Tag: Wedding feast

Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 9:14-17)

Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

Jesus addresses the disciples of John as they ask him about why they fast but Jesus’ disciples do not. Jesus compares himself to a bridegroom, suggesting that fasting would be inappropriate for his disciples while he, the bridegroom, is present with them. But a time will come, Jesus tells them, when the joy of his physical presence is no longer a reality. Then they will fast. Jesus also uses the analogy of a new patch on an old garment. The newness of Jesus’ message requires a fresh approach, not merely patching the old ways of doing things. Jesus’ comparison of new wine and old wineskins suggests that the newness and vitality of Jesus’ teaching can’t be contained within the rigid framework of fasting and rituals.

God, in your Son’s words there is a message of mercy that I want to fully understand. Jesus, the bridegroom, is no longer visibly present but is truly present in the Eucharist. Yet, among John’s disciples, there was repentance and fasting. In the same way, I recognize the need for that when I sin by placing love of anything or any person above you. The psalmist expresses this about you by saying, “For I know that our LORD is great; our LORD is greater than all gods. All that the LORD wills he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and in all the deeps.” Lord, give me the grace to recognize and receive your mercy through the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist.

Stay with me today, Lord. Help me call you to mind throughout the day, remembering your mercy.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Christmas Readings: January 7

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”

The familiar story of the Wedding at Cana presents what would be a crucial moment during the feast: the wine has run out. Without wine, how can the feast continue? Among the few words the Evangelists share, Mary says: “They have no wine.” She sees and understands that the feasting would end without it. Jesus says in so many words to Mary, “What has your concern got to do with me? It’s not time yet for me to go out into the world.” It is telling to see that Mary does not reply to Jesus’ question; she says instead to the servers, leaving the Son of God to act on his own will, “Do whatever he tells you.” Two elements of Mary’s nature begin at this moment to shine: her selfless intercession (“They have no wine.”) and her perfect trust in God’s will: “Do whatever he tells you.” Wine, which becomes the blood of Christ at the Last Supper, here initiates the feast in the coming of Emmanuel. The passing earthly banquet foreshadows the joy of God made man who comes to draw all into the great feast of endless length of days.

God, help me understand the beauty in this Gospel passage and allow its beauty to draw me toward Mary as a model of faith and to adopt her selflessness and abandonment to your will. Why does Jesus question Mary’s concern? The Mother of God becomes the Queen of Heaven, the ever-present intercessor of every spiritual need, who entrusts the prayers of the human family directly to her Son. Is Jesus asking her that question, not out of a kind of irony, but only to allow her to give witness to her faith in her response? “Do whatever he tells you.”

In your presence, Lord, my eyes see only so much. There is infinitely more! Give me the grace today to see your love manifested in the day’s unfolding. Be with me as I come to knowledge of your will through the material gifts that surround me. You supply me with every spiritual need; strengthen me to do whatever you tell me.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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