2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2025 - Cana Epiphanies

 Two weeks ago, on the Feast of the Epiphany, the babe at Bethlehem was revealed to be the Son of God and savior of the world. What an epiphany: Jesus is revealed as God in the flesh come to earth to save and redeem all people of all nations of all time.

Last Week, we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord.  The voice of the Father proclaimed Jesus to be his beloved Son, with whom He is well pleased and the Holy Spirit in the bodily form of the dove was seen, revealing Jesus as Christ.  What an epiphany—Jesus is revealed as what…as the second person of the holy Trinity, beloved by the Father, anointed by the Spirit for the work of salvation.

Today, we heard in our Gospel another epiphany, a set of epiphanies, really! The Gospel of the wedding feast of Cana contains epiphanies about Jesus, epiphanies about his Blessed Mother, and it even reveals something about us and the response God wants from us all, of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

Firstly, what does the Gospel reveal about Jesus? At the Wedding at Cana, Jesus is revealed to be the divine bridegroom. And you might say, Jesus wasn’t getting married, how is he the Bridegroom. Well, at a Jewish wedding, it was the responsibility of the bridegroom to provide the wine. We can see this to be true, even in the text, for when the headwaiter tastes the wine, he immediately calls the bridegroom, assuming that he was the one who procured the vintage.

But, in this story, it was Jesus who provided the wine. By taking on the bridegroom’s responsibility to provide the wine, and doing so in a spectacular style, miraculously changing 120-180 gallons of water into the finest vintage, Jesus reveals himself as the Divine Bridegroom, who provides the wine of salvation for his bride, the Church.  

This epiphany was hinted at in our first reading. Isiah prophesied about how God himself would take us as his spouse: “As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.” 

In joining the Church to himself, through his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, Jesus Christ has united himself to humanity as Bridegroom to his Bride in a union of love.

And that Jesus revealed himself as a Bridegroom through a miracle of changing water into wine, is also significant. Wine, drunk at a wedding brings joy to the hearts of those who imbibe in it. So too, those who join the church, are able to rejoice at being united to God through Baptism, and most especially, receiving Holy Communion with God through the Sacrament of the Lord’s Body and Blood, the Eucharist.

What an epiphany! Jesus is the Bridegroom who unites himself to us, through Sacramental bonds, that we may live in joy. 

The second epiphany at the wedding at Cana is regarding Jesus’ mother, something that also gladdens our hearts. 

You can imagine how embarrassing it would be today if, at a wedding reception, the banquet hall ran out of food or beverage.  Even though most people would sympathize with the couple and blame the banquet facility, it would still be embarrassing. Well, in the ancient world, it would be incalculably more so, because the family threw the wedding party. If they ran out of supplies, especially with days to go for the duration of the wedding celebration, it would be an embarrassment that likely would never be forgotten.

Well, who noticed first that the family had run out of wine? Jesus’ mother. Mary noticed the impending catastrophe before anyone else, even the mother of the bride and even the wine steward.  Mary’s love made her notice details that others were missing.  To remedy the problem, she went to her son.  She didn’t twist his arm.  She simply said, “they have no wine!” confident that her Son would miraculously intervene even though his “hour” had not yet come.

What’s the epiphany? Mary is involved in the gritty details of our lives, and she is at work before we even know we have a problem. Our Lady is looking down on all of us right now with maternal love, bringing our needs to Christ, even the ones we are not aware of, the needs we might even be ashamed to acknowledge—praying that we may have the strength and patience and humility, to bear our crosses in union with Christ.  Mary brings our trials, our heartaches, our challenges, our vices and sins to God, so that we may obtain the wine of grace we need to endure and overcome them.

Mary’s role in the Church reveals something about God too. God has placed Mary in this role of heavenly helper and intercessor. God has chosen her and thereby God wants us to have a relationship with her, trusting Mary, entrusting ourselves to her, bringing our needs to her. God formed the Church as a family with the greatest mother in all existence. 

And there is the epiphany about us as well: God has formed us into a family, united us through Jesus in Word and Sacrament, having Mary as mother. And  we are joined with each other for a purpose.

In the second reading today, St. Paul reflects on the variety of spiritual gifts…gifts of healing, mighty deeds, prophecy, discernment, varieties of tongues. Gifts given to glorify God and spread the Gospel. All these gifts are given to help us serve God. But notice, St. Paul says that none of us have received all of these gifts. Meaning, we are to work together, using our unique gifts, to serve God. We aren’t meant to do it on our own. Perhaps, this season, you’d do well to consider how God is calling you to work together with a brother or sister in Christ, in service to God—that all people of all places may come to drink the wine of salvation.

While the extraordinary seasons of Advent and Christmas have come to an end, our Ordinary Time scripture readings help us to realize the extraordinary nature of being members of the church, being loved by God, joyfully gifted with a variety of blessings, and spiritual helpers, the blessed Mother, our patron saints, our guardian angels  for the work of the Gospel. 

When we are faithful to our mission— Epiphanies of Christ’s goodness and power and love are made known in us and through us, in how we treat people, in the people we serve, and forgive, and witness to, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023 - Winemaking and the art of goodness

About six years ago, I had a funeral for a long-time parishioner of St. Clare in Lyndhurst, one of my previous parish assignments. His name was Lenny Giuliani, and when I met with the family to plan the funeral, I learned that Lenny had been a winemaker. Making wine wasn’t his profession, but a hobby that he took very seriously; his family called him the “Einstein of Wines” because he was extremely scientific in perfecting his wines. His daughters brought me a few bottles of their father’s wine and suggested that I try them before the funeral. Not the morning of the funeral, of course. But they told me that their father loved constructive criticism, and they’d like to know my honest opinion at some point. 

So, a few days after the funeral, I opened his bottle of red, a blend of several different grapes noted on the label. And I’m no connoisseur, but I could tell that I was drinking something special, the culmination of a life’s work, a work of art. 

Maybe it’s because I’m half Italian, but I believe good food and good wine are works of art. And Lenny’s wine was certainly artfully made. He developed these wines, painstakingly, and shared the fruits of his labors with family and friends. And for that, the world was blessed. In this digital age, when we are tempted to spend our waking hours, are so-called “free time” in front of screens, we probably need to be a bit more like Lenny. To produce something, with our hands, with our minds, that can be given away to bring some joy in this increasingly joyless world. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop as proverbs says. And so a hobby, a craft, and, and art offered up to God can be a wonderful means of avoiding the near occasion of sin, and can bring something to the world.  For our readings focus on how we use our time, how we spend our life—how we use the time we’ve been given…to be a blessing to others…or not.

In today’s First Reading Isaiah explains how the Lord had prepared Israel to be a fine vineyard—that was supposed to yield the highest quality grapes. God had given Israel the Law, the Torah, he had delivered the Israelites out of the slavery of Egypt, and placed them in the promised Land, he had sent them prophets to help them be his holy people. And yet, what did they do with those blessings? what did they do to the prophets? 

Rather than yielding the lush, juicy grapes of faithfulness, justice and peace, Israel had produced wild sour grapes of infidelity, false worship, ignorance of the scriptures, and injustice toward the poor. And so Isaiah was voicing God’s displeasure to Israel, hoping they would repent, but also to help them understand the consequences of their infidelities. 

Shame on Israel, right? Well, how about us? Examining our own lives, do we find the good fruit of peace, justice, faithfulness, and joy, or the sour fruit of turbulence, selfishness, ignorance, and crankiness? Probably a bit of both, right? The Word of God challenges us to ensure we are doing everything in our power to yield good fruit. To trim back and uproot the rotten vines, lest they takeover our vineyards—our souls. 

Chronic crankiness, bitterness, and selfishness, are typically that we’ve not trimmed back the bad vines as we should—they are often signs of self-absorption rather than self-donation. And so they are indicators that there is more of our life that needs to be handed over to God, likely by devoting more time to prayer, fasting, spiritual reading, meditation on the scriptures, and engaging in the works of mercy. As soon as we detect them, we should be on the lookout for habits and attachments that we need to turn away from, because they do not give us spiritual life. To allow them to remain, is to reject God’s plan for us. 

The Gospel Parable of the Tenants also highlights the twisted logic of sin by which we reject God’s plan for his vineyard.

In the parable, we hear of these wicked tenants who reject the vineyard owner’s servant and then reject and kill the vineyard owner’s son. And the Lord Jesus tells this parable to the chief priests and elders as a way of illustrating that they have not only rejected the prophets by twisting the Jewish faith in a number of ways, they were also rejecting the vineyard owner’s son—the Son of God—in the rejection of his teachings. And this is one of the parables that the Lord explains there are going to be serious eternal ramifications for this sort of behavior and lack of faith. 

This parable from the lips of the Lord himself is like flashing neon lights urging these guys to repent and believe in the Son of God. God is not pleased with what you have been doing with his vineyard. Sour grapes are rampant. Time to make some changes for the kingdom of God is at hand.

And again shame on the chief priests and elders, right? Well, again: how about us? We see baptized Christians forsaking the faith, and acting like they might catch on fire if they stepped into Church. Amongst the Protestants heresy has spread like wild-fire—they’ve lost the eucharist, the priesthood, confession, sacramental anointing—some of them don’t even practice baptism anymore. And many Catholics fall away from the Church when they start acting like Protestants—Cafeteria Catholics who pick and choose which teachings they’ll adhere to like choices in a buffet line.

Just like the tenants rejected the vineyard owner’s son, there are some wicked tenants in the Church right now, there are always are, there always have been, and there always will be until the Lord’s return. We just better not be one of them, by holding fast to revealed truths—to the teachings and traditions received from the apostles and the practices which deepen the virtues of faith, hope, and charity.

And also, to not give into despair when it seems like the wicked tenants are having their way. The Holy Spirit protects the Church. And the Gospel will be proclaimed until the Lord’s return. Until then…

“Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me,” Paul tells the Philippians. “Then the God of peace will be with you.” St. Paul of course was pointing to his own tireless labors in the vineyard of the Lord for the spread of the Gospel. The saints are always our teachers, they show us how ordinary people can become extraordinary blessings for the world. How the fruits of the spirit can become lush and abundant when we cultivate the vineyards of our souls.

Ordinary things, small acts of love, truly can transform the world. Like Lenny Giuliani, perfect an artform that can bring joy to others: that can be with paint brushes, food, drink, car repair, professional advice, music, generosity, kindness, teaching, healing, compassion, writing, works of mercy. And then sharing that art, that craft with a neighbor can be an opportunity for a grace-filled conversation. A craft, or a moment of genuine concern, given in kindness, is likely more efficacious in catching souls then hours debates on the internet.

Become artists of goodness, prayer, hospitality, scripture. Become artists of self-donation, artists of Catholicism, lights in the darkness. 

22nd Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Friday (School Mass) - Do not put new wines into old wineskins

 

What a perfect Gospel for our first school Mass at the beginning of the school year:  “Do not put new wine into old wineskins”. 

In Jesus’ day, wine was a very common drink. Instead of carrying around water bottles, people would carry around wineskins—a sort of pouch—like a giant caprisun if you’ve ever had one of those. The pouch—the wineskin—was made, not out of plastic but leather. And the wineskin could be resused—it was recyclable. But over time, the leather wineskin would become dry and brittle with age. 

Now, where does wine come from? Wine is made out of grape juice a yeast. And you mix them together in the right concentration, and the yeast, which is actually alive, a living organism, eats the sugar in the grape juice, and makes two byproducts. Wine, which in those days, was much cleaner than drinking water, and also carbon dioxide gas.

So, you’ve made some wine, where do you store it? In your leather wineskin. But if the wine is still too new, it’s still fermenting a bit, it’s still producing that carbon dioxide gas. And if you put that new wine, into that old wineskin, it will burst, like a balloon that continues to expand, eventually the balloon pops. So, for new wine, you need to use a fresh, new, pliable, flexible wineskin, that will expand, as the new wine finishes its fermentation process.

I really like how Jesus gives us a little science lesson in the middle of the Gospel, and a very good lesson for the beginning of the school year.

During the course of the school year, you, students are going to be taught a lot of new material, new ideas, like new wine. But you have a choice: will you be like that old, rigid, wineskin, unwilling and unable to expand, intellectually, or will you be like that new wineskin, fresh, flexible, willing to expand. It’s a choice. Do you want to learn or not. Do you want your intellect to grow or not.

Let be honest, If you hate school, if you don’t want to learn, you will be miserable. But, if choose, and your pray for help, and ask for help when learning is difficult, then this will be a good year. 

In addition to learning about all these new ideas over in school, is my hope, and prayer, that you will also grow, not just intellectually, but spiritually. That is the purpose of a Catholic school. A Catholic school exists not just instill new ideas, but to help souls be filled with the life and love of God. 

Teachers, help these children learn, not just their academic lessons, help these students to know God. It’s not as easy as it once was, the culture does not support the knowledge of God. It has become an old, brittle wineskin, and unless there is some rehabilitation at this level, it will burst; it’s only a matter of time.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Wonder and Awe, may each of us to be new wineskins--open to the growth, the conversion that God desires for each of us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

22nd Week in OT 2019 - Friday - Weddings and Wineskins

In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ first miracle takes place at a wedding, the wedding at Cana, where water is turned into an abundance of wine. It was there that Jesus ushered in something radically new. He wasn’t just a teacher, he wasn’t just a commentator on scriptures, he wasn’t just a do-gooder: that first miracle at the wedding, with the wine, signaled something new in God’s plan of salvation for sinful humanity.

Today’s from Luke’s Gospel, we encounter those two images again of weddings and wine. Jesus first compares his presence with his disciples to a wedding celebration.  Just as a wedding is filled with joyful celebration, so too, Jesus’ public ministry is a time of great joy for his disciples.  And so too, as Jesus is our companion throughout our own lives, there is a joy that cannot be taken away by any earthly misfortune.  Things can never become so dark that we cannot call upon Jesus as Lord.  No matter how severe our suffering, it can always be united to Him.

Second, Jesus says, “no one pours new wine into old wineskins.”  Since leather wineskins would become dry and brittle with age, the new wine, still in the process of fermenting would burst the old wineskins. 

Before baptism, before discipleship, we had an old nature, an old wineskin.  But when we were baptized and truly made the commitment to follow Christ, we set aside the old nature, and acquired a fresh new nature. For many of us, baptism was very long ago, and those fresh, new wineskins, if they are not constantly renewed can start to grow brittle again, resistant to change, resistant to the new wine of the spirit.

Many of us know Christians, even members of our families, who dabbled in Christianity, practiced it for a while, even 12 years of Catholic school, but now they seemed to have lost their taste for the things of God; even mentioning the faith leads to a heated argument.  The wineskin has burst.

They have allowed their souls to resemble the old nature, prior to baptism, without Christ as Lord.
In the first reading, we heard the great Christological hymn from the letter to the Colossians, proclaiming Christ the first born, the head of the Body, all creation is to be subject to Him, His Lordship. In order to keep the winskins of our souls pliant and fresh, in order to know the joy of the bridegroom in our every suffering, we must subject Ourselves to the Lordship of Christ in all things, in our every endeavor, every relationship, in our every need.

Rejoice for the bridegroom is with us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - - -
 
That all Christians may experience the profound renewal of Spirit needed for spreading the Gospel in our modern world.
For the return of all Christians who have fallen away of the Church and into serious sin, for their conversion, and the conversion of all hearts.
That our young people may be kept safe from the errors and poison of the world, so to grow in the ways of righteousness and truth.
For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, victims of natural disaster, war, abuse, and terrorism, for the sanctification of the clergy, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.
For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests, deacons and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.
Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord.

27th Sunday of OT 2017 - The Art of Christianity

Yesterday, I had a funeral for a long time parishioner, Lenny Giuliani. Lenny was a winemaker.  Making wine wasn’t his profession, but it wasn’t simply a hobby either. His family called him the “Einstein of Wines” because he was extremely scientific in perfecting his wines. His daughters brought me a few bottles of their father’s wine and suggested that I try them before the funeral. Their father loved constructive criticism, and they said they’d love to hear my honest opinion.

And so I opened his bottle of red, a blend of several different grapes noted on the label, and I’m no connoisseur, but I could tell that I was drinking something special, the culmination of a life’s work, a work of art. It made me think of Pope St. John Paul II. You might be a Catholic nerd if a glass of wine makes you think of a Pope! For, back in 1999, Pope St. John Paul wrote a letter to artists, to all who passionately dedicate themselves to beauty and creativity. The Pope reflected upon how the creative work of artists, often comes painstakingly, but their beauty is a gift to the world. Maybe it’s because I’m half Italian, but I believe good food and good wine are works of art. And Lenny’s wine was certainly artfully made. He developed these wines, painstakingly, and shared the fruits of his labors with the family and friends, and for that, the world was blessed.

I thought I’d share that with you not simply because wine, vineyards, grapes, and winepresses, flow throughout our readings this weekend, but I think Lenny’s dedication to his art also speaks to the lessons of these readings.

For our readings focus on how we use our time, how we spend our life. Self-absorption or self-donation.

In today’s First Reading Isaiah explains how the Lord had prepared Israel like a fine vineyard. God had given Israel the Law, the Torah, he had taken them out of the slavery of Egypt, and sent them prophets to help them be his holy people. And yet, what did they do with that freedom, what did they do to the prophets?

Rather than yielding the lush, juicy grapes of faithfulness, justice and peace, Israel had produced the wild sour grapes of infidelity, false worship, ignorance of the scriptures, injustice toward the poor.
Isaiah’s prophetic warning urges us to examine the vineyard of our own souls. When we examine our life, do we find the good fruit of peace, justice, faithfulness, and joy or do we find the sour fruit of turbulence, selfishness, ignorance, and crankiness? Are you yielding lush spiritual fruit or sour worldly fruit?

The crankiness, bitterness, selfishness, are typically signs of self-absorption rather than self-donation. They are signs of the need to hand our souls over to God in a fuller way, by devoting more time to prayer, fasting, spiritual reading, meditation on the scriptures, and engaging in the works of mercy. They are signs of our need to turn away from the things that do not give us life: the works of selfishness and slothfulness.

The Gospel Parable of the Tenants also highlights the twisted logic of sin by which we reject God’s plan for his vineyard, God’s plan for our souls.

In the parable, who is the vineyard owner, who is his servant, who is his son, who are the tenants? Well, of course the vineyard owner is God, who has set us upon the earth to love and serve him. The vineyard owner’s servants are the prophets God has sent to call us to be faithful to God. The vineyard owner’s son, killed by the wicked tenants, is Jesus, who is rejected by sinful man, and dies on the cross.

Sadly, we are the wicked tenants in that story. The one’s who do the rejecting. We are placed in the vineyard of the Lord, and instead of using our time to serve the Lord alone, we hijack the vineyard, and use it to pursue our own selfish ends.

But the stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone. God is greater than our sins. He has given us another chance through Jesus Christ. The sinful tenant can repent and enter into a restored relationship with God, and bear the fruit we were supposed to bear from the beginning.

So the parable is ultimately one of Good News, it is an invitation to repent and believe in and follow the Son who is greater than our sins.

Living in a fallen world, we often get used to sin. I know, I was shocked by the mass shooting this week in Las Vegas. I was shocked, but sadly, not surprised. Not surprised because as a nation, we seem to be falling farther and farther from God. And the farther and farther we fall, the more common these tragedies become.

The lesson from Scripture is clear, Isaiah warns Israel because it had become infested with sin and was bearing rotten, sour fruit. Our nation, any nation, will also bear similar rotten, ghastly horrors, as long as faithlessness, godlessness, perversion, and disrespect for human life persist.

Our duty and our salvation as Catholic Christians is to continue to gather as God’s people as we are doing now, at the altar, at the foot of the cross, to plead God’s mercy for our national and personal sinfulness, and to receive the strength we need to spread the Gospel, to convert hearts, to purify perversions, and to enlighten darkened minds and hearts.

Catholic Christianity is the remedy because it is the way of Jesus Christ, the way of self-donation in fidelity to the will of the Father.

“Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me,” Paul tells the Philippians. “Then the God of peace will be with you.” St. Paul of course was pointing to his own tireless labors in the vineyard of the Lord for the spread of the Gospel. The saints are always our teachers, they show us how ordinary people can become extraordinary blessings for the world. In just a few weeks, we'll be celebrating the great Solemnity of All Saints. I encourage you to choose a saint and learn everything you can about them, that they can inspire you in the Christian life. The saints are the true geniuses, the true artists of history.

Ordinary things, small acts of love, truly can transform the world. So become artists, in the words of Pope St. John Paul, “become passionately dedicated to the search for new “epiphanies” of beauty” and make your art a gift to the world. Your art might be music, or winemaking, or teaching or healing or writing or works of mercy. Become artists of prayer, hospitality, scripture. Become artists of self-donation, become artists of Catholicism, lights in the darkness, and make the world beautiful for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Monday - 2nd Week of OT 2017 - Struggling vines make better wines

There is an old Italian saying, “struggling vines make better wines.”  Grape vines that struggle, that have to work hard, generally result in a better quality grape which will produce a better quality wine. 

It’s sort of counter-intuitive. You’d think that the vine that could simply relax in a restful vineyard, in well-tilled soil would grow plump-juicy berries, but no. Vines will produce grapes of greater character, and richness, when they have to struggle through slate, and sand, and rock, and tree.

Similarly, in the Christian life. Luxury, decadence, and comfort often produce rather mediocre, and likely deficient Christians. The person who has to strive and suffer and work for an object, typically tends to value that object more than the person who does little or nothing to obtain a thing. Suffering for a thing produces a deeper desire and appreciate for a thing.

The Letter to the Hebrews today speaks of the suffering of Jesus the High Priest. He suffered to obtain eternal salvation for us. Consider how much God must love us, in order to suffer unfathomable suffering for us.

We also see the suffering in the lives of the martyrs and saints. They are willing to embrace suffering, torture, imprisonment, and death, in order to obtain the eternal life the High Priest won for us.

To grow in our own desire for the Lord, the saints by word and example teach us to fast and offering up our own suffering.

Fasting. Fasting is counter-intuitive as well, isn't it? If food was made by God, and God made our bodies to desire and hunger for food, why would we ever deprive ourselves of it? For one, Fasting toughens us up like those struggling vines. Intentional fasting deepens our hunger for God.To fast from physical food is an act of faith, that spiritual food and reliance on God is more valuable. “When we fast, our body prays”

Likewise, the sufferings of every day life, can become an occasion to unite ourselves with the Lord who suffered. From papercuts and mosquito bites to the ravages of cancer and the death of a loved one, being ignored, cut-off, criticized, or demeaned; these occasions of sufferings can become occasions for grace when we become mindful in our suffering of the one who can bring good out of the greatest suffering. We do offer up our suffering with little prayers like, “Use this pain, Lord, for the salvation of my brother, my country, my soul."

Today our nation recognizes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, as a civic hero, a man who suffered for the sake of justice and peace. On this day, let us consider how we are called to suffer and labor for righteousness for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

For Pope Francis and all Church leaders: that their example and service may lead others to Christ and bind the Church in greater unity

For our next President and his administration: that the Lord may give them the strength for effective dialogue aimed at healing the deepest roots of the evils in our world. ….Let us pray to the Lord.

For the Church, that we may be a witness to Christ's love by practicing charity and promoting justice and peace throughout the world, that the values of our faith may guide us as we exercise our civic responsibilities.

For all civic leaders that they might find ways to bring an end to war and violence, and promote peace and development for all nations.

For the seminarians preparing for priestly service in our diocese: that they may persevere in their studies and preparation for ministry.

For all the needs of the sick and suffering…

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead…