The following is a full-written-out homily . . . sort of. I was just writing while trying to put some thoughts together for what I might say this weekend. It's nothing special, and may seem choppy in places - and I apologize for that. I just hope that, after reading this, you may have one thought to walk away with. I don't know how much, if at all, of this I will use on Sunday. I'm just happy that the Holy Spirit was able to work with me in being able to put some thoughts down on paper.
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Sunday, 20 January 2013 - Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C
Let's pause here for a moment and think about one of the great archetypes that we find in literature, film and theater: The quiet, supporting character who says almost nothing throughout the piece until that climatic moment when their wisdom and / or their humor puts the entire story into perspective. We can say it's the "aha" moment of the work.
My brothers and sisters, this is what we find in today's Gospel when Mary, who says very little in Scripture, tells the servants at the wedding to do whatever Jesus commands them to do. This is that "aha" moment this is later paralleled at the Last Supper when Jesus, Himself, tells His disciples that they are His friends if they do what He commands. Yet Mary is just not talking to the servants; she is also talking to us: "Do whatever He tells you." But like obstinate children, we don't want to do what our Mother asks of us. We don't always want to do what the Lord commands because we find it too difficult to follow. What the Lord asks of us is somewhat incompatible with our so-called "freedom".
The Lord - Our God - loves us so much that He desires complete intimacy with us. In our First Reading from the prophet Isaiah, we hear how the Lord wants to marry us - to become so completely intimate with us, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW - that He is willing to give us a new name, a new identity. And we receive that new name ("Christian"), that new identity in Baptism.
Yet just by being baptized does not mean we have automatic intimacy with God. We must, as Mary reminds us, do as Jesus tells us. And, ultimately, that means we must do as He commands . . . And those commands are found in Scripture and in the Traditions of the Church.
However, as adults and as Americans, we hate to be told what to do. We hate the fact that entities and institutions (like the Church and the government) try to control our lives. We know, though, that true freedom is ultimately found when we submit our will and freedom to that of the Lord's. This is why Mary is not only the perfect model of submission and saying "Yes" to God's will for her, but also why she is the perfect patron of the United States. Our country was founded on on the freedoms and ideals of independence that originate from the guidance of Divine Providence. Mary teaches us in so many ways how to truly live those freedoms, that independence perfectly - and that IS to rely fully and only in the great Providence what comes from God and God alone. It is only when we do whatever Christ tells us that we gain the opportunity to understand a little more fully how it is that God works in our lives.
At the time of my ordination, I had a discussion with my cousin who is in the military. He and I discussed how our two lives were alike. He and I both had to answer to a "higher authority"; he and I both were ready to go to wherever we were sent; he and I were putting our lives on the line and sacrificing ourselves for ideals that were beyond us and much greater than either of us. Ultimately, it came down to submitting our wills and our lives to the service of something greater.
It is, then, in coming to the submission of our wills to the Lord's that - when we do whatever He tells us - we form that intimacy with the Lord. That is why we have been given the variety of gifts that Saint Paul reminds us of in our Second Reading from his First Letter to the Corinthians. Those gifts and talents that the Lord gives to us are not to be squandered for our own entertainment or selfish service. Rather, those gifts are given to us so that we may draw others more intimately into the love of the Lord, just as we ourselves are found to be. We want others to come to know the great freedom that is found in a life in Christ just as we, ourselves, have discovered it.
How do we do that? For starters, we begin by looking at and following the great example of Mary. Then, by coming to recognize our own intimate relationship with our God, we are able to introduce Christ to them, so that they may know the fullness of light and life that come from an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
Ultimately, it comes down to listening to those five simple words of the Blessed Mother: "Do whatever He tells you." Truthfully, we need to ask ourselves if we're able to do so. For some of us, it will be a "yes", given whole-heartedly and with reckless abandon. For others of us, it will be an honest "no", coming to realize that Jesus is asking of us more than what we're willing to give at this present moment.
For the majority of us, however, it will be the mix of "yes" and "no" moments. It will be the interior wanting to do what the Lord commands, but, when putting our faith into practice, the pressures of society and the fears of our egos will overtake us. Our flesh becomes frozen, but our hearts cry out to God.
This moment that we share in - right here, right now - is the moment that, through Word and Sacrament, our God becomes so intimate with us that we should be passing out in ecstasy. This is that great moment that we have been yearning for all week: That instant when the flesh of the Creator and the flesh of the creation meet; when we consume our God and, in turn, are consumed by the intense, ecstatic, intimate Love that He Is.
"Do whatever He tells you." Why? Because, ultimately, we yearn for intimacy with Him. But, more than that, He yearns for intimacy with us. And, like Mary, it's up to us to say, "Yes."
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Enjoy the journey . . .
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