Second Sunday in Ordinary Time January 16, 2022

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

January 16, 2022

www.johnpredmoresj.com | predmore.blogspot.com

predmoresj@yahoo.com | 617.510.9673

Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 96; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; John 2:1-11

 

          As we return to the public life of Jesus, the wedding feast at Cana is the first manifestation of God in the Fourth Gospel. It focuses on a glimpse of God’s glory being made visible during the celebration of a young married couple within the village. It is a demonstration of God’s abiding presence during our ordinary life events in which a person’s dignity is protected and assured.

 

          The story reminds me that we should not often settle for what is adequate; we can do better. It really doesn’t take that much more effort to make something that is good just a little better. If I’m taking a picture with my camera, I don’t want a good image; I want a better one. If someone is cooking a quality meal, then it makes a difference to go the extra step and add a nice garnish that shows the amount of thought and work you put into your preparation. We can do that with so many activities. We can finish it off well and put our signature on our work. It makes a difference. In the olden days, when a Jesuit-educated student finished his work, he would stamp it with AMDG – for the Greater Glory of God – to communicate to his teacher that he did a good job with his assignment.

 

          I’m also reminded of the number of people who urge us to do better, to encourage us to step beyond what we may think are our limits. The mother of Jesus pushed him to step out and begin his ministry. We may need that push, that inspiration, to do something just a little differently this year. While COVID has put a stoppage on our prior way of being church, perhaps this is the push for us to do something differently so that church adapts to our needs and particular circumstances. We can use this time as an opportunity to evaluate how we as church can relate to one another. Perhaps, it is the Holy Spirit giving us the needed nudge to make God manifest to the world in our lives in a new way. 

 

          For so many people, life happens to them, and they are passive actors in a play, and they are shaped by life’s circumstances, and yet, we retain the power to choose. We can choose how we will make this new year more personally meaningful to us, to fulfill it by doing something we might not have entertained before. We might be like the wedding guests at Cana, surprised by the rich bounty that comes their way, delighted with the overflowing goodness, and struck by the copious amount of support we have from God and from others encouraging us on, urging us to do the magis, the more. St. Paul tells us the Spirit will surprise us in the way we are to use our many gifts; Isaiah tells us God will be at our side rejoicing in delight. We then ask: What have we to lose?

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

Monday: (1 Samuel 15) Samuel said to Saul: “Stop! Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” Saul replied, “Speak!” Samuel then said: “Though little in your own esteem, are you not leader of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king of Israel and sent you on a mission.

 

Tuesday: (1 Samuel 16) I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have chosen my king from among his sons.” But Samuel replied: “How can I go? Saul will hear of it and kill me.”

 

Wednesday: (1 Samuel 17) “The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will also keep me safe from the clutches of this Philistine.” Saul answered David, “Go! the LORD will be with you.”

 

Thursday: (1 Samuel 18) Saul was very angry and resentful of the song, for he thought: “They give David ten thousands, but only thousands to me. All that remains for him is the kingship.” And from that day on, Saul was jealous of David.

 

Friday (1 Samuel 24) Saul took three thousand picked men from all Israel and went in search of David and his men in the direction of the wild goat crags. When he came to the sheepfolds along the way, he found a cave, which he entered to relieve himself.

 

Saturday (2 Samuel 1) On the third day a man came from Saul’s camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. Going to David, he fell to the ground in homage.
David asked him, “Where do you come from?” He replied, “I have escaped from the camp of the children of Israel.”

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Mark 2) The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to Jesus and objected, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,  but your disciples do not fast?”

 

Tuesday: (Mark 2) At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? 

 

Wednesday (Mark 3) Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. They watched Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him.

 

Thursday (Mark 3) A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea. Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.

 

Friday (Mark 3) Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. He appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles,
that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.

 

Saturday (Mark 3) Jesus came with his disciples into the house. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”  

 

Saints of the Week

 

January 17: Anthony, Abbot (251-356), was a wealthy Egyptian who gave away his inheritance to become a hermit. Many people sought him out for his holiness and asceticism. After many years in solitude, he formed the first Christian monastic community. Since he was revered, he went to Alexandria to encourage the persecuted Christians. He met Athanasius and helped him fight Arianism.

 

January 20: Fabian, pope and martyr (d. 250), was a layman and stranger in Rome during the time of his election as pope. A dove settled on his head, which reminded people of the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove during the baptism. He served for 14 years until his martyrdom.

 

January 20: Sebastian, martyr (d. 300), was buried in the catacombs in Rome. He hailed from Milan and is often pictured with many arrows piercing his body. Much of what we know about him is legend.

 

January 21: Agnes, martyr (d. 305), is one of the early Roman martyrs. Little is known about her but she died around age 12 during a persecution. Because of her names connection with a lamb, her iconography depicts her holding a lamb to remind us of her sacrifice and innocence.

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• January 16, 1656. At Meliapore, the death of Fr. Robert de Nobili, nephew of Cardinal Bellarmine. Sent to the Madura mission, he learned to speak three languages and for 45 years labored among the high caste Brahmins. 
• January 17, 1890. Benedict Sestini died. He was an astronomer, editor, architect, mathematician, and teacher at Woodstock College. 
• January 18, 1615. The French Jesuits began a mission in Danang, Vietnam. 
• January 19, 1561. In South Africa, the baptism of the powerful King of Monomotapa, the king's mother, and 300 chiefs by Fr. Goncalvo de Silveira. 
• January 20, 1703. At Paris, the death of Fr. Francis de la Chaise, confessor to Louis XIV and a protector of the French Church against the Januarysenists. 
• January 21, 1764. Christophe de Beaumont, Archbishop of Paris, wrote a pastoral defending the Jesuits against the attacks of Parliament. It was ordered to be burned by the public executioner. 
• January 22, 1561. Pius IV abrogated the decree of Paul II and kept the life term of Father General.