Introduction to the Liturgy of the Day

January is not a common month for weddings in this country. Nevertheless, a wedding is at the center of today’s Gospel. It is at this wedding feast that Jesus performs his first miracle, changing water into wine. Though we are not here today to celebrate a wedding, today’s celebration includes both feast and miracle, ones we often take for granted. Let us consider the miracle that takes place in our presence today—the bread and wine becoming Christ’s Body and Blood—and give thanks for the invitation we have been given to this Eucharistic feast.
 

Introduction to the Liturgy of the Word

Today’s readings reveal the transformative effect God has upon the world. Isaiah prophesies that God will transform the Israelites and their land from “forsaken” to “espoused,” as a suitor rejoices in his bride. Paul extols the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which transform each person differently, but all to serve the same Lord. In the Gospel, Jesus transforms water into wine at a wedding in Cana, revealing his glory and inspiring his disciples to believe in him. Listening to God’s word, let us consider how God transforms us and our world.
 

Reflections

• Timing is everything, they say, and we often put things off until a “better” time. The exiles returning from Babylon to a desolate Jerusalem certainly didn’t feel that it was time to rejoice. How demoralizing it must have been to return home only to find it laid waste. Hearing Isaiah’s enthusiastic words, people must have thought him daft. Centuries later, Jesus had just begun his ministry; his “hour”— his passion and what followed—was long in the future. Attending a neighbor’s wedding (Cana was nine miles north of Nazareth) did not seem to be a time to begin manifesting his glory. But despite the timing, he acted. Three years later Jesus the bridegroom would consummate his marriage to his bride the church at “his hour,” on the cross, when he gave his life for humanity.

• According to John, it was just three days after his baptism that Jesus attended this wedding at Cana. In the presence of his newly called disciples, he transformed the water into wine. At the Last Supper, in the presence of his disciples for the last time before his death, Jesus changed the wine into his blood. Today, at this Eucharistic feast, gathered with fellow disciples and in the presence of the Lord, once again the wine is transformed into his blood. John says what happened in Cana was the beginning of Jesus’ signs. But as we witness today and every time we gather for the Eucharist, there is no end to these signs.

• In partaking in the Eucharist, we are transformed by Christ’s Body and Blood. No matter how we feel about ourselves, we are not forsaken or desolate. We are God’s children, each a cause for God’s rejoicing, continually transformed and renewed in holiness as Christians.
 

Question of the Week

What gifts that the Spirit gives me can I use to make a transformation in my life or for those I know?

-from Pastoral Patterns