Skip to main content

2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle C

By

 New beginnings.  This is the promise of the New Year.  We bid farewell to the troubles of the previous year and approach the new year in front of us fresh with enthusiasm and hope.  Our new year’s resolutions are a common expression of those new beginnings.  As we enter into Ordinary Time we appropriately focus on this idea of new beginnings with our readings for this Sunday…

The Word for the 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time
Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm 96:1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
John 2:1-11

Our first reading is from Third, or trito-Isaiah.  Here the followers of the original prophet Isaiah foretell of a new beginning for the people of Israel.  Their Exile in Babylon is over!  Israel’s sins have been expiated and her vindication will become a beacon to all the other nations.  Where God was once someone to be feared (as in the earlier Mosaic texts), He now seems giddy with delight over his people, so much so he refers to the people as his bridegroom.  Isaiah uses the marriage covenant as a way to describe this renewed relationship between God and his people.  A new beginning where the people of God will show the world God’s glory.  This glory of the Lord is reflected in our Psalm as we sing “Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations.”  By turning back to the Lord, he has restored them as a nation.

Our gospel also speaks of a new beginning with the story of the wedding at Cana.  In a story unique to John’s Gospel, Jesus and his newly gathered disciples attend a wedding in Cana (another small town just a few miles north of Nazareth).  While the wedding itself is representative of a new beginning (for the couple being married), this story also marks a new beginning for Jesus, marking the beginning of his ministry in John’s Gospel with his first public miracle.  During the celebration Mary sees an opportunity for Jesus to take action when the wine begins to run out.  Though Jesus appears to be dismissive of Mary, he follows through by instructing the servers to fill the jugs with water and bring them to the head waiter.  Once they reach the head waiter, the water has become fine wine, leading his disciples to believe in him.

As we have now entered into Ordinary Time, our second reading does not necessarily correlate to our other readings.  Instead, we use this time to embark on an extended study of the Epistles, in this case, Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.  This week we hear a passage from chapter 12 (halfway through the letter) where Paul is explaining how we all have different gifts, but that all those gifts are from the same Spirit.  We cannot be all things to all people.  Instead, the Spirit has gifted each of us with certain talents and abilities, which in turn can be used to the service of the entire community.  For many of the new Christians in Corinth, this concept of living in “community” is a new idea.  They must learn to lean on each other in their service to the Gospel, and in turn, use those gifts in service to the community.  So in a way, it’s a new beginning for them as well, and a continuing example for us.

Final Thoughts:
The Christian life is filled with new beginnings.  Our baptism is a new beginning, a rebirth into the parish community and the greater universal church.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a new beginning, allowing us to put past sins behind us proceed with a fresh start.  Our readings this week also use a lot of marriage imagery.  Not only does this show us they type of relationship God is looking for with his people, but marriage itself is a new beginning for the couple embarking on their new vocation.  

This past year we have been faced with many different trials.  The continuing pandemic has fractured nerves and further divided an already fractured society.  Fires, floods, and other extreme weather has us individually and collectively struggling to meet the challenges faced by global climate change.  Even so, I am heartened by the joy expressed in our readings this week.  If we follow God, Isaiah promises he will bring us vindication.  If we use our gifts, as Paul recommends, we can live in the Spirit.  If we follow Jesus, our lives of water will be turned to the finest wine.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Ascension of the Lord - Cycle C

By
Following the traditional calendar, the Solemnity of the Ascension falls on a Thursday, 40 days after the Resurrection, and 10 days before Pentecost.  But since the Ascension is such an important moment for us as Church, many dioceses, including our own, have moved this celebration to this coming Sunday (in place of the 7th Sunday of Easter). The Word for the Ascension of the Lord Acts 1:1-11 Psalm 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9 Ephesians 1:17-23 or Hebrews 9:24-28, 10:19-23 Luke 24:46-53 Our first reading is from the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles.  While it might be more appropriate that this reading should follow our Gospel reading for today (as it naturally follows after Luke’s Gospel), the book-end effect of these two readings remains intact, reminding us how this was a pivotal moment for the Church.  Like most sequels, our reading opens with a recap of where we left off at the end of Luke’s Gospel with the Ascension of Jesus.  Also like most sequels, this “recap” of t...
Post a Comment
Read more

6th Sunday of Easter - Cycle A

By
If you want to have some fun, ask a Catholic (or any Christian) about the Holy Spirit.  The answers you get will likely be as varied as the people you ask.  Our faith is based on a “Trinitarian” view of God:  God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  As a Church we do quite well teaching about God the Father, and we do an excellent job teaching about God the Son (Jesus), but when it comes to the Holy Spirit we tend to treat the subject like a “third wheel” or “odd man out.”  We spend so much time learning about God the Father and God the Son that we end up with little time to spend on the Holy Spirit.  Perhaps our readings for this week can help us to better understand the Spirit: The Word for the 6th Sunday of Easter Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20 1 Peter 3:15-18 John 14:15-21 For this 6th Sunday of Easter we open with a story from Acts of the Apostles where we hear how Philip has had great success in bringing the Gospel to the p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Feast of the Lateran Cathedral

By
November 9th marks the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica.  Why are we celebrating the dedication of a church?  Well, because this is perhaps the most important church in all of Western Christianity.  The official title of this church is:  The Cathedral Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist at the Lateran.  “The Lateran” in this case refers to the Lateran Palace which belonged to the Laterni family, an ancient noble Roman family.  The palace was acquired by Constantine and donated to the Pope in order to be the cathedral of the city of Rome.  This is where the cathedra, the Bishop’s Chair, sits.  Contrary to popular belief, St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City is not the Pope’s Cathedral.  The Pope is foremost the Bishop of Rome, so therefore his Cathedral Church is in the City of Rome (not Vatican City, which at the time of Constantine was little more than a hill outside of...
Post a Comment
Read more