Second Sunday in OT C2025

Isaiah 62: 1-5; 1 Corinthians 12: 4-11; John 2: 1-11

When we organize a party or a celebration, we examine all the details susceptible to contributing to the success of the event, for instance, the number of the invited guests, the quantity of food needed, the gathering space, the length of the event, etc.

Once all these details are examined, we feel secure that our celebration will be fantastic. But, human experience has shown us that, in spite of all the precaution taken, things do not always turn right. A forgotten small detail can derail the success of an event that was carefully planned for months.

That is what happened at the wedding of Cana. It is important that we come to understand that we cannot always count on our strength, our skills and our abilities in order to succeed. Our human abilities are not a guarantee that things will automatically work and for the best. We have also to count on God and his help in order to succeed in our enterprises and undertakings.

There is nothing wrong with doing that. Moreover, there is no denial of what we are capable of producing with our talents and gifts. What is at stake is the truth that if the Lord does not build the house, it is in vain that the builders work. If the Lord does not guard the city, it is in vain that the watchers are mounting guard (Ps 127: 1).

There is something more we have to learn and which is characteristic of John’s Gospel. John’s writings have always two levels: a surface and a deeper one. At the surface, the people at the wedding of Cana lacked wine and the wedding feast ran the risk of becoming a fiasco for the organizers and a humiliation for the couple.

At the deeper level, John wants to tell us that when human beings are left alone, a failure is possible in what they do. But, when our Lord is involved in what they do, they stand the chance of succeeding beyond imagination.

That is why the changing of water into wine teaches us that wherever our Lord is involved, failure becomes success, defeat becomes victory, imperfection becomes perfection. Without Jesus, life is sad and with Jesus, life becomes exciting. This fact is demonstrated through the quantity of transformed wine.

Imagine, for instance, we have 6 jars of water, each with a capacity of 20 to 30 gallons. If we multiply 30 gallons 6 times, we will have 180 gallons of wine. What wedding feast in the world would be capable of consuming in an evening and in a village such a quantity of wine? Think a little bit about it.

Let us now turn to the person at the origin of which water was turned into wine. In fact, Mary, who was among the invited guests, realizing that, the celebration, was about to be a fiasco, went to look for our Lord’s intervention. And yet, nobody knew our Lord and what he was capable of doing for people in distress except Mary. That is why in spite of our Lord’s strange answer; she kept her faith in him. She knew that even if his time had not yet come, he would do something. That is the reason why she asked the servants to do whatever our Lord would tell them.

As I often say, nobody knows us better than our mothers. And I believe that today’s Gospel proves me right. That role of Mary of interceding for people in trouble is not something of the past; it is permanent and perpetual in salvation history. As she did in the past, she does it today, because her relationship with our Lord has not changed at all. She remains the mother of our Lord, with the same heart and the same sensitivity to the suffering of the world. That is why the Church recommends us to turn to her for intercession.

By interceding for this couple at the critical moment of their life, Mary uses her gift of motherhood to do good to people in need. As St Paul says, “To each individual the manifestations of the Spirit is given for some benefit”. Each member of the Church has received spiritual gifts and charisms for the benefit of others. To acknowledge these different gifts is to accept that we are fundamentally different in our nature and in our function.

Consequently, we need each other and should support each other. We complete each other and enrich each other with our God’s given gifts. For instance, an electrician is as important to a priest as a policeman is important to a farmer. A carpenter is as important to a plumber as an engineer is important to a teacher. None is meaningless; and none is more important than the other.

Let me finish by saying this: We should always remember that our Lord listens to the Blessed Mother Mary with a particular ear because of the relationship he has with her. It does not mean that the Blessed Mother takes the place of our Lord Jesus. What it means is simply that the Blessed Mother knowing our Lord Jesus better than anybody of us, she can intercede for us as she did for the couple at the wedding of Cana. Her intercession before our Lord Jesus stands the chance of being accepted with joy and the obedience of a son to a mother.

Now let us ask our Lord Jesus who turned water into wine to change our short-comings into joy for the glory of the Father. Let us ask the Father to help us use our gifts and talents for the benefit of our fellows, as Mary did with the gift of her motherhood for the good of the couple of Cana. May our Lord answer our prayers, especially when we are in need, through the intercession of the Blessed Mother! Amen.

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© 2025 Rev. Felicien Ilunga Mbala
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