by Fr Raymond Raj
Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm 95:1-3,7-10
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
John 2:1-11
Theme: Proclaim His Marvelous Deeds to All the Nations
My dear brothers and sisters in the blessed Lord, Pope Francis says (not me) good sermons are delivered within 7 minutes. Good sermons are delivered within 7 minutes. I am trying to be obedient to him.
Saint Augustine once said ‘Miracles are not contrary to nature‘. When it comes to miracle, Saint Augustine says they are not contrary to the nature but only contrary to what you and I know about nature. Brothers and sisters, in short, what Saint Augustine is saying is miracles happen to those who believe in them. Miracles can only happen to those who have faith.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus performs his first public ministry. He performs his first miracle during a wedding feast at Cana. Jesus turned/changed/transformed six water jars into six wine jars. I suppose every wine lover in this world would like to have Jesus beside him considering this miracle can save a lot of money.
Brothers and sisters, speaking of miracle, a little story to share with you.
A woman and a man are involved in a major car accident. Both of their vehicles were total loss. Amazingly neither of them, the man or woman, are hurt. Neither of them got hurt despite of this major car accident.
As both of them crawled out from their vehicles, the woman immediately shouted ‘Praise the Lord! Alleluia! I am saved. We are saved. This is truly a miracle! This must be a sign from God that you and I should meet by accident.’
This woman is telling this man. ‘And I think God is asking us to be friends forever through this accident.’
The man says ‘Yeah, I agree with you. Indeed this is a miracle. It is a sign from God.’
Then the woman continued, ‘Look at my car! Totally demolished but this bottle of wine did not break at all. The bottle of wine that I kept in my car did not break at all in spite of my car is total loss. Maybe, maybe’ the woman is telling this man, ‘Maybe God wants us to drink this wine to celebrate this fortune, this miracle.
So she passed the bottle of wine to this man. The man without thinking much opens it and drinks half of the bottle. And then he passed the other half to this woman but the woman said, ‘Sorry, I can’t drink.’
‘Why? Why you can’t drink?’
‘I am waiting for the police to come first.’
Brothers and sisters, lesson learnt from this story. Be extra careful when people offer you free wine. Of course you can give me wine. I can take it.
Brothers and sisters, the wedding feast of Cana is rich in meaning. Ultimately, the wedding feast of Cana reveals the relationship between Mary and Jesus. Running out of wine during a wedding feast will bring a major, long lasting embarrassment to the host and Mary is the first one to recognise this and immediately she brings this problem to Jesus.
And the response of Jesus is quite puzzling because Jesus says, ‘Woman, my hour has not come.’
Brothers and sisters, Mary does not give instruction to Jesus what to do or how to do it. Mary simply states the need, trusting Jesus knows what to do.
Likewise, my dear friends, in our own spiritual life, when we pray, most of us, not saying all, most of us as we pray we have the tendency to pray with a solution in our mind. As we pray, we are praying with a solution in the back of our mind. Therefore, you and I, we don’t allow God’s will to unfold in our life.
Brothers and sisters, the consequence of this attitude is if you don’t allow God’s will to unfold in your life, if you always have solution in your mind for all the problems, then you and I, we are going to carry baggage after baggage till our last breath.
Brothers and sisters, the first principle of prayer is to trust God completely, no condition. Especially when our petitions are not answered, we must continue to trust God’s will. God’s grace is working within us.
In today’s Second Reading of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, you and I, all of us, we are called to be part of God’s plan. And each one of us we were given different talents, different gifts to fulfill this plan of God.
My dear friends in the Lord, during the Sacrament of Confirmation, if you still remember, it was many years ago, you and I, we were given the fruits of the Holy Spirit for a purpose. And our challenge is today, as we grow in age, we are to recognise these gifts, these talents in order to build the kingdom of God.
So my message today to all of you is:
Brothers and sisters, without a shadow of doubt, all of us, we are equal in God’s side. There fore, all of us, we are called to be on mission, to use our talents to build the kingdom of God. And the question always remains: Am I prepared to use my talent for the benefit of my parish, for the benefit of my community?
Brothers and sisters, do not wait till the last minute because you and I don’t have a clue when is our last minute. It can be early as tomorrow. So do not wait with your talents, gifts that God has given you.
So today, we pray that like Mary who became the advocate for the wedding in Cana, you and I will become advocates of God’s kingdom on this earth. We pray for this grace during this Holy Mass.
Click below to listen to homily and watch video:
Click to live-stream Mass on 18 January 2025