SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – CYCLE C - 2013
INTRODUCTION
·
After
the Baptism of the Lord we begin the liturgical season called “ordinary
time.”
·
Christmas
season is a time of epiphany, manifestation, of the Lord. The liturgy tries to
answer our question, who is that child? Through the many liturgical texts.
·
Today Jesus is at
a wedding in Cana of Galilee. This
event is going to be another epiphany, another way to let us know who he is.
THE BOOK
OF THE THIRD ISAIAH
«
Chapters
56-66 of the Book of Isaiah are called
Third Isaiah.
«
These
chapters were written probably by several authors, but as a whole they have a
unity which is structured in three parts:
o
Chapters
56-59 and 63-66. In these chapters the
prophet accuses the people to be unfaithful, and at the same time announces
hope for the future.
o
Chapters 60-62 are
very similar to the Deutero-Isaiah. These
chapters are full of hope and optimism.
«
The
things after the return from exile are not as the people expected them to be:
o
There
are difficulties between those who remained in the country, and those who have
returned from the exile
o
Both
groups consider that the people of the other group have contaminated themselves
with the foreign country’s ways and religion.
o
Those
who come back want the possessions they
left behind, and those who have remained in the country consider them to be
theirs.
o
Life
is not easy, and the dreams of those who have returned seem to disappear.
o
But
the prophet encourages them to continue to dream, not because the difficulties
are not real, but because God is always present.
o
Nothing
new has ever been done without first dreaming of its possibility.
o
Dreams
help us to discover the wonders God does in our midst.
FIRST READING Is 62:1-5
Ø
The
prophet will neither be quiet nor rest until justice is established in the life
of the people.
Ø
Everyone
will see this justice, and thus Zion will receive a new name
o
In
Scripture the change of name means a change in the life of the person, and also
that a new mission is given to him or her.
o
It
I s as if they say that the person has been made new. This passage is about the
Zion that comes back from exile which will meet again with the Zion that
remained in their land.
Ø
You
will not only receive a new name but you will be
o
A glorious crown
o
And a royal diadem
In the
hand of the Lord.
Ø
The
new name that you will receive will not be anymore “Abandoned” but
o
Your
new name will be “My Beloved”
o
Because
God will marry you, because he delights in you
o
Thus
your land will have a husband
Ø
In
the next verse the author talks about the theme of the newly wed.
o
The
husband rejoices with his wife
o
God
says that this is the joy he experiences over his people, over each one of
us.
RESPONSORIAL
PSALM Psalm 96
PROCLAIM HIS MARVELOUS
DEEDS TO ALL THE NATIONS
Psalm
96 sings the divine kingship.
We
are invited to sing a new song, the cause of joy and of singing is that THE
LORD IS KING.
Joy
because the false gods are not God.
The
court of this King is formed by
o
Honor
and Majesty
o
Strength and beauty
GOSPEL
Jn 2:1-11
ü
The
gospel is taken from John
ü
Jesus
makes his glory to be seen by his disciples and they believe in him.
ü
John
does not say that Jesus performs a miracle, but that he has made a sign which
will help the disciples to know him a little bit better, and thus be able to
believe in him.
ü
When
we read this gospel we always try very hard to understand the conversation
between Jesus and his mother, the way he speaks to her. The conversation was
probably longer, but John tells us only what he needs to convey the
message.
o
Mary
sees a need, she knows her son. She says “they do not have wine”
o
Her
words made us think because they could mean simply to acknowledge the fact that
there is no more wine, but the answer of Jesus means something else.
o
Jesus
seems to say to her, that this is not their concern. “My hour has not come
yet.”
o
What
Mary says after this answer of her son, is still more surprising “do whatever
he tells you” Has he not say that this does not concern him?
o
And
the water is changed into wine.
ü
Let
us reflect on some aspects of this gospel:
o
The
scene is a wedding feast, the dearest and greatest of all the celebrations of
the human beings.
o
There
is not enough wine. What does that mean? Wine means joy and celebration. The prophet
Isaiah saw the messianic time as a time in which there will be an abundance of
many things among them wine.
o
Jesus
speaks of his hour. What hour? The hour of his giving himself up for our
salvation. It seems as though, through the voice of Mary Jesus perceives in his
heart the voice of the Father, telling him that the hour to proclaim the good
news is already here. At his baptism the Father has called him his beloved
son.
ü
Let
us take our Bible and let us see what the Gospel of John has before the sign at Cana
o
John
the Baptist and the people who are at the Jordan see the Spirit under the sign of a dove come
upon Jesus
o
Afterwards
Jesus begins to call his disciples, each one called in a different way
according to his personality, and each
one has also his own way to respond to the call.
o
Now
that he has called them, he goes with them to the wedding feast. With the sign
of the water changed into wine they start to believe in him, to trust him, to
have faith in him.
o
They
need faith to be able to follow him.
Below
you will find two liturgical text which may help us to pray during this
week
ü
The
first one is taken from the preface of Epiphany according to the rite of
St. Ambrose:
o
Beginning with his extraordinary
birth your Word reveals to the world your divine power through multiple signs:
the star which leads the magi, the water changed into wine and in the baptism
in the Jordan the proclamation of the Son of God. Through these saving
manifestations it clearly appears to our eyes your will to give yourself to us
in your beloved Son.”
ü
The
second text is taken from the antiphon before the Benedictus of the Lauds of Epiphany.
o
Today the Bridegroom claims his
bride, the Church, since Christ has washed her sins away in Jordan’s waters;
the Magi haste with their gifts to the royal wedding; and the wedding guests
rejoice, for Christ has changed water into wine. Alleluia
SECOND READING 1Cor 12,4-11
The
community of Corinth was very enthusiastic about the extraordinary gifts which
allowed them to perform “great things”
Paul
tells them that there are many gifts, but one same Spirit
The
Spirit is the greatest gift that we have received. The Spirit, the Third Person
of the Most Holy Trinity. He distributes the gifts as he wills, and to whom he
wills.
According
to this message each gift, goes with a particular service to the
community.
CLARETIAN CORNER
After the many times our Lord had told me –
as I said above, that Fr. Claret would arrange the first houses of the order
and the other many times that His majesty revealed to me in spirit the sanctity
of that soul, the Lord provided this servant of God to come to the convent to
talk with me. (I think my confessor had given him notes to read. The confessor
willed me to explain everything as he would be questioning it. But I felt so
ashamed to say that God has communicated
this work to me because I did not understand anything about communications or
revelations; so, I only told him that the Lord had made it known to me that he
desired to arrange our order to observed in it His most Holy Law and the
evangelical counsels. With these few words the Lord permitted that we
understand each other and, immediately, without giving place to further
explanations, he told me not to hesitate, that it would be done so. And, when I
told him that God was in a hurry to do it soon and that our Lord had told me
that he had to go to Rome to procure the permission of His holiness, he replied
that the fruit was already ripe but not
yet in season, that I could rest leaving the care to him. And then, with one of
those jokes that he used when speaking, he said: “Now, I know already that you
are here.” María
Antonia París. Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography
61.
I have already pointed out that some people act like hens who, having laid
an egg, begin to cackle and so lose it. This is much like the case of some
ill-advised priests who, after they have done some good deed or heard confessions
or given a sermon, go around looking for little tidbits to satisfy their
vanity. They talk complacently about what they've said or how they've said it.
Just as I myself am disgusted listening to such talk, I can well imagine that I
would disgust others if I were to do the same. So I resolved never at all to
talk about these things. Saint Anthony Mary Claret. Founder of the Claretian
Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 401.
