Spiritus Sanctus

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
Isaiah 62:1-5 | Psalm 95(96):1-3,7-10 | 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 | John 2:1-11

---

When they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the wedding was all finished, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine’. Jesus said ‘Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not come yet.’

John 2:3-4

I’ve heard and read those words many times over the years, but it’s only after I heard the Lanky Guys (a priest and a catechist podcasting from Boulder, Colorado) comment on today’s readings (podcast audio here) that I realized how significant they are, given that we celebrate today the moment from which Jesus begins his ministry.

It’s easy to forget Mother Mary’s role at this nexus, and how it must have affected her. She probably remembered Simeon’s fateful words, when she brought the infant Jesus to the temple:

‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected-and a sword will pierce your own soul too-so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’

Luke 2:34-35

She may have realized that, by asking her son to resolve a supremely embarrassing situation, she would set in motion everything to fulfill Simeon’s prophecy…and suffer grievous hurt sometime in the future.

Jesus too makes no bones about this: Mother, do you know what you’re asking of me? If I take a hand in this, there’s no stopping this ministerial train…and it ends at Calvary.

Yet, in the end, Mary accepted what had to happen, and what needed to be done, regardless of the all-too-human misgivings and dread she may have felt:

‘Do whatever he tells you.’

John 2:5

---

We frequently feel that same dread when we’re called to love and serve God. Where is this train headed? What obstacles will I face? How much will I have to sacrifice?

But we have an advantage that Mother Mary did not, when she made that pivotal decision. We have been promised by Jesus Himself that “my yoke is easy and my burden light.” (Matthew 11:30)

So let us boldly go forth and spread the Word that is Christ, in word and deed. Let us be confident that He’ll fit us for, and guide us in, the task at hand, and never forget His admonition:

‘Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’

Luke 9:62

Amen.

Saturday of week 1 in Ordinary Time
Hebrews 4:12-16 | Psalm 18(19):8-10,15 | Mark 2:13-17

---

No created thing can hide from him; everything is uncovered and open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves.

Hebrews 4:13

I was at the funeral of Fr. John Bosco Pereira’s father yesterday, and listened to his daughter and granddaughters eulogize him. As with most eulogies, he was verbally painted as a caring, strict, and God-fearing father, as well as a doting and generous grandfather.

It would be unusual for a dead person to be slammed at his own funeral, but if there were truly dark aspects to his life, there’s the potential for this knowledge to leak out through subtle phrasings…or even outright omissions of expected revelations.

And all this would be laid bare for everyone to see.

---

Humans have been hiding from God since Adam and Eve.

Some lessons, it seems, are almost impossible to hand down the generations. Even cold reason dictates that a Supreme Being, with the power to cause life in all its remarkable complexity and variety to come into being, also has the power to inspect it all.

In brightest day, in blackest night, 
No evil shall escape my sight 
Let those who cleave to evil’s blight, 
Beware my power…my Holy Light!

God, channeling Hal Jordan

God sees, brothers and sisters. It’s past time for us to accept that, and live our lives in acknowledgement of this. Time to clean up our act, and live and love in accordance with His will. Time to acknowledge our flaws, and cleanse ourselves regularly with the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Time to spend more time with Him, pondering both the word that is holy scripture and the Word that is Jesus the Christ.

Time to do all this, while we still have time.

Lord, remind us to live in Your light always. Amen.

Friday of week 1 in Ordinary Time
Hebrews 4:1-5,11 | Psalm 77(78):3-4,6-8 | Mark 2:1-12

---

Be careful: the promise of reaching the place of rest that God had for the Israelites still holds good, and none of you must think that he has come too late for it.

Hebrews 4:1

Procrastination is one of my regular sins. It’s easy to tell myself that I’ve enough time to do XYZ, so I push it off in favour of something more urgent. Before I know it, I’ve got a rush job on my hands, and even though I generally pull it off, it’s often not to the standard I expect from myself.

And if I can’t…I get to have a very uncomfortable conversation with the folks who’re waiting for my deliverables.

So it is with working towards the eternal life promised to us, along the road of holiness that Jesus paved and signposted by His life, teachings and sacrifice. We’ve always been told that it doesn’t matter how long you believe in God, just that you do. Deathbed baptisms simply seal that impression, so we merrily traipse down the secular road of hedonism and selfishness, confident that we’ll have enough time to atone for all our failings.

Until, of course, we actually run out of time.

So don’t tarry, dear brothers and sisters. Make peace now with your neighbours and God, partake regularly of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, spend time with the Good Book while you can, and love love love.

Else, one day, we may find ourselves with failing minds and bodies, short one solid foundation of faith and love, and helplessly spiraling down into…

Lord, remind us always that our time is short. Amen.

Thursday of week 1 in Ordinary Time
(Saint Antony, Abbot)
Hebrews 3:7-14 | Psalm 94(95):6-11 | Mark 1:40-45

---

‘Mind you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence of your recovery.’

Mark 1:44

We can be quite certain that Jesus knew what the leper he’d just cured would do. It’s a foregone conclusion that anyone who’s had a life-changing experience will blab about it, despite any instructions to the contrary.

So why don’t we blab about Jesus?

Could it be that we just haven’t experienced the joy of knowing Him in our lives, because we’ve steeped ourselves in worldly cares and pleasures as mature adults are expected to do, instead of opening our hearts and minds to Him like children?

---

Some years ago, I had the pleasure of asking a garrulous young boy a very simple question: What are you thankful for?

Out poured a torrent of things…

from the rain in which he’d taken respite from the heat (not particularly thankful for the concerned mother who yanked him out prematurely with a stern scolding),

to the dog who’d licked him silly (but initially frightened him with its loud bark),

to the extra sweets from the doctor’s office he’d sneaked in his pockets when his mom wasn’t looking.

Ask an adult the same question, and you’d probably get only a suspicious glare, or a carefully-considered response, or “nothing, really”. (You know that to be true, even with yourself.)

Share the child’s responses with an adult, and you’d typically get “aiyoh, sure get sick one, what’s the mother doing hah?!?!” We’d see them as typical childish nonsense, completely undignified for a grown person, if not a clear case for Child Protective Service to take up with the hapless parent.

So when it comes to sharing God with others, it’s no wonder we’re terribly unconvincing. The joy that His love elicits is not a calculated test of our erudition and biblical knowledge, but an unrestrained childlike lightness that comes straight from the heart. Bearing witness by the joyful way we live Christian lives is far more convincing than chapter-and-verse from the Good Book, complete with admonitions and exhortations.

I’m reminded somehow of Lewis Carroll’s famous nonsense poem Jabberwocky. It’s not meant to make any sense, just the reverse: Trying to analyze it to death just destroys the beauty of it all. Best to just go with the flow and appreciate the emotions it conjures up.

So, brothers and sisters, whenever we’re moved to blab about the Good News, let’s not hold back, yeah?

Lord, enflame us with Your love. Amen.

Wednesday of week 1 in Ordinary Time
Hebrews 2:14-18 | Psalm 104(105):1-4,6-9 | Mark 1:29-39

---

For it was not the angels that he took to himself; he took to himself descent from Abraham. It was essential that he should in this way become completely like his brothers so that he could be a compassionate and trustworthy high priest of God’s religion, able to atone for human sins. (Hebrews 2:16-17)

It’s a truism that “you can’t really understand what you haven’t experienced”.

The rich, having never experienced desperate hunger, will never really understand what it’s like to be poor.

A new CEO who’s “parachuted” from outside an organization often turns out to be a poor fit, knowing nothing about the corporate culture and thereby running roughshod over what actually worked from previous management.

Is it any wonder that God, in his infinite wisdom, didn’t just take human form, but started from scratch as an infant? Only through experiencing the down-and-dirty process of growing up, could our Saviour truly be “one of us”.

Only by knowing our joys and woes first-hand, could He give up His life freely in the end, fully cognizant of what us poor humans go through day by day.

Only by exposing Himself to the master tempter Satan, could He truly minister to His flock, imparting a faith that would survive through the millennia.

An omnipotent alien being might command great awe, but hardly any respect, and certainly not love.

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

But we too maintain such a distance from our disadvantaged brothers and sisters. Perhaps they’re not as “alien” as true extraterrestrials, but do we truly understand their plight, or do we simply throw money into the collection box as a salve for our conscience?

Or consider our own acquaintances who are struggling with their finances, or their family life, or their faith. Do we reach out when they need us most, or do we make ourselves scarce, afraid of being dragged into their troubles?

How much more of an example do we need than Jesus Himself who, as we’re told in today’s Gospel, did not rest on the adulation of a single town, but pushed His all-too-human body to go far and wide, preaching to and healing as many people as He could?

Not with a Thanos-like snap of his fingers from on high, but step by tiring step, one person at a time.

So it should be with us privileged, not to throw money at the poor like they are problems to be solved, but go up close and personal, looking into their eyes and experiencing their desperate need for sustenance and someone who cares. As my favorite musical Les Misérables proclaims near its end:

And remember the truth that once was spoken…
to love another person is to see the face of God.

Lord, may we truly see You in the least of our brethren. Amen.