Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
It is one of the great joys of being the pastor at our beautiful Mission that I have the opportunity to officiate at many weddings. Today’s Gospel is a frequent choice for the wedding liturgy, for obvious reasons, and thus one that I could easily recite by heart. While it offers up a great opportunity to tease the couple in my wedding homily about the quality of wine their guests should expect at the reception, this Gospel reading also reveals a pivotal moment in Jesus’ life and something about His relationship with His mother, His disciples and His friends.
Mary, the Mother of God, has an outsized role in the history of salvation, however, she is a woman of few words in the Gospel narratives. Indeed, the words she speaks in this passage are her only words recorded in John’s account. She does not waste them, encouraging her Son to intercede on behalf of their friends, and also to reveal His divine nature through this miracle inspiring His disciples to believe in Him. Mary is certain of her power to intercede with her Son, and in His power to accomplish the miraculous. I assure you if I had ever responded to my mother’s request with “Woman, how does your concern affect me?” (John 2:4) it would not have gone over well! But Mary is unperturbed and instructs the servants to “do whatever He tells you.” (John 2:5)
Mary’s example of faith does not end with her saying yes to God’s plan that she should bear God’s Son. We can only imagine that every day after was a journey of faith, raising a child she knew to be the Son of God and accompanying Him through both the mundane and extraordinary. We ponder the mystery of the dual nature of Christ as fully human and fully divine, but Mary lived that mystery in the most intimate possible way, showing at every opportunity her complete faith in God and God’s plan. May her words to the waiter resonate with us today:“ Do whatever He tells you.“
I wish you and your loved ones continued blessings of good health, great hope, and may you always save the best wine for last,
Fr. Paul
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