From The Bishop

During these difficult times for the Church, the Readings for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time offer some encouragement and hope. In the Gospel of St. John we see how, with Jesus, good can come out of a bad situation. Jesus and his mother Mary were invited to a wedding banquet and they run out of wine. This is not good and would be extremely embarrassing for the bride and groom and their families. With Mary’s encouragement, Jesus turns water into wine and makes a bad situation into something good. We see this in the fact that the guests are being served a better wine and the hosts are praised rather than criticized. The various issues that are plaguing the Church at this moment are very bad; however, the Lord can bring some light to this darkness. Positive changes can be made to bring some good out of this situation. As St. Paul states in his Letter to the Corinthians, there are many gifted people in the Church following the promptings of the Holy Spirit. These people bring about a great deal of good. What was true almost 2,000 years ago in Corinth, is also true today in the Universal Church. There are still prophetic voices, like Isaiah in the First Reading, that have not been muted. The truth shines from them “like a burning torch”. The Gospel also reminds us that Our Blessed Mother Mary is with the Church advocating for us just as she did for the bride and groom. With a mother’s love she wants what is best and knows that we have to learn to “Do whatever he tells you”. She will always lead us to her Son who can bring good out of a bad situation. As a Church we need to listen to the prophets, be open to the gifts and promptings of the Holy Spirit, invite Mary into the banquet of our hearts, and follow the example and teachings of Jesus. If we do this we will never lose hope, and things will change for the better.