Parish Missions

Sabbath

Reflections through the

week...

The Scriptures this

Sunday provide a

powerful reflection on the

crisis in Haiti.

Isaiah

would speak of the

desolation of our

Haitian brothers and

sisters.

Paul

would speak of the gifts

God has given us.

John's Gospel

would offer a model for

bringing about a real

transformation.

Please help:

Food for the Poor

Where is your story in the

Sacred Story today?

Recall a time when you felt

"desolate" or "forsaken."

How was God's presence

made manifest to you?

Imagine yourself as the

subject of the passage

from Isaiah. Use that

passage as a prayer each

day this week.

As we commemorate the

birth of Dr. Martin Luther

King Jr.,how do this

Sunday's Scriptures

connect to the continuing

struggle for justice and

equality in our country.

A Disciple’s Faith

While out to sea, a large boat became shipwrecked,

and there was only a single survivor. This man prayed and

asked God to save his life. Soon thereafter, another boat

came by and offered the man some help.

"No thanks," he said. "I'm waiting for God to save me."

The men on the boat shrugged their shoulders and

continued on their way. As the man became more deeply

concerned, another boat came by. Again, the people

aboard offered this man some help, and again he politely

declined. "I'm waiting for God to save me," he said again.

After some time, the man began to lose his faith, and

soon after that he died. Upon reaching Heaven, he had a

chance to speak with God briefly.

"Why did you let me die? Why didn't you answer my

prayers?"

"Dummy, I sent you two boats!"

Someone in trouble. The making of a good story. Someone rescued. A better story still. The Word today invites us to see how God thinks and how God acts when someone is in trouble.

The Israelites always seemed to be in trouble. Whether assailed by some external force or through some fault of their own, the Chosen People had early on learned to seek God’s help in time of trouble. Isaiah uses the powerful image of a lover to assuage Jerusalem’s fears of being “forsaken,” the trauma of being left “barren.” He offers God’s promise of unrelenting reconciliation and total transformation.

…you shall be called “My Delight,“

and your land “Espoused.”

For the LORD delights in you

and makes your land his spouse.

The promise is unconditional and inclusive. The acceptance of this divine favor rests with us. The gift is there. It has only to be embraced.

If we look at our own times of difficulty, our own personal struggles, we might seem, in various degrees, forsaken and barren of recovery. It might be the magnitude of the earthquake in Haiti this past week or the trauma of violence that seems to be the world’s status quo. It might be the feeling of abandonment or anxiety over failing health or a ruptured relationship. The words of the prophet, however, would not offer much consolation, would be of little hope, if they were not accepted with total trust. God’s promise to save demands an acceptance that unfortunately escaped the drowning man. Just how God saves may be a mystery. That God saves is an act of faith.

Perhaps that may be the lesson of the Cana story. It might seem curious that such a trivial crisis would be used to proclaim God’s saving power. It is a stretch for most of us to see the depletion of wine a matter for divine intervention. The canons of hospitality in ancient Middle Eastern culture, however, would see this much differently. Yet we can still appreciate an ordinary, everyday human experience being worthy of divine attention. The beauty of this story is that Mary is the one focused on that need. Practical, insightful, she recognizes the problem; she trusts the solution. She doesn’t tell her son what to do; she simply states the issue. Just how he would resolve this was, I’m sure, a mystery to her. That he would resolve it was her act of faith.

We surely do not want to trivialize God’s involvement in our daily lives. Asking God, for example, to give us the winning lottery ticket or asking God’s help on that math test while failing to study for it might fall in to that category. But believing, in spite of our human condition, that our God is there to lift us up as infinitely loved is clearly what the Word of God is addressing.

That’s the kind of faith the miracle at Cana evoked in Jesus’ disciples. Just as Jesus was able to transform ordinary water into choice wine, so too the power of God, working in us through Christ, will not only transform us but will also empower us, as his disciples, to transform the world. This transformation will not happen on its own. Each one of us is called to be the sign of God’s saving power. Each of us has been given a particular gift to accomplish the goals of that discipleship.

As we approach the Eucharistic table, we come as we are, human and fallible but gifted, to be nourished with the Body and Blood of the one who promises to be with us until the end of time. How that presence is manifested in each of our lives may be a mystery. That it is made manifest is an act of faith. Whether we are the ones seeking divine presence or are the instruments of that presence, we strive for Mary’s faith that the promise will be fulfilled--even if it’s not as obvious as someone in a boat offering to help a drowning man!