January 20, 2019

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time C
Isaiah 62: 1-5; 1 Corinthians 12; 4-1; John 2: 1-11
Have I ever seen a miracle? Have you ever seen a miracle? Do miracles change people? Can I do
miracles? Can you do miracles? I would answer in the affirmative to all these questions. Now what is a
miracle like…I would say it’s the presence of God, loving caring, healing, letting a person know that
they are lovable and precious to Him. There are a number of different types of miracles. For the most
part when a person uses the word ‘miracle’ one believes that it is a ‘healing’ miracle. There also is a
‘transformation miracle’…one’s way of life and living has been radically changed somehow
encompassing love. There are Biblical miracles…apparitions…messages from God or a saint…
miraculous images. Eucharistic miracles…sacramental miracles and stigmata miracles. This is a long
list and definitely not complete. Add to this list is over twenty-five hundred claims of Marian
apparitions throughout history. I have visited a few of these. In my role as a priest I’ve witnessed
healing miracles. A few of these miracles are similar: I visited the ‘dying’ person in the hospital. From
my experience I did not believe they would live another day; they seemed to be in a comatose state.
After administering the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick and praying, I tried to comfort the family
and be present to them. Within a short amount of time, no longer than a day, I received a call that the
patient was sitting up, alert and interacting with those present. A miracle…It’s all about God, not about
me.
We hear from Isaiah today sharing oracles from the Lord celebrating the wonderful transformation
within God’s holy people. Previously, they had been spiritually weak and as a result, the kingdom
collapsed. Now they are spiritually strong again. Isaiah is pointing out that this all comes from the
Lord. They always had the potential to do great things, but this potential was obscured by crazy
thinking and bad choices. Finally, they have broken away from their sins and ignorance and returned to
the Lord. It seems to me that so often we have negative thinking when we are with the Lord. We put
ourselves down as unimportant or incapable of being ‘worthy’ to be in the same room with God. We
have a difficult time realizing that we are loved…every day…every moment. God wants us to know this,
another form of a miracle…changing the way we were to a person loved and trying to love.
Paul wants the Corinthian community to understand that God keeps them together. Each member has a
special gift from the Holy Spirit. Paul entitles his twelfth chapter from the first letter to the Corinthians,
’Spiritual Gifts.’ All spiritual gifts are from God…God loves us this much…and uses these gifts in us to
touch those in need. Msgr. Chet Michael was a brilliant and holy man who did so much for the Diocese
of Richmond. I was honored to have him as my Spiritual Director for twelve years. He started a
Spiritual Direction Institute to teach others how to identify God’s love and to bring people closer to the
Lord. Msgr. continually taught that God GIVES HIS gifts to ALL to bring ALL people closer to
Himself. He used so frequently The New Testament in Modern Modern English by J.B.Phillips which he
said translated all the Letters in the New Testament more accurately than other translations. This is J.B.
Phillips rendition of today’s text: “Chapter 12: The Holy Spirit inspires men’s faith and imparts spiritual gifts.
“Now, my brothers, I want to give you some further information in spiritual matters. … Men have different gifts, but it
is the same Spirit who gives them. There are different ways of serving God but it is the same Lord who is served.
God works though different men in different ways, but it is the same God who achieves His purposes through them
all. The Spirit openly makes His gift to each man, so that he may use if for the common good.
One man’s gift by the Spirit is to speak with wisdom, another’s to speak with knowledge. The same Spirit gives to
another man faith, to another the ability to heal, to another the use of spiritual powers. The same Spirit gives to
another man the gift of preaching the word of God, to another the ability to discriminate in spiritual matters, to
another speech in different tongues and to yet another the power to interpret the tongues. Behind all these gifts is
the operation of the same Spirit, who distributes to each individual man as He wills.” Paul is telling us that the
Spirit is responsible for gifting so loving can take place. These are miracles really, gifts from God to
open up hearts to be receptive to God’s love. I have seen this in so many different ways in my life;
really starting with me. Paul cautions his people that these ‘gifts’ from the Spirit are for the building up
of the community not for personal gain.
John’s Gospel is structured around seven so-called ‘signs’. Sunday Homily Helps states:
“On the surface a sign is another term for miracle, except in John’s gospel where a sign points to a
deeper reality than the surface meaning of a miracle. Here, a sign reveals the presence of God in the
words and deeds of Jesus. For those who witness a sign, the response may be acceptance or rejection.
Acceptance leads to salvation, but rejection leads to self-condemnation.” The miracle at Cana is the
first sign Jesus performed in John’s Gospel, ‘They have no wine.’ We know this miracle well. Sunday
Homily Helps shares these three conclusions:
“a) At Cana, Jesus publicly began along with His disciples, to alter the face of religion in
Galilee and later, the whole world-by changing people’s hearts.
b) Yet even in the face of this great ‘sign’ there were those who remained skeptical and would
not believe.
c) St. Augustine once said, ‘I never have any difficulty believing in miracles, for I experienced
the miracle of change in my own heart.”
I reflect on:
• A wonderful reflection is to begin a litany of thanksgiving by naming my own gifts. Have a close
friend help. We are not good at looking at our good points alone.
• How can I use one of the gifts to manifest the Spirit’s presence in loving others?
• How is God’s generosity revealed by my service to others?
• Am I jealous of another’s gifts. What can I do to appreciate the diversity of gifts and the generosity
of God who dispenses the gifts?
• What a powerful reflection, ‘For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, the horse was
lost; for want of a horse, the soldier was lost; for want of a soldier, the battle was lost. No talent is
insignificant in the eyes of God.’
Sacred Space 2019 states:
“In some incidents of the written narrative about Jesus we find signals and unmistakable gestures that indicate
who He really is. We see magi and shepherds recognizing His lordship at his birth. We see the heavenly
manifestations at His baptism in the Jordan. And here in John’s Gospel we see a signal from Jesus Himself: the
replenishment of the wine for the large crowd of wedding guests.
A banquet—including the free flow of wine—was always, for the people of God, a figure of the total fulfillment and
happiness that would mark the Lord’s final future coming. His overflowing generosity is always available to us. Can
I image myself at the Lord’s banquet feast?”