HOMILY OF 2ND SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME — YEAR C

HOMILY OF 2ND SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME — YEAR C
HOMILY THEME: THE 2ND MYSTERY OF LIGHT!
BY: Fr Benedict Agbo
A. PREAMBLE
Last Sunday’s theme was the Baptism of our Lord which Pope John Paul II called the 1st mystery of light. The light of Christ began shining from the Christmas day climaxing at the Epiphany where his glory was manifested even before the gentiles. Mary was fully present. In today’s gospel, his glory also manifests most eloquently now as a grown up (adult) at the marriage feast at Cana. Here also, Mary was the centre of attraction. This glory will manifest finally at Calvary when Jesus will be hanging upon the Cross and Mary will still be there while Jesus performs a hand over ceremony from his disciples to her and vice versa, Jn 19: 27.
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We need to get the records straight before we look into today’s 2nd reading on Charismatic gifts; that Mary is the 1st charismatic par excellence. She had the highest spiritual gifts ever given to any human being by God. She was just full of grace. Catholics call her ‘Mediatrix of all graces’ as a kind of hyperbole that explains God’s own appellation to her: ‘Hail Mary, full of grace’, Lk 1: 28. But she is not the mediator, 1 Tim 2: 5 but a first class intercessor as can be testified by the miracle of today’s gospel. He let ‘his glory be seen…and his disciples believed in him’. The last recorded words of our Lady are found in today’s gospel passage: ‘Do whatever he tells you’ – a statement so laden with deep meanings.
B. THE CHARISMATIC GIFTS
Today’s 2nd reading gives us a taxonomy of charismatic gifts – those gifts often released by God to his Church as unction for function. Let us very briefly explain 9 of them;
1. Teaching; This is a special gift of preaching with wisdom given to people like St Paul to make so many theological mysteries clear to the people of God.
2. Exhortation; This is also a gift of preaching channelled more towards giving encouraging words of consolation to people in relation to critical life challenges.
3. Faith; This is a special gift that sustains a believer to keep trusting in God’s words all through his journey on earth especially in moments of temptation.
4. Healing; This is a special gift of praying for the sick and they get well both physically and spiritually.
5. Miracles; This is a special gift of evoking divine interventions in practical life situations in quite mysterious ways as people like St Anthony had.
6. Prophesy; This is a special gift of being God’s oracle, saying God’s will both for the past, present and future.
7. Discernment; This is another special ability given to someone to distinguish between spirits and know which one is from God or not.
8. Tongues; This has to do with the gift of speaking or praying with strange tongues.
9. Interpretation; This has to do with the gift of interpreting what others have said in tongues so that their utterances could be of benefit to the praying community.
C. THE GIFT OF INTERCESSION
The gift of intercession is the gift of praying for others or intervening in urgent problem situations to God for people. Mary has the highest gift of intercession as can be seen in today’s gospel by virtue of her position as the mother of Jesus. Her role can’t be reduced to the role of an envelope as some Christians are often tempted to do. Her statements: ‘They have no wine’ and ‘Do whatever He tells you’ are statements that place her at a very sensitive position in the economy of intercession for divine provisions and salvation in general. She knows how to pray more than anyone else on earth.
She does not deflect the honour due to Jesus (Latria) as many Christians think. She is not an idol (the queen of heaven mentioned in Jer 44: 25) as many allege. Any honour given to her as the highest of Saints in heaven (Hyperdulia) is only an honour because she is ‘the mother of our Lord’, Lk 1: 42.
D. CONTEXUALIZATION
Mary’s presence at the marriage feast at Cana as recorded in today’s gospel is a special presence. She is a very important person (VIP) in today’s gospel story and therefore we shouldn’t lose the import of this biblical account. First, we need Mary’s presence in our Christian lives for the glory of Jesus to manifest more clearly. Her role is not accidental in the history of salvation as many protestants would want us to believe. Mary as the mother of the house of God, is often the one who dishes out the meals. She is full of grace and knows how to help in the distribution of Divine grace (spiritual blessings) to all children of God.
*Remember the story of Esau and Jacob, Gen 25 & 27, so apt in capturing the image of what mothers can do in the context of family dispensation of blessings.
We need to study more the dispensation of charismatic gifts in today’s Church. All the 9 gifts mentioned above are still present in the Church today. Miracles still happen. Deliverances and healings still occur. People still have the gifts of praying in tongues. We should never set up an image of a regimented Church where these gifts are seen as past realities. These gifts can also be allowed to manifest even during the mass and every time that believers gather. We cannot stiffle the Holy Spirit.
E. CONCLUSION
The importance of the Wedding ceremony is so aptly captured in today’s gospel. The importance of Sacramental Wedding should all the more be seen today. Since Christ has raised the marriage of believers to the dignity of a Sacrament, Can 1055, Mary’s presence in our homes will still prevent the shortage of wine (physically and spiritually), the disgrace of abject poverty, barrenness, premarital pregnancy, lack of love and peace, the tragedy of divorce, etc. She continues with her wise counsels: ‘Do whatever he tells you’.
She is still present in every Sacramental Wedding. Unfortunately many Christians no longer attend the Wedding mass where the marital covenant is witnessed. Mary and Jesus’ presence in a traditional wedding of the Jewish culture presents us a challenge of mitigating the present dualism we have between TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE (Igba nkwu) and WHITE WEDDING (Igba akwukwo). We must aspire towards merging the 2 ceremonies into one straight ceremony or making the Wedding ceremony become the last ceremony (climax) of the Christian marriage. It looks liturgically odd for a Christian Lady to still carry wine and be looking for the husband after the Wedding Ceremony in the Church. We need some level of decolonization here. As the Jews had 7 ceremonies of marriage for instance, we could settle for just 3; Acquaintance ceremony (Iku aka), Bethrodal ceremony (Ichi oji) and Final Marriage (Igba akwukwo). Igba nkwu could happen on the day of Ichi Oji just for the extended family so that the last day becomes for everybody.
*This is only a suggestion from my close to 19 years pastoral experience.
The Wedding feast at Cana (where Jesus changed water into wine) prefigures the Eucharistic feast (where Jesus always changes bread and wine into his body and blood. Biblical scholars like Professor Derrett suggests that the arrival of Jesus and his disciples that day at Cana must have led to the shortage of wine since Jesus came in with a huge unexpected entourage of his disciples. In order to avoid embarrassment to the guests (who usually recieved gifts of wine from the hosts), Mary had to intervene. The wine which Jesus supplied was good wine (like we have fresh palm wine today) not the liquor type with terrible strength to intoxicate nor the merely non alcoholic sugary soft drinks. Drunkards should however never quote this passage as an excuse. Fanatics should also not abolish alcohols like beer and palmwine completely from their marriage/ funeral ceremonies claiming to be Pioneers. The Bible says that we need a little wine (alcohol) for our body health, 1 Tim 5: 22. My conclusion is that we need to allow our faith to influence all our social and religious ceremonies positively. Happy Sunday dear friends!
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