2) THE WEDDING FEAST AT CANA

What were the weddings you remember?

And Jesus was invited with his disciples to a wedding feast in the city of Cana, in Galilee. And the mother of Jesus was there.

Weddings are moments of new life. Weddings challenge the couple getting married to make great vows to each other – and to keep them till death do they part.

Weddings also trigger a cascade of marriage thoughts and memories in the minds and hearts and tears of those attending the wedding.

Wedding invitations get us to look at our calendars and our schedules. The couple who sent us an invitation hope we will say, “Yes we’ll be there.”

Weddings are moments of music and dance, prayers and hopes, food and drink, toasts and blessings.

Weddings bring about not only the marriage of a man and a woman, but also the marriage of families and traditions, stories and dreams.

And Jesus went to a wedding at Cana. His disciples went with him – as well as his mother. It must have been some celebration because they ran out of wine. Mary, a Jewish mother, stepped in and did what she did best. She asked her son, Jesus, to help. He said, “It wasn’t his time, yet.” Mary, knowing her son, said to the waiters, “Do whatever he tells you.” And Jesus did something. He gave this couple and every married couple – the possibility of the never ending wine of love – a never ending celebration of life – a never ending marriage of helping one another.

The Gospel of John tells us, “This was the first of the signs given by Jesus. It happened at Cana in Galilee. He let his glory be seen and his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11)

A wedding is only a beginning. Hopefully, for the Christian, if it begins with Jesus, hopefully it will continue with Jesus. If it does the couple will see many more signs of life.
In time, the ordinary will become extraordinary. Couples see this with the birth of a child, especially the first child, graduations, weddings, anniversaries, and family celebrations.

In time, water can become bread and wine. The rain, the sun, the earth, bring forth grapes on the vine and wheat in our fields. They come to our table as bread and wine – and then they become us – the body and blood of each other around the table.

All is connected. All is covenant. All is Eucharist. All is the great wedding banquet of life – that started at Cana – that started at creation – that continues with the daily mass of life.

Jesus is waiting to be invited into the marriage of your life.

3) THE PROCLAMATION 
OF THE KINGDOM

“Thy Kingdom come.”

When you say the Our Father, what comes to mind when you say, “Thy Kingdom come.”

People dream of making it in this life – to finally come into their kingdom: a kingdom of good health, a good education, a good job, a good car, a home of their own, a good backyard with a tree, a swing, and some tomato plants, money in the bank, a good vacation every year, a family enjoying life and food around the dinner table, seeing their children’s children at least to the fifth generation – and everyone doing well.

Everyone has dreams.

It’s their magical kingdom in the deep woods of their mind.

May our dreams come true.

Thy Kingdom come.

Jesus came with dreams from the Father.

Thy Kingdom come.

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Blessed are the peacemakers.

Blessed are you who cry – because that means you’ve tasted what makes you laugh.

Blessed are you who laugh, because that means you can see both sides of the kingdom – what’s right and what’s wrong; what’s fair and what’s unfair; what’s rich and what’s poor; what’s enough and what’s not enough; what divides and what unites.

Blessed are you who are willing to be hurt and laughed at because you’re willing to work for justice, for fairness, for what is right for all.

Blessed are you who have a glimpse of what Jesus was trying to plant and to start growing: the kingdom.
Thy kingdom come.

Make your way through towns and villages living and preaching and proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

Go into the whole world and live and proclaim the Kingdom of God….

Proclaim Good News – the good news of forgiveness, peace, trust, enough food and drink, bread and fish, bread and wine for all.

Proclaim the call to conversion, newness of life, healing, walking the narrow way to the mansion built on rock, with the new garden, the kingdom of heaven – starting here and now and going on forever and ever and ever.

The Kingdom of God is within.

The Kingdom of God is at hand.

The Kingdom of God is like yeast or leaven ….
The Kingdom of God is like a banquet ….

Blessed is he or she who eats bread in the Kingdom of God.

Watch the flowers of the field, the wheat rising, the grapes growing and glistening, the lost sheep being found and you’ll see glimpses of the Kingdom.

Stop judging. Stop throwing rocks. Start forgiving and you’ll be a glimpse of the kingdom.

Watch children and you’ll get glimpses of the Kingdom.

The Kingdom of God belongs to such as these

Come with me and proclaim the kingdom of God.

Blessed is he and she and all who eat bread in the kingdom of God (Luke 14:15)

The kingdom of heaven is like a woman who has ten coins and losing one, lights a lamp and sweeps our her house completely till she has found it. And then when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says, “Rejoice with me. I have found my lost coin.”

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone finds, hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything she or he has and then buys the field.

The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.

The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea that brings in a haul of all kinds. When it is full, the fisherman haul it ashore, then sitting down, they collect the good stuff in a basket and throw away what is of no use.

The kingdom of heaven is like a sharp person who can bring out of their storeroom both the new and the old.

No one can enter into God’s kingdom without being born again from above…. though water and the Spirit …..

Jesus is the king of this kingdom.

Jesus is a king who feeds folks and washes feet.

Jesus is a king who walks the roads of everywhere and once rode a donkey into Jerusalem.

Jesus is a king who has no home or palace – a king who wore a crown only once – at the end of his life and it was made not of gold, but of thorns.

Yet Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Come let us adore him.

Come with him and proclaim the kingdom.

Thy kingdom come.

Jesus makes the Kingdom possible.

4) THE TRANSFIGURATION

Looking at the story of your life, when did you experience “Transfiguration Moments” when someone or some place or something or God was seen in a totally new light?

Too many times as we speed down the highway of life we don’t stop when we see the sign, “Scenic overview.”

Too many people have never climbed a mountain. As a result they don’t appreciate life in the valley as much as they could – if they “have been to the mountain.”

Few people climb Mount Everest – but lots of people climb smaller mountains as part of the story of their life.

Good shoes, good guides, good friends, good food, make climbing a mountain that much easier.

From the top of a mountain, “On a clear day, you can almost see forever”.

It’s important to climb mountains – to go to the peak and stop and see one’s life – to look up to the sky and know that God is above us and that we are not God – to look down and see where we’ve come from – and to know we can’t stay on top forever.

But it’s good to have been there – on top for a while.

Mountains are for peak experiences; valleys are for everyday life.

Jesus knew the importance of going to the mountain – to be with his Father in prayer and vision.

Jesus knew the importance of taking time off to climb a mountain with close friends.

And on that mountain Jesus was transfigured – in bright white light – and his clothes became whiter than any bleacher could bleach them – and his disciples were mesmerized and transformed by that vision –and they heard again the voice from the clouds that Jesus heard at his baptism. “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”

On her wedding day, a bride comes down the aisle all dressed in white and her about-to-be husband wasn’t allowed to see her transfigured this way as a queen till that moment – and he sees her in the light of that moment on the most beautiful day of her life – and he vows to honor her and cherish her all the days of their life together. And then they come down the aisle and down from their honeymoon together and hopefully the wedding vision of his beloved never fades.

In the baseball movie, The Natural, Roy Hobbs is in the middle of a batting slump. He’s in the middle of going the wrong way with the wrong woman in his life. It’s a road game. He’s not at home. He stops before coming to home plate. He senses something is different. Someone is high in the stands rooting for him. She’s standing up while everyone else is seated. It’s a woman in white – in a bright white dress - the right woman in his life – the woman he forgot when left home for a baseball career. And everything went wrong when he went to see the woman in the black dress who shot him. And he hits a home run and breaks out of his batting slump. And after the game he meets the woman in white – his childhood sweetheart – and they talk and he tells her everything that happened to him – how things went wrong and how he didn’t see it coming – and everything slowly starts turning for the better.

In the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. he loved to preach, “I’ve been to the mountain.” He had been. And once you’ve been there, once you have your life’s vision, all other visions are blackened and blocked out in the light of that vision – that life calling – and you can go on, no matter what happens – no matter who tries to shoot you down.

Transfiguration moments are mountain moments in our life. We need them. We need vacations and weekends: when we can stop to see the dawn in the morning or the stars at night – when we can slow down and smell the roses – when we play catch or read with one of the kids – when we be in church and be in communion and in prayer with Jesus and hear the words of the Father, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”

Jesus invites everyone as a personal friend to climb the mountain.

5) JESUS GIVES US

THE EUCHARIST

What were the great Masses you were at?

We all eat.

We all need food to survive.

We all need to enjoy meals together to thrive.

It’s not good to eat alone.

We long for union.

We need communion.

We need to sit down together at the family table.

We all need signs of peace.

We need to be held.

Babies die if they are not held and hugged.

Marriages die if there isn’t love.

People become strange if they are not in relationships.

As the first book of the Bible, Genesis, puts it, “It’s not good to be alone.”

Hell is cold.

Hunger is hell.

We starve to death, if we don’t eat.

It’s heaven, when we enjoy a good meal together.

It’s hell, when we are stuck at a table with someone we don’t like.

When we don’t like each other, we don’t like to eat with each other.

Weddings have separate tables.

Marriages that are breaking up have separate beds.

Okay, sometimes it’s because the other snores – or is on a different time schedule – or one wants the window open and the other wants it close. Not everyone likes it hot.

When we celebrate, we celebrate with food. We can’t picture a picnic, a tailgate party, a 50th anniversary, a funeral, without food.

We can’t picture a wedding without the wedding cake and the best man making a toast holding a glass of champagne.

The Israelites celebrated the Passover with unleavened bread and the 4 glasses of wine.

Jesus celebrated his last free night with his disciples at a meal. He said some great things at his Last Supper. “Love one another.” “Wash each other’s feet.” “Greater love than this no one has than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

At that meal he took bread and wine and said, “This is my body. I am giving it to you. Take and eat.” “This is my blood. I am pouring it out for you. Take and drink.”

And we have been doing this in memory of him ever since.

THE
SORROWFUL MYSTERIES

Life obviously has its sorrowful mysteries and its sorrowful moments. Everyone has to deal with them. We see these mysteries and moments of suffering in the life of Christ and in our life. We meditate on these moments when we pray the Rosary. Here are 5 we all go through:

1) Agonies in the Garden: those moments when we agonize over upcoming decisions. How and when do I tell the kids that we are being transferred? Doctors have to tell people about tests which indicate, “It looks like cancer.” A manager is called into the boss’ office and he is told he has to tell 12 workers they are being cut. A school principal has to make a decision about dismissing a kid – knowing it’s going to be a messy battle with the kid’s parents – but the kid has been warned about ongoing disciplinary problems for months.

2) The Beatings at the Pillar: those moments when we feel tied up and beaten down by life. We feel we are totally misunderstood and people are gossiping about us all over the neighborhood or in the work place. We don’t just have one health problem; we have four of them. The competition keeps beating us and we can’t seem to generate enough sales. Another store opens up across the street. Our kids keep comparing us to parents who are “much more understanding”. Our spouse doesn’t side with us in our attempts to discipline one of our kids.

3) The Crowning with Thorns: those moments when we have a splitting headache because we can’t manage our time or our money or our lives. It’s just not a good time right now – and we can’t escape the crush of life. The phone keeps ringing and we can’t seem to hide.

4) The Carrying of the Cross: those moments in life when a cross is placed on our shoulder. A parent or parents can’t take care of themselves any more. A child gets hooked on alcohol or drugs. We lose a job.

5) The Death on the Cross: those moments in life when we have to face our own death or the death of a loved one.

1) AGONY IN THE GARDEN

When have you experience an agony in the garden?

It’s important to have places where we can hide: gardens, backyards, parks, churches, cellars, backrooms, bathrooms, inner rooms.

It’s important to have places where we can cry.

It’s a blessing to have our own garden – a place where we can grow green things – and red things – zucchini and tomatoes – tulips and roses – a place where we can cut and snip, weed and plant – a place where we can get away from it all – a place where what we are doing outwardly, is happening inwardly – cutting and snipping, weeding and planting – in the secret garden of our soul.

Rev. Robert Tristen Coffin was once asked if he enjoyed being a minister. He thought for a moment and then said something like, “I love it. Being a minister is an amazing life – especially when someone invites you into the secret garden of their soul and they tell you who they really are.”

And if we could enter into the secret garden of another, wouldn’t we see both a garden of delights as well as a garden of sorrows?

For many, the agonies in life stand out like broken branches on the grass after a storm. Family stories might sound like a novel, but they are not novel. Every family has rejections, crushing comments, broken vows, people who walked away from us, failures, alcoholism and drug addiction, loss of a job, or kids who don’t seem to care.

Jesus often felt the need to escape. He loved to slip away in the night to enter into the dark garden of God – and discover that God is a never ending garden of Delight.

On the night before he died, Jesus walked into a garden to pray. He needed space. He needed strength. He needed friends. So he asked his closest friends – the ones he climbed the mount of the transfiguration with – to stay awake and pray with him. And he prayed and cried and they slept.

And all alone, feeling rejected by both God and friends, he cried out, “Father, if it is possible take this cup of suffering away from me, but not my will, but your will be done.”

We too, whenever we feel like we’re stuck, need to escape to a garden – and when life feels like we’re in a garden of agony, if we look around, Jesus is there too – and he’s not sleeping.

2) SCOURGING

AT THE PILLAR

When have you experienced the second sorrowful mystery of life: the scourging at the pillar?

Sometimes you just can’t win.

The scourge of selfishness slaps us in the face and we’re sick and tired of turning the other cheek.

We do the work and someone else gets the credit – especially the person who sits around doing nothing.

Who said, “Life is fair?”

Sometimes we feel beat – beaten down by the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” as Shakespeare calls them in his powerful play, “Hamlet.”

Others seem to have all the luck.

Then to make things worse, others make comments like, “Stop feeling sorry for yourself!” or “Stop playing the victim game!” or “You’re a whiner instead of being a winner.” And you say inwardly, “Give me a break and just accept me as I am. Don’t you realize, I’m feeling down right now?”

And then there is the caustic remark or racial slur that slices our spirit in two.

A job turns out to be totally what we didn’t expect it to be and we’re stuck in it because we need a job and money is really tight.

The relatives have it all wrong. They judged us unfairly. They don’t have a clue to why we did what we did. And the words that sting keep coming and keep stinging for years now.

Rock throwers are still throwing rocks.

Motive guessers are still guessing without asking.

People are criticized when they work too hard or when they don’t work enough. They hear comments like, “Slow down. You’re making us look bad.” Or “Hurry up. You’re not pulling your load!”

People make comments about a woman if she is too good looking or if she isn’t good looking enough.

Where do we go when we’re experiencing whip lash from crashes and clashes with others?

The scriptures give us some of Jesus’ words in the garden and on the cross, but what was going through his mind as the soldiers tortured his body with whips?

We don’t know. However, we get glimpses of human pain and how people feel beaten down in Alcoholic Anonymous and Alananon meetings, Self Help groups, counseling sessions, or really listening to a friend who is hurting.

If we’re wise, we’ll connect with each other – especially when we’re hurting or beat.

Who needs my ear?

Who listens to me?

Whom have I told my story to?