Sunday

**Readings this week from Catholic Bishop Fulton Sheen’s ‘Life of Christ’

–We begin after Christ’s Temptation in the Wilderness…

Throughout the Gospels whenever there is a warning, like thunder, of the Cross, there is
an accompanying flash of the glory of the Resurrection; whenever there is the
approaching shadow of redemptive suffering, there is also the light of spiritual freedom
that will come after it. That counterpoint of joy and sorrow in the life of Christ is found
again in His first miracle which took place in the village of Cana. It is part of His pattern,
that He Who came to preach a crucifixion of disordered flesh, should have begun His
Public Life by assisting at a marriage feast.
In the Old Testament, the relation between God and Israel was compared to the
relation between a bridegroom and his bride. Our Lord suggested that the same relation
would henceforth exist between Himself and the new spiritual Israel, which He was going
to found. He would be the Bridegroom, His Church would be the bride. And since He
came to establish this kind of union between Himself and redeemed humanity, it was
fitting that He should commence His public ministry by assisting at a marriage. St. Paul
was not introducing a new idea when he wrote to the Ephesians later on that the union of
man and woman was the symbol of the union of Christ and His Church.
You who are husbands
Must show love to your wives,
As Christ showed love to the Church
When He gave Himself up on its behalf.
EPHESIANS 5:25

 

Prayer:
Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace good will among men.

Monday
A marriage feast is an occasion for much joy; and wine is served as a symbol of that
joy. At the feast of Cana, which had such symbolic importance, the Cross did not cast a
shadow over the joy; rather the joy came first, and then the Cross. But when the joy had
been accomplished the shadow of the Cross cast itself over the feast.
Our Lord had already been affirmed as the Lamb of God in the river Jordan; He had
also chosen five disciples from among the followers of John the Baptist: John the
Evangelist, Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael. These He brought to the wedding feast
which was already in progress and which altogether lasted several days. In those days,
fathers of the bride had greater burdens than today. For the rejoicings and the expenses
could continue for eight days. One of the probable reasons for the wine giving out was
that Our Lord had brought in so many uninvited guests. Since the great excitement at the
Jordan, when the heavens opened to affirm that He was the Son of God, His presence
had been attracting hundreds of stray followers, who also came to the feast. He was
coming to the marriage not just as the village carpenter, but as the Christ or the Messias.
Before the rejoicings came to an end, it would be revealed that He had a rendezvous
with the Cross.
Mary, His Blessed Mother, was present at the wedding feast. This is the only occasion
in the life of Our Lord where Mary is mentioned before her Son. Mary was to be the
instrument of His first miracle, or sign, that He was what He claimed to be, the Son of
God. She had already been an instrument for the sanctification of John the Baptist in his
mother’s womb; now, by her intercession, she sounded the trumpet for a long procession
of miracles—an intercession so strong that it has inspired souls in all ages to invoke her
name for other miracles of nature and grace.

Prayer:   May the Strength of God guide us. May the Power of God preserve us.
May the Wisdom of God instruct us. May the Hand of God protect us.
May the Way of God direct us. May the Shield of God defend us.
May the Angels of God guard us. – Against the snares of the evil one.
Prayer for the Faithful of St. Patrick Part 1

Tuesday
John the Evangelist, who had already been chosen to be a disciple, was present at the
feast; and it was he who was both an eye-and-ear witness to what Mary did at Cana. He
was also with her at the foot of the Cross, and he recorded both events faithfully in his
Gospel. In the temple and in the Jordan, Our Lord received His Father’s blessing and
sanction to begin His work of Redemption. At Cana, He received the assent of His
human parent. Later, in the terrible isolation of Calvary, there would come a dark
moment when His Father would seemingly withdraw from Him and He would quote the
psalm that begins:
My God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?
PSALM 21:1
Another moment would come when He would seem to withdraw from His mother:
Woman, behold thy son.
JOHN 19:26

When the wine gave out at Cana, it is interesting to note that Mary was more
concerned with the guests than was the wine-steward; for it was she, and not he, who
noticed their need of wine. Mary turned to her Divine Son in a perfect spirit of prayer.
Completely confident in Him and trusting in His mercy, she said:
They have no wine left.
JOHN 2:3
It was not a personal request; she was already a mediatrix for all who were seeking the
fullness of joy.

Prayer:
May Christ be with us! May Christ be before us! May Christ be in us, Christ be over all!
May Thy Grace, Lord, Always be ours, This day, O Lord, and forevermore. Amen.
Prayer for the Faithful of St. Patrick  Part 2

 

Wednesday
She has never been just a spectator, but a full participant willingly
involving herself in the needs of others. The mother used the special power which she
had as a mother over her Son, a power generated by mutual love. He answered her with
apparent hesitation:
Woman, what is that to Me and to thee?
My Hour is not yet come.
JOHN 2:4
First, consider the words, “What is that to Me and to thee?” This is a Hebrew phrase
which is difficult to translate into English. St. John rendered it very literally into Greek,
and the Vulgate preserved this literalism in Quid mihi et tibi, which means, “What to Me
and to thee?” The word “that” is not represented in the original phrase; it has been added
in the English translation to make the idea more understandable. Knox translates it freely,
“Why dost thou trouble Me with that?”
In order to understand His meaning more fully, consider the words, “My Hour is not
yet come.” The “Hour” obviously refers to His Cross. Whenever the word “Hour” is
used in the New Testament, it is used in relation to His Passion, death, and glory.
References to this “Hour” are made seven times in John alone, some of which are noted
here.

Prayer:
Glory to Jesus Christ – Glory forever!
Thursday
These things Jesus spoke; and raising His eyes to heaven,
He said: Father, the Hour has come!
Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee.
JOHN 17:1
The “Hour,” therefore, referred to His glorification through His Crucifixion,
Resurrection and Ascension. At Cana, Our Lord was referring to Calvary and saying that
the time appointed for beginning the task of Redemption was not yet at hand. His mother
was asking for a miracle; He was implying that a miracle worked as a sign of His Divinity
would be the beginning of His Death. The moment He showed Himself before men as
the Son of God, He would draw down upon Himself their hatred, for evil can tolerate
mediocrity, but not supreme goodness. The miracle she was asking for would be
unmistakably related to His Redemption.
There were, in His life, two occasions when His human nature seemed to show an
unwillingness to take on His burden of suffering. In the Garden, He asked His Father if it
be possible to take away His chalice of woe. But He immediately afterward acquiesced in
His Father’s will: “Not My will, but Thine be done.” The same apparent reluctance was
also manifested in the face of the will of His mother. Cana was a rehearsal for Golgotha.
He was not questioning the wisdom of beginning His Public Life and going to death at
this particular point in time; it was rather a question of submitting His reluctant human
nature to obedience to the Cross. There is a striking parallel between His Father’s bidding
Him to His public death and His mother’s bidding Him to His public life. Obedience
triumphed in both cases; at Cana, the water was changed into wine; at Calvary, the wine
was changed into blood.
He was telling His mother that she was virtually pronouncing a sentence of death over
Him. Few are the mothers who send their sons to battlefields; but here was one who was
actually hastening the hour of her Son’s mortal conflict with the forces of evil. If He
agreed to her request, He would be beginning His hour of death and glorification. To the
Cross He would go with double commission, one from His Father in heaven, the other
from His mother on earth.

Prayer:
For as many have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ…Alleluia

Friday
As soon as He had consented to begin His “Hour,” He proceeded immediately to tell
her that her relations with Him would be henceforth changed. Until then, during His
hidden life, she had been known as the mother of Jesus. But now that He was launched
on the work of Redemption, she would no longer be just His mother, but also the mother
of all His human brethren whom He would redeem. To indicate this new relationship, He
now addressed her, not as “Mother” but as the “Universal Mother” or “Woman.” What a
ring those words had to people who lived in the light of the Old Testament. When Adam
fell, God spoke to Satan and foretold that He would put enmity between his seed and
“the Woman,” for goodness would have a progeny as well as evil. The world would have
not only the City of Man which Satan claimed as his own, but also the City of God. The
“Woman” did have a seed, and it was her Seed that was standing now at the marriage
feast, the Seed that would fall to the ground and die and then spring forth unto new life.
The moment the “Hour” began, she became “the Woman” she would have other
children too, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. If He was to be the
new Adam, the founder of a redeemed humanity, she would be the new Eve and the
mother of that new humanity. As Our Lord was a man, she was His mother; and as He
was a Savior, she was also the mother of all whom He would save. John, who was
present at that wedding, was also present at the climax of the “Hour” on Calvary. He
heard Our Lord calling her “Woman” from the Cross and then saying to her, “Behold thy
son.” It was as if he, John, was now the symbol of her new family. When Our Lord
raised the son of the widow of Naim from the dead, He said, “Give him back to his
mother.” On the Cross, He consoled His mother by giving her another son, John, and
with him the whole of redeemed humanity.

Prayer:
Christ is in our midst – He is and always shall be

Saturday
At the Resurrection He gave Himself back to her, to show that while she had gained
new children, she had not lost Him. At Cana, the prophecy that Simeon had made to her
in the temple was confirmed: henceforth, whatever involved her Son would involve her,
too; whatever happened to Him would happen to her. If He was destined to go to the
Cross, so was she; and if He was now beginning His Public Life, then she would begin a
new life too, no longer as just the mother of Jesus, but as the mother of all whom Jesus
the Savior would redeem. He called Himself “Son of Man,” a title embracing all
humanity; she would be henceforth the “Mother of Men.” Just as she was at His side as
He began His Hour, so would she be at His side at its climactic finish. When she took
Him away from the temple as a boy of twelve, it was because she sensed that His Hour
had not yet come; He obeyed her then and returned to Nazareth with her. Now, He told
her that His Hour had not yet come, but she bade Him begin it, and He obeyed. At Cana,
she gave Him as a Savior to sinners; on the Cross He gave her as a refuge to sinners.
When He suggested that His first miracle would lead unerringly to His Cross and
death, and that she would become henceforth a Mother of Sorrows, she turned at once
to the wine-steward and said:
Do whatever He tells you.
JOHN 2:5

Prayer:
Preserve O Lord while waking and guard us while sleeping that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace.