Announcements: 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Holy Rosary Mission Parishioners, here are a few announcements:

Gospel: The Wedding of Cana is the second Luminous Mystery. The passage from John is fraught with messages, symbolism, and theology. The message for us today is to trust, have faith, and to let Mary help to bring our problems to Jesus.

Thank you: Thank you to Rick Tennyson for cutting and stacking a huge amount of wood for the Rectory. Your time and talent (and hard work) is greatly appreciated.

Thank you: Thanx to all who helped take down the Christmas decorations and set up the church for Ordinary Time. It was a great group effort and greatly appreciated!

Thanx: Thanks to Kristen for offering to fix the Sacramentary. The cover was tearing off. This sacred book is used at every Mass.

Prayers for Pat: After suffering a stroke early Thursday Morning (7 Jan 2009), having the ambulance take him to Kanakanak hospital, and then being medivaced to Anchorage, Pat Durbin is staying in Houston, Alaska for a couple weeks and receiving therapy in Wasilla. Please keep him in your prayers.

Have a great week and see you Sunday!

Homily:

The Wedding at Cana is the second Luminous Mysteries, or otherwise known as the Mysteries of Light. Pope John Paul II added these mysteries before he died.

This passage marks the start of the two year ministry of Jesus. The first miracle Jesus performs is the turning of water into wine. This passage is fraught with theology and symbolism. Here is how you and I can use this passage in our daily lives.

Today, wine at a wedding may not be that big of deal. Some choose not to have it at all. Wine put into the context of the days of Jesus meant something very different than it does today. Good wine was crucial to a wedding feast. Without wine there was a major crisis. Further, there was pain and embarrassment for the bride and groom.

Mary sees the distress and crisis and rushes to Jesus with the problem.

Saint Thomas Aquinas tells us that we should take note of Mary’s kindness and mercy: “For it is a quality of mercy to regard another’s distress as one’s own, because to be merciful is to have a heart distressed at the distress of another.

Pope John Paul II views Mary’s kindness as a continued concern for all Christians. “Just as Mary interceded on behalf of the couple at Cana, so she continues to bring our needs before her son. The wedding of Cana is an example of Mary’s concern for human beings. She sees our needs and takes them to Jesus for help.

The Wedding Feast at Cana helps us to see the importance of faith. Up to this point Jesus had never performed a miracle. But Mary had faith in Jesus. She had faith in his supernatural power and truly believed that he could help.

With regard to changing the water into wine, Mary tells the servants, “Do whatever Jesus tells you.” The lesson here for you and I is about trust. Jesus asked the servants to do something very strange. After all, the jars the jars that Jesus asked them to fill with water were for hand washing and cleaning of utensils, not for wine.

There was great trepidation as the servants watched Jesus drink the wine out of the jars. There was great surprise when they witnessed his joyful response.

That is how we feel when we have to trust in God. We have to trust in something we cannot comprehend or understand. We feel trepidation, fear, and nervousness. Then when what we pray for, or what we ask for, or when something miraculous in our lives comes about, we are surprised and joyful.

“Do whatever he tells you,” has meaning for you and I today. Trust without hesitation, especially when one does not fully understand the meaning or benefit of what Christ asks.

If you are like me, you have heard the Holy Spirit telling you that you need to do something. You can feel it right in your gut. The Holy Spirit is telling you to do something that you know you need to do but you are afraid and well, it is just easier not to do it. Only you can determine those callings from the Holy Spirit. For me, one example was becoming a priest. Not wanting to do it but trusting in God and having faith that it was the right thing to do.

So, have faith like the servants. Trust Christ’s will for our lives…that nagging of the Holy Spirit inside of us. Try to do whatever that spirit is telling you to do even when the pathway may be unclear or the outcome uncertain (605 Words).

First Reading - Isaiah 62:1-5
For Zion's sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, Until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch. Nations shall behold your vindication, and all kings your glory; You shall be called by a new name pronounced by the mouth of the LORD. You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD, a royal diadem held by your God. No more shall men call you "Forsaken," or your land "Desolate," But you shall be called "My Delight," and your land "Espoused." For the LORD delights in you, and makes your land his spouse. As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; And as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.

Second Reading - 1 Cor 12:4-11
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.

Gospel - John 2: 1-11
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."(And) Jesus said to her, "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you." Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, "Fill the jars with water." So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter." So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now." Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him. After this, he and his mother, (his) brothers, and his disciples went down to Capernaum and stayed there only a few days.