In the gospel this weekend we hear of Jesus' first miracle and what is essentially the beginning of his time in ministry. I love the way this came about. Mary, the quintessential Jewish mother comes to her son; you can almost see her wringing her hands. She is distressed that the hosts of the wedding have run out of wine. Mary knows that this could spell disaster for their hosts and so she appeals to her son. And what does he tell her? "My time has not yet come." He's telling his mama that he's not ready to walk through that particular door yet. He's not ready to put himself out there and declare his divine nature. Mary, still the typical Jewish mother, applies the perfect amount of guilt and leaves him to make the decision on his own to do the right thing. And so he does- Jesus has the servants fill up the stone jugs with water, and then quietly and discriminately, so as to not draw attention to the embarrassing situation that the hosts find themselves in, turns the water into a high quality and abundant wine. The only witnesses to this are the servants themselves, and his disciples who begin to glimpse just how special he is.
Such a beautiful story with so many layers of wisdom for us to take from this gospel. We could spend all day breaking those layers down and examining each one. But for today, let's look at the aspect of service. The service that Jesus enters into through ministry here comes in the form of a miracle with a capital "M". Lets too consider our own acts of service. How do we perform them? I believe that we are called to perform our own miracles of service (with a little "m") quietly and discriminately as Jesus did here. The way we are called to service usually comes from someone else bringing the need to our attention just as it was Mary's intersession in today's gospel that got him moving on doing what was needed. And, as Jesus was, there might be times when we are resistant to enter into the service we are being called to. Perhaps we feel like we are too short on time, patience, or funds. Perhaps we are procrastinating on a service project thinking, "I will get there eventually.". Sometimes we need a little push, and that is just fine as long as we are open to God giving us that push through the people we surround ourselves with.
I wish you all a week full of miracles, both large and small.
Peace & Blessings
Donna D. Kinzie
Family Catechesis Coordinator
Infant Baptism Coordinator