Grace Abounds: Understanding the Limitless Generosity of God
Readings for Mass and Virtual Homily for January 12, 2025, Second Sunday of Ordinary Time; January is Bustin' Out All Over
Readings for Mass this Sunday
Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm 96:1-3, 7-10
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
John 2:1-11
Dear Friends and Family,
Joy and confidence in God's abundance and in God's power to flood our lives with blessings might be termed the theme of this Sunday's readings. Though I want to pay special attention to the Gospel passage (the wedding feast at Cana), the other readings so powerfully support this general theme that I want to take each in turn, and -- frankly, delight -- in all they say to us about the limitless generosity of God.
The reading from Isaiah might be understood in several different ways, none of them mutually exclusive. It might be said to apply to Jerusalem at the time of the Incarnation, that is, to the time when Jesus walked the earth. It might be said to apply to the Church, the New Jerusalem, in all the centuries since. It might be said to apply to the Parousia, that is the Heavenly Jerusalem existing in eternity.
However we want to interpret the passage, it assures us of the manifold workings of grace in our lives, it reminds us that God created us out of love and for love and that, in love for us, God stands ready to bless and redeem every aspect of our lives. Listen to the initial verses:
For Zion's sake, I will not be silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not keep still, until her vindication shines forth like the dawn, until her salvation like a burning torch. Nations shall behold your vindication, and all kings your glory; you shall be called by a new name bestowed by the mouth of the Lord. You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem in the hand of your God (vss. 1-3).
That Jerusalem will be called by "a new name" may be interpreted as a reference to the Church, the New Jerusalem. (There are also other possible interpretations.) Applied to us, this passage offers bright and joyful reassurance of the healing and redeeming presence of God in our midst. We can get a deeper grasp on all of our advantages simply by contrasting our circumstances with the realities of Isaiah's time, that is, the time at which this prophecy was written. The Jews were waiting for this bright prophecy to be realized. In our time, it is realized.
The Messiah, after all, has come. His teachings have spread around the globe, transforming uncounted billions of lives. He is present to us in the Sacraments, and most especially so in the Eucharist. Grace abounds in our lives, through the Sacraments, through prayers and devotions, through the ministries, apostolates and countless good works of the Church, through magisterial teaching, through the array of possibilities to receive blessings from our faith, from the intercession of the saints to the blessing of a car.
Some of the most powerful of these blessings come to us through our own grace-guided efforts. That is, we are invited by God to enter into the work of redemption. That is what the passage from the First Letter to the Corinthians is all about. Paul lists gifts of the Spirit, granted to the Christian community, both individually and corporately, and assures the disciples at Corinth that this wide variety of gifts, bestowed upon us for the building up of the community and for the benefit of the world, all the same brings graces to the grace-bearers. That is, when we engage in the ministries and apostolates of the faith, we ourselves receive graces in abundance, as St. John puts it, "For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace" (John 1:16).
In writing to the Corinthians, Paul exemplifies the fulfillment of the prophecies of Psalm 96, that all the nations will come to joyfully recognize that the God of the Jews IS God. The Corinthians, after all, were not Jewish. They were Gentiles; Greeks, to be precise. "Sing to the Lord a new song," the psalm exhorts, "sing to the Lord all the earth...Tell his glory among the nations, among all peoples, his marvelous deeds" (vss. 1, 3).
The psalm's emphasis on the joy of the Gentiles in their encounter with the true God underscores our reality today, when the Christian faith is found in every nation on earth. "Give to the Lord, you families of nations," Psalm 96 continues, "give to the Lord glory and might...Bring gifts and enter his courts...declare among the nations: The Lord is king" (vss. 7-10).
Finally, the passage from John is a pure and unalloyed example of what can happen when we trust in the abundant love of God for us -- even in a little thing, which we might be tempted to argue, wine at a wedding is. I mean, for this, to save a family from embarrassment at a wedding feast, Jesus is going to risk "outing" himself as the Messiah?
Number one, yes, the Lord cares even about the little things (and I realize it is arguable whether the host family running out of wine at a several-day-long wedding feast in first century Israel might, in fact, be something other than a little thing). Number two, and this is an important take-away from the passage: Jesus does as his mother asks.
"Woman," Jesus asks his mother, upon her request, "how does your concern affect me? My time has not yet come" (vs. 4).
What is verse 5? "His mother said to the servers, 'Do whatever he tells you.'" That is, Mary did not even bother to reply to Jesus' protest. She simply told the servers to obey him, and walked away, knowing the problem was resolved.
On the twin subjects of little things and Mary's intercession, I am reminded of a frequently repeated prayer by a priest friend of mine, a man who earned a Roman doctorate and a law degree from Boalt Hall (UC Berkeley): Hail Mary, full of grace, help me find a parking space.
I have seen this prayer answered and answered rapidly on more than one occasion. As I say, grace abounds.
I am going to wrap with an example from my own experience, just this past week. On Saturday morning, our new pastor, Father Jesus, asked if I could cover for him at confessions that afternoon. But for the Vigil Mass at five, I actually had last Saturday free, so of course I said yes. I love hearing confessions regardless and am sure I'd have experienced my usual sense of joyful satisfaction in spending ninety minutes with our people here in Hayward, in the confessional.
It happened, however, that an eighteen year old -- I am going to call him Jose because that is NOT his name -- a recent graduate of Arroyo and currently studying at CSU East Bay, came to confession Saturday afternoon. He is a member of a different Hayward parish; he came to St. Clement in part because he does not know the priests here. (I know how that goes! I used to priest-shop, myself, as a young penitent.)
Anyway, as sometimes happens in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Jose and I got talking. I evidently made a very favorable impression on him. He went from a little nervous at the start to relaxed and easy; himself. He told me he had never had such an open and breezy conversation with a priest before, and said he hoped he could see me again; we exchanged cell numbers. The next day, as he was leaving Mass in his parish, he thought of me and texted, thanking me again for the time in confession and reassuring me that he hopes to be able to seek me out for advice, now and again. I told him he knew where to reach me.
It goes without saying that this connection would not have happened had I resisted the invitation to grace, Saturday morning; had I said to myself, "Man! Just when I have practically a whole day free!" and told Fr. Jesus "Sorry, bro, can't cover confessions for you." Our openness to the movement of grace in our lives does not just benefit others. It benefits us. And that happy reality lies at the heart of today's readings.
Well, if you are still with me...and speaking of openness to God's abundance. In a week where even Florida was being hit with freezing temperatures, I noticed Wednesday morning, driving in to campus, several trees along Mission Boulevard in full and bright white bloom -- I am not sure which species this early-bloomer is, but we have a row of them along 98th at the high school as well. Though, of course, plenty of flowers bloom all winter here, it is the blossoms in the trees that, to me, herald the coming of spring.
Not that I am typically in any hurry to exit late winter: My birthday is in late winter. Late winter is actually one of my favorite times of the year. But it is so in part precisely because this white-flowering tree is already sometimes in bloom at New Year's, and the acacias are not far behind.
I realize that plenty of folks LIKE snow. I have no use for it, am glad the only places we ever get it in the East Bay are the upper slopes of Mount Diablo, and driving in to work Wednesday morning and catching sight of those trees in full blossom along Mission, and realizing that two thirds of the nation was in the icy grip of the Polar Vortex, I -- gave joyful praise and glory to God for being Californian, acknowledging and receiving the many graces attendant on that happy fact. As today's readings insist, grace abounds.
That'll wrap it for this one. Hope your new year is off to a grace-filled start. Keeping Los Angeles in prayer.
Love,
El Padre