A Quiet but Powerful Love

View the readings for this Sunday.

Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019, Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Is 62:1-5
Ps 96:1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10
1 Cor 12:4-11
Jn 2:1-11

By Marc Massery

In the beginning, humanity fell from grace when Eve prompted Adam to defy God's will. The work of our redemption began at the wedding feast at Cana when Mary, the new Eve, prompted Jesus to perform His first miracle and begin His public ministry.

The Gospel says, "When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine,'" (Jn 2:3). It might seem odd that Mary did not explicitly ask Jesus to do something about the lack of wine. She simply stated the need. Mary seems to know that Christ would intuit her request. Christ and Mary were so holy, so in tune with one another that few words were needed.

Jesus responded, "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come" (Jn 2:4). Just as Mary does not explicitly ask Jesus to do anything about the wine, Jesus does not explicitly say He would remedy the situation. But according to Scripture scholar Scott Hahn, Jesus' response, "How does your concern affect me?" is an idiom in the original Greek used in reply to a person's request in which the speaker sometimes capitulates to the expressed will of the other and sometimes not. In other words, Jesus' response is ambiguous.

But Mary, knowing Jesus well, does not wait for an explicit "yes" from Him. She confidently goes up to the servants and says, "Do whatever he tells you" (Jn 2:5). She knows He will comply with her desires. Christ, of course, complies. He asks the servants to fill the jars with water, which He miraculously transforms into wine. Thus, Jesus' public ministry begins at the prompting of the Blessed Virgin Mary. From His intimate relationship with her sprang forth His work of salvation for all the world.

We are called to imitate Christ. Therefore, we too need to have an intimate relationship with the Blessed Mother.

Throughout her Diary, St. Faustina speaks about her intimate relationship with the Blessed Mother. She writes, "Then I saw the Blessed Virgin, unspeakably beautiful. She came down from the altar to my kneeler, held me close to herself and said to me, 'I am Mother to you all, thanks to the unfathomable mercy of God. Most pleasing to Me is that soul which faithfully carries out the will of God'" (449).

The Blessed Mother wants nothing more than for us to fulfill God's will. When we allow her to help us, as Christ did, as St. Faustina did, she will reveal to our hearts the quiet but powerful love she has for us, and she will see to it that we receive the abundant graces God wants us to have.

View the previous Sunday Scripture Preview.

NBFD

You might also like...

On Monday, Jan. 9, we celebrate Jesus' Baptism. But why was God the Son baptized at all?

The Lord will make you into the person He created you to be - fully alive, filled with His peace - if you do this.

Find out what you need to do to sanctify each moment of your daily life, no matter how mundane.