonso Schökel, Adaptación del
texto y comentarios: Equipo Internacional. 2015
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