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(19th Jan 2025) Homily for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

READ: (Isa 62: 1-5; 1Cor 12:4-11; Jn 2: 1-11)

REFLECT: Take delight in God and in his gifts, God will take delight in us…

My dear friends, we are in the second Sunday in ordinary Time. We take delight in quite a lot of things in life. We take delight in things which we wish or desire or like, because our heart takes delight in what we like. Basically, every heart desires to take delight in God, because God is our creator. It is due to our human weakness and human limitations; we fail to take delight in God and his ways. To delight in the Lord would mean that we enjoy and find fulfillment in him, because all that we own are His. Perhaps, we must value or take delight in God’s gift of life. God has given gifts and graces to life and what we give through our life to God is our gift. That’s focus of the liturgy of the word to take delight in God and his ways, where God takes delight in us always. So based on the liturgy of the word, I would like to share with you three points of reflection;

1.      Take Delight in God:

Taking delight in God would mean that we find joy, satisfaction, and fulfilment in His presence, love, and goodness. It involves a deep, personal relationship with Him, rejoicing in who He is, and trusting in His promises. When we take delight in God, we would love his presence, rest in his presence, rejoice in his presence, celebrate his goodness, align our with God’s will and we would always remain grateful and trust in him more fully and deeply. Perhaps, our delight in God is our close union with God and in his works. That’s what we would find in the first reading from Prophet Isaiah, where it exhorts us to take delight in God.

The first reading from prophet Isaiah spells out to us an insight of hope and restoration. It manifests to us how God fulfills his covenant to his people by assuring of his presence and committing himself to safe-guard his people from all harm and danger by bringing them to justice and salvation. That is what we find in the opening verses of the First reading from Prophet Isaiah, “For Zion’s sake I will not be silent and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her salvation like a burning torch.” It reminds how God does not forget his people, although they sin against God and go away from them.

The Lord is ready to crown them; the Lord assures them that he would not forsake or desolate and pours out his love over the people saying that His delight is in her (God’s people). The imagery of marriage between God and his people symbolizes God’s covenantal, continuous, constant, and committed relationship with the people of Israel. It is a restoration of his people to be united with God. It is a time of hope in despair and desolation; it is a time to rejoice in the covenant renewal; it is a time of delight as God chooses his people as his own delight and joy.

As Pope Francis reminds us in his General Audience dated on February 3, 2016: “The Lord never tires of showing us His love and inviting us to start anew.” Yes, this is a moment of grace and renewal, where despair gives way to hope, and sorrow turns into joy. It is a time to celebrate that God’s heart longs for His people. It is this unconditional love that transforms us, restores us back to God and makes him to find delight in us. Today, we all of us have been driven away from God, because our delight is not in God rather the world and all its views and ways. When we delight in the ways and means of the world, we would not be able to find delight in God. It is like, we cannot serve two masters, God and money or God and the world. Today, we need to take heart that when we delight in God, God takes delight in us and he never abandons his people, because he loves us without any limit and he loves us always. So let us take delight in God rather than the world and its ways and means.

2.      Take delight in God’s gifts:

Taking delight in God’s gifts would mean that we recognize, appreciate and find joy in the blessings and graces that God has lavishly and lovingly bestowed on us. Many are the gifts and blessings that God has bestowed on us and we need to take delight in God’s gifts, because it comes from God’s merciful love and faithfulness. Taking delight in God’s gift would also mean that we accept all that we have is from God and we give our due acknowledgment to God for all he has given us. We could perhaps take into consideration our very own lives, the relationships we hole to each other, the talents in us, the nature with whom we accompany, the faith that we profess daily and even the trials and hardship that we endure or go through are generous gifts from God our creator. That’s what we find in the second reading from St. Paul’s letter to Corinthians.

The second reading from St. Paul’s letter to Corinthians gives importance to the variety of Spiritual gifts that we have received in and through the Holy Spirit. It only sets a platform to understand that although we have many gifts and talents, all come from God, the one source, from whom we receive grace upon grace to build his kingdom on earth as one church and as one family. That’s what we hear in the reading too, “different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same spirit; different forms of service but the same Lord; different workings but the same God. Yet, all these are distributed individually to each person as he wishes by one and the same spirit.”

Yes, the gift of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, prophecy, discernment of spirits, variety of tongues, interpretation of tongues all come from the one and same spirit. But all these different gifts are to be used for the one common good, that is, for the greater glory of God. It is not for personal benefit or personal glory that the gifts of God to be used. When we use it for one’s own needs to glorify, it is there we misuse the gifts that God has given to us; it is there we hamper the growth of God’s spirit in us; it is there that we fail to realize the gifts of God to be used for larger benefits and greater glory of God; it is there we don’t respond to the promptings and workings of the Holy Spirit or the spirit of God.

Today, we need to do is to realize the rich diversity of gifts that the community, church, and the individuals have. We need to use them for God’s glory. Most of us have failed to acknowledge first, the gifts that we have are from God. Secondly, we do not use the gifts of God given to us or invested in us. It lies dormant in us or we take vain glory in it, which is not ours at all. Pope Francis has very powerfully mentioned in his Homily dated on April 18, 2013, “Our life is a gift, and it is up to us to make it a gift for others.” Yes, our life is a gift from God and all that we have are gifts of God. We need to rejoice in it and we need to glorify God through these gifts. St. Paul realized in his life that all he had were God’s gifts and so surrendered totally to God. Similarly, he exhorted the Corinthian community to accept the gifts of God and use it for God’s glory and honour. Today, it is our turn too to accept life as God’s gift and give that gift selflessly for God’s work. The reason why we all fail in life is because we consider the gifts that we own are our merit or that we have obtained it on our own. Such an erroneous knowledge and failing to accept God’s gift to us is blocking the blessings from above. Let us understand that taking delight in God’s gifts mean that we accept, respect and use them all for the greater glory of God. May God help us to take delight in God’s gifts and graces.

3.      God takes delight in us:

We all know the difference between we taking delight in God and God taking delight in us. We take delight in God would mean that we find joy and happiness in God’s ways, whereas God taking delight in us would mean that God finds joy and satisfaction in us, because we do what is pleasing to God. It manifests God’s love, affection and care for each of us as His creatures. It also proves that God takes delight in our growth and God helps us to grow in the fuller stature of perfection. We could call this delight of God for us an abundance of love over us. I find the episode of “Wedding at Cana” as one such passage that reveals God’s delight in his people, the outpouring of God’s love for his people.

We all know the famous episode “wedding at Cana.” This is the gospel passage for our reflection today. This is one of the first miracle of Jesus, before he could begin his public ministry. In this episode we find the role of Mary as an intercessor, the role of Jesus as redeemer. Jesus manifests his divine identity and his mission to bring about God’s kingdom. Jesus’ miracle has become an inspiration to the disciple to instill in God their faith deeper and stronger, people have now understood Jesus’ identity as divine Son of God. This first miracle anchors the faith of disciples and people in Jesus.

The context of marriage or wedding at Cana is a reminder of the covenantal relationship that God has with us his people. We have in the Old Testament as well how God uses the imagery of spouse to show intimate connection with his people. However, we do not have direct reference to marriage covenant as in Exodus, Hosea, and Jeremiah. But I personally feel this marriage is an allusion to intimate relationship with God. So, we need to be faithful to God in our relationship. Further, this episode of water truing to vine is a prefiguration of the Eucharist, where vine is turned to blood of Christ in every eucharist that we participate or celebrate. Thus the episode is a delight that brings in the wedding at Cana, an abundance of God’s love is poured in this episode of Wedding at Cana. On the one hand wedding ended peacefully and the first miracle of Jesus paved way for Jesus to glorify God through this miraculous turning to water into vine.

Pope Francis considers the episode of the wedding at Cana as the abundance of God’s love demonstrated through the first miracle at Cana. He says, “The wine Jesus provided was not just enough; it was abundant and of the best quality, symbolizing how God's love for us is abundant and overflowing. He adds that at the wedding in Cana, Jesus shows us that God's love is not a ‘bare minimum’ love but a generous, overflowing love that brings joy and fulfilment.” Yes, God always gives us generously and finds ways and means to delight in us. The episode of Wedding at Cana is purely the manifestation of God’s delight. God uses Mother Mary as an instrument to show forth God’s works and wonders, God’s love, and joy for his people, through the miracle of turning water into wine by Jesus. Although, Jesus says to Mother Mary, “My hour has not yet come” still he works performs miracles to manifest the glory of God to people and make the people take delight in God.  There was calmness and satisfaction among people, because wine was quite sufficient for people to quench as it remained lot. Secondly, the vine was tasty, better than the previous one. That’s why people even commented, “usually they give the best vine at first and you have kept till the end.”

Therefore, what we notice is that the entire scenario of the Wedding at Cana turned out to be joyful and a delightful experience people, because of the presence of Jesus and Jesus’ performance of a miracle, turning water into vine. Today, we need to allow God to be present in every life-activity we engage and give Jesus to touch and heal our life-situations, So that we could experience in life calmness and satisfaction. Today, we need to pray to feel the presence or Jesus always. Such practice would enable us to enjoy the eternal delight that God offers by his miraculous touch and presence. May God help us to be open to God’s power, God’s presence and God’s abundance love and mercy.

RESPOND:

Do we take delight in God and his works or we take delight in our own works?

Do we delight in God’s gifts in our lives or consider it as a burden or our own?

Do we allow God to take delight in us or we give chance to God not to take complete possession of us and avoid his blessings in abundance?

Let us take delight in God, in his gifts in order that God may take delight in us and make us his own. Amen.

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS