Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

New DeSales World Newsletter - Summer Edition

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (January 18, 2004)

Suggested Emphasis

"Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory… and his disciples began to believe in him."

Salesian Perspective

Today's Gospel from John shows us that Jesus was not simply a man of sorrows; that our faith is not solely about crucifixion. We see the portrait of Jesus attending a wedding celebration and apparently enjoying himself. We see that Jesus was so concerned about the success of the reception that he performed his first public miracle: he changed water into wine.

Cana stuns the person who equates the divine with gloom and doom. Cana shocks the puritanical mind that views celebration and laughter with suspicion. Cana stupefies the perfectionist who sees Jesus' miracle as somehow beneath his dignity.

John was perhaps closer to Jesus than any of the other apostles. He may have known the heart of Jesus better than the other Evangelists. Either way, John is the only one who cites this moment in Jesus' life: his desire to celebrate the love of two people and his willingness to save the celebration from disaster.

On more than a few occasions the Kingdom of God is described as a wedding feast. This image evokes scenes of parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, neighbors and friends and eliciting feelings of love, happiness, warmth and togetherness. If we were to boil it down to one word, a wedding feast is synonymous with JOY!

Life has its share of both JOY and pain. Fully divine and fully human, Jesus knew better than anyone else that you have to be able to experience JOY if you can ever hope to address or endure hardship. It is only a JOYFUL person who is capable of self-sacrifice. Herein lies the great paradox in life: only those who truly know how to celebrate life's JOYS are really equipped to deal with life's pains. Only those who truly cherish life are ultimately able to give their life for others.

Christ's miracle at Cana, with its emphasis on JOY, flies in the face of any spirituality that discounts the lighter and laughter side of life. Jesus shows that the fully human person must embrace all that life has to offer, both the pain and the JOY. Jesus certainly didn't smile or laugh during his last hours on Calvary, but the seeds planted at Cana may have gone a long way in enabling Jesus to embrace God's ultimate will for him.

Many of us are good at dealing with suffering. How good are we at experiencing - and exuding - JOY?

William F. Walsh, OSFS, is pastor of Holy Redeemer parish/Holy Trinity mission in Kitty Hawk, NC.