In the time between Christmas and Lent, we observe a short period of Ordinary Time. In terms of the liturgical year, the word “ordinary” is not contrasted with extraordinary. As extraordinary as our observances of Christmas and Easter are, the word “ordinary” in the phrase “Ordinary Time,” comes from the term “ordinal.” Ordinal, in turn, refers to a position in a series.
Today, for example, is the Second Sunday in (not of) Ordinary Time. Hence, it is the Second Sunday in a series of thirty-three or thirty-four Sundays, depending on the year. Of course, Christian life revolves around Sunday, the Lord’s Day. On Sunday we gather around the Lord’s table to hear his word and, together, commune with, through, and in him before being sent forth to glorify him by our lives.
Because the bread and wine are transformed by the Holy Spirit into Christ’s body and blood, this same Spirit makes those of us who partake of it the Body of Christ. Through our communion in his mystical body- the Eucharist- the Spirit makes us the Lord’s verum corpus, his true body. Most powerfully, it is through our participation in the sacraments that we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
Our Gospel reading today is from the second chapter of John’s Gospel. In the Synoptic Gospels (i.e., Matthew, Mark, and Luke), Jesus’ public ministry begins with his baptism by John in the River Jordan. But the Wedding Feast at Cana marks the beginning of his public ministry in John. Jumping to the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry in John, to what is often called his “high priestly prayer,” the Lord, praying to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit, says:
And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one…1The questions this passage prompts are concrete: How does the Father come to be in the Son? How does Jesus come to be in us? By the power of their Holy Spirit. Most specifically how Christ comes to be in us, uniting us, making us one, is through the Eucharist.
In our reading from his First Letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul points out that by virtue of our baptism, confirmation, and participation in the Eucharist we all have spiritual gifts. We are to put the gifts God has given us into service. Different people have different gifts but these diverse gifts are given by the same Spirit. Remember, the Christian word for service is diakonia. Just as there is a priesthood of all the baptized, there is a diaconate of all the baptized.
It is by discerning and putting our God-given spiritual gifts into service that God, to cite our reading from Isaiah, rejoices in his people. Being a Christian is not about keeping the faith. Rather, faith is something we share. When not shared, it diminishes. We most powerfully share the faith by sharing our gifts in the service of others. Worship that does not lead to service is not Christian worship.
In this vein, it seems important to note that Jesus, in today’s Gospel, did not seem overly eager to start his public ministry. He was initially resistant. But start he did, at the behest of his mother. This passage serves as a great example of how our Blessed Mother intercedes on our behalf, which is why this episode is the second Luminous mystery of the Rosary. The fruit of this mystery is “to Jesus through Mary.”
If one were to look at all the times Mary speaks throughout all four Gospels, the ordinal of what she says, if you will, her words to the servants in today’s Gospel are her final words: “Do whatever he tells you.”2
What Jesus’s mother says to the servants, she says to us by extension. Mary always points us to Jesus. So, as her beloved children, let us often go to Jesus through her intercession. It is also in John’s Gospel where we encounter the dramatic episode in which Jesus, hanging on the cross, says to his mother, with reference to the beloved disciple: “Woman, behold your son.”3 Then, to the beloved disciple, who represents all his disciples, with reference to Mary: “Behold your mother.”4
As I mentioned on New Year’s Day, the Church, our Teacher and Mother, has given us so many beautiful ways to pray to the Virgin Mary. Foremost among these are her Holy Rosary, the Angelus, and the Memorare. Learn these prayers by praying them. These can easily be found online or in any basic book of Catholic prayers. If you’re praying about a particularly difficult situation, I urge you to make a novena to Our Lady Undoer of Knots.
Because through baptism we are God’s children, we have Mary for our Mother. So, as her beloved children, let us often seek her intercession. If Mary was so concerned about running out of wine at a wedding, how much more concerned is she about you, her child, who lives in a world that daily damages your soul?
I will conclude with the first part of the final prayer said each day of the novena to Our Lady Undoer of Knots:
Virgin Mary, Mother of fair love, Mother who never refuses to come to the aid of a child in need, Mother whose hands never cease to serve your beloved children because they are moved by the divine love and immense mercy that exists in your heart, cast your compassionate eyes upon me and see the snarl of knots that exist in my life.
You know very well how desperate I am, my pain and how I am bound by these knots.
Mary, Mother to whom God entrusted the undoing of the knots in the lives of His children, I entrust into your hands the ribbon of my life
1 John 17:22-23..↩
2 John 2:5.↩
3 John 19:26.↩
4 John 19:27.↩
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