The Superabundance of Love
Jesus turns water into wine
Announcements for January 15, 2022:
With no national collection this month, our beyond-the-tithe opportunity is for our parish cemetery. You can find the cemetery fund in the dropdown menu of our Parish Campaigns.
Our Young Adult Group (ages 18-39) will meet the evening of Friday, January 21st. Send me a note for more information.
Visit the OLMC Parishioner Portal for all of our recent announcements.
If you need anything at all, please be in touch with me.
Dear Saints,
On Monday of this past week we entered into what the English-speaking Church calls Ordinary Time. The Latin tempus per annum is, perhaps, better translated as Time through the Year, but many people don’t like this designation either.
I don’t want to get too caught up in that discussion, but I’d like to make a few points about it that might interest you -- let's pick up the subject after the break below.
We might be leaning into Ordinary Time, but our Gospel passage this weekend sets the stage for extraordinary days ahead.
There's a lot going on in the first few chapters of John's Gospel. When Jesus performs the first of his signs at Cana in Galilee we're made to realize that God is on the move: his plan and purposes are being advanced, his glory is being revealed, in the life and mission of Jesus.
As the scene unfolds, a couple of points capture our attention: 1. Mary's instruction to the servers, "Do whatever [Jesus] tells you," sets the stage for this mighty work; and 2. God's provision is superabundant (we're talking about hundreds of bottles of wine here).
These realities are significant for us as well. We ready the way for God to work in us and through us when we hear and heed the call of Christ. And when God acts we're likely to be overwhelmed by his generosity -- his love goes far beyond simply meeting a need.
Getting back to our thread on Ordinary Time:
Time in the liturgical year used to reference major feasts of the Church, chiefly Time after Pentecost or Septuagesima (the time leading up to Lent). I think it makes sense to keep the major feasts in mind throughout the year, and the centrality of Easter/Pentecost in the calendar makes good sense to me.
Besides being a bad translation, there really is no such thing as Ordinary Time in our Christian experience. What I mean by that is that God breaks in to every moment of human history, most significantly in the worship and witness of his dearly beloved children (that’s us).
Ash Wednesday is on March 2nd this year. Although we get a good few weeks of green vestments before we're back to purple, the yearly call to repent with works of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving will be here before you know it.
Let's not allow these days to be ordinary, my friends.
I look forward to seeing you very soon!
Christ's Peace,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
Preparing for Mass?
Check out this weekend's readings:
The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Marriage at Cana
Gerard David, c.1500