The Sacredness of Meals: The Second Sunday of Ordinary Time 2025

                                          The Sacredness of Meals:

The Second Sunday of Ordinary Time 2025 

January 19, 2025

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

 

As we are early into Ordinary Time, we are reminded that the first miracle of Jesus is set in Cana at Galilee during a wedding feast. The obvious focus is on the water turned into wine as the first action of Jesus that reveals God’s glory. The miracles in the Fourth Gospel are set during the agricultural festivals of the Jews – the Sabbath, Booths, the Dedication, and Passover. This is not one of those great communal feasts. It is, however, the most intimate, most cherished celebration within family and communal life because it is a time of joy and promise. It is the most opportune time and place for God’s glory to be revealed.

 

God’s glory is revealed at gatherings with bounteous food and drink, which ought to make us think about the importance of eating together. We eat with people we like. When I read reports on the increasing levels of loneliness and disconnectedness, it seems like a solution is to eat together more often. It binds us together more closely and we spend some time learning about the other person. It can be a time of discovery, which is the reason we invite people to dinners or go on dates. We learn something more about the person, and we can only revel in the person’s goodness and rejoice in the promise of a future meaningful relationship. 

 

We cannot eat with people with whom we are angry or dislike. Think about the social trauma a child faced when no one sat with him in the school cafeteria. The child felt cut off from the larger community and was left wondering about one’s identity or the ability to fit into wider social norms. Likewise, we do not permit ourselves to speak politics at dinner because of the disruption it causes. Many people walked away from the family dinner table because they could not be around someone who violated the common trust. Wedding feasts served a unitive function. It joined two families together, and in the old days, the meal was one of trust. If the families could bring themselves to eat together and commit to each other, the families enjoyed good fortune. 

 

We need to see the importance of these meal gatherings. They are opportunities to help people feel connected and accepted. It is mission territory, and it takes intentionality, but the effect is immediate and obvious. We build community trust when we invite people over for dinner. We build family bonds when the household comes together for a celebration. We give each other the gifts of time and presence. We show people that we are there for them and that we care for their well-being. 

 

Mostly, it is a moment of joy, and I think that is what these readings are trying to capture. We can live in joy, and God wants to extend that joy as much as possible. God wants to be present to us in these joyful moments when loved ones come together and express the hope of a future relationship. God wants to see us joyful. God wants to see us come together in union and communion. What better way than to reveal God’s presence than at a meal. 

 

Yes, the water turned to wine was God’s glory hidden in plain sight. Everyone was to know that God visited this community, and the best wine was served last. The best is yet to come, and we are reminded of the importance of dining together, enjoying friendships, having fun in daily life, and appreciating the community that we have around us. Our feasts, just like the meal at Cana, is elevated in God’s eyes to a sacred meal because this is where God’s glory is revealed.

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (Hebrews 5) Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people.

 

Tuesday: (Hebrews 6) When God made the promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, and said, I will indeed bless you and multiply you. And so, after patient waiting, Abraham obtained the promise.

 

Wednesday: (Hebrews 7) Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings and blessed him. And Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything. His name first means righteous king, and he was also "king of Salem," that is, king of peace.

 

Thursday: (Hebrews 7) Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them.

Friday (Hebrews 8) When he speaks of a “new” covenant, he declares the first one obsolete. And what has become obsolete and has grown old is close to disappearing.

 

Saturday (Acts 22) Paul addressed the people in these words: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city. At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral law and was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.

 

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) As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath,
his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”

 

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) Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. 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 16) Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.

 

Saints of the Week

 

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.

 

January 23: Marianne Cope (1838-1918), was a German-born woman who settled with her family in New York. She entered the Franciscans and worked in the school systems as a teacher and principal and she helped to establish the first two Catholic hospitals. She went to Honolulu, then Molokai, to aid those with leprosy.

 

January 24: Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor (1567-1622), practiced both civil and canon law before entering religious life. He became bishop of Geneva in 1602 and was prominent in the Catholic Reformation. He reorganized his diocese, set up a seminary, overhauled religious education, and found several schools. With Jane Frances de Chantal, he founded the Order of the Visitation of Mary.

 

January 25: The Conversion of Paul, the Apostle, was a pivotal point in the life of the early church. Scripture contains three accounts of his call and the change of behavior and attitudes that followed. Paul's story is worth knowing as it took him 14 years of prayer and study to find meaning in what happened to him on the road to Damascus.

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• 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 Jansenists. 
• 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. 
• January 23, 1789. John Carroll gained the deed of land for the site that was to become Georgetown University. 
• January 24, 1645. Fr. Henry Morse was led as a prisoner from Durham to Newgate, London. On hearing his execution was fixed for February 1, he exclaimed: "Welcome ropes, hurdles, gibbets, knives, butchery of an infamous death! Welcome for the love of Jesus, my Savior." 
• January 25, 1707. Cardinal Tournon, Apostolic Visitor of the missions in China, forbade the use of the words 'Tien' or 'Xant' for God and ordered the discontinuance by the Christians of the Chinese Rites.