Sunday<\/p>\n
**Readings this week from Catholic Bishop Fulton Sheen’s ‘Life of Christ’<\/p>\n
–We begin after Christ’s Temptation in the Wilderness…<\/p>\n
Throughout the Gospels whenever there is a warning, like thunder, of the Cross, there is
\nan accompanying flash of the glory of the Resurrection; whenever there is the
\napproaching shadow of redemptive suffering, there is also the light of spiritual freedom
\nthat will come after it. That counterpoint of joy and sorrow in the life of Christ is found
\nagain in His first miracle which took place in the village of Cana. It is part of His pattern,
\nthat He Who came to preach a crucifixion of disordered flesh, should have begun His
\nPublic Life by assisting at a marriage feast.
\nIn the Old Testament, the relation between God and Israel was compared to the
\nrelation between a bridegroom and his bride. Our Lord suggested that the same relation
\nwould henceforth exist between Himself and the new spiritual Israel, which He was going
\nto found. He would be the Bridegroom, His Church would be the bride. And since He
\ncame to establish this kind of union between Himself and redeemed humanity, it was
\nfitting that He should commence His public ministry by assisting at a marriage. St. Paul
\nwas not introducing a new idea when he wrote to the Ephesians later on that the union of
\nman and woman was the symbol of the union of Christ and His Church.
\nYou who are husbands
\nMust show love to your wives,
\nAs Christ showed love to the Church
\nWhen He gave Himself up on its behalf.
\nEPHESIANS 5:25<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Prayer:
\nGlory to God in the Highest and on earth peace good will among men.<\/p>\n
Monday
\nA marriage feast is an occasion for much joy; and wine is served as a symbol of that
\njoy. At the feast of Cana, which had such symbolic importance, the Cross did not cast a
\nshadow over the joy; rather the joy came first, and then the Cross. But when the joy had
\nbeen accomplished the shadow of the Cross cast itself over the feast.
\nOur Lord had already been affirmed as the Lamb of God in the river Jordan; He had
\nalso chosen five disciples from among the followers of John the Baptist: John the
\nEvangelist, Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael. These He brought to the wedding feast
\nwhich was already in progress and which altogether lasted several days. In those days,
\nfathers of the bride had greater burdens than today. For the rejoicings and the expenses
\ncould continue for eight days. One of the probable reasons for the wine giving out was
\nthat Our Lord had brought in so many uninvited guests. Since the great excitement at the
\nJordan, when the heavens opened to affirm that He was the Son of God, His presence
\nhad been attracting hundreds of stray followers, who also came to the feast. He was
\ncoming to the marriage not just as the village carpenter, but as the Christ or the Messias.
\nBefore the rejoicings came to an end, it would be revealed that He had a rendezvous
\nwith the Cross.
\nMary, His Blessed Mother, was present at the wedding feast. This is the only occasion
\nin the life of Our Lord where Mary is mentioned before her Son. Mary was to be the
\ninstrument of His first miracle, or sign, that He was what He claimed to be, the Son of
\nGod. She had already been an instrument for the sanctification of John the Baptist in his
\nmother\u2019s womb; now, by her intercession, she sounded the trumpet for a long procession
\nof miracles\u2014an intercession so strong that it has inspired souls in all ages to invoke her
\nname for other miracles of nature and grace.<\/p>\n
Prayer:\u00a0\u00a0 May the Strength of God guide us. May the Power of God preserve us. Tuesday When the wine gave out at Cana, it is interesting to note that Mary was more Prayer: <\/p>\n Wednesday Prayer: Prayer: Friday Prayer: Saturday Prayer: 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, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-orthodox-daily-devotional","has_no_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14262"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14264,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14262\/revisions\/14264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMay the Wisdom of God instruct us. May the Hand of God protect us.
\nMay the Way of God direct us. May the Shield of God defend us.
\nMay the Angels of God guard us. – Against the snares of the evil one.
\nPrayer for the Faithful of St. Patrick Part 1<\/em><\/p>\n
\nJohn the Evangelist, who had already been chosen to be a disciple, was present at the
\nfeast; and it was he who was both an eye-and-ear witness to what Mary did at Cana. He
\nwas also with her at the foot of the Cross, and he recorded both events faithfully in his
\nGospel. In the temple and in the Jordan, Our Lord received His Father\u2019s blessing and
\nsanction to begin His work of Redemption. At Cana, He received the assent of His
\nhuman parent. Later, in the terrible isolation of Calvary, there would come a dark
\nmoment when His Father would seemingly withdraw from Him and He would quote the
\npsalm that begins:
\nMy God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?
\nPSALM 21:1
\nAnother moment would come when He would seem to withdraw from His mother:
\nWoman, behold thy son.
\nJOHN 19:26<\/p>\n
\nconcerned with the guests than was the wine-steward; for it was she, and not he, who
\nnoticed their need of wine. Mary turned to her Divine Son in a perfect spirit of prayer.
\nCompletely confident in Him and trusting in His mercy, she said:
\nThey have no wine left.
\nJOHN 2:3
\nIt was not a personal request; she was already a mediatrix for all who were seeking the
\nfullness of joy.<\/p>\n
\nMay Christ be with us! May Christ be before us! May Christ be in us, Christ be over all!
\nMay Thy Grace, Lord, Always be ours, This day, O Lord, and forevermore. Amen.
\nPrayer for the Faithful of St. Patrick\u00a0 Part 2<\/em><\/p>\n
\nShe has never been just a spectator, but a full participant willingly
\ninvolving herself in the needs of others. The mother used the special power which she
\nhad as a mother over her Son, a power generated by mutual love. He answered her with
\napparent hesitation:
\nWoman, what is that to Me and to thee?
\nMy Hour is not yet come.
\nJOHN 2:4
\nFirst, consider the words, \u201cWhat is that to Me and to thee?\u201d This is a Hebrew phrase
\nwhich is difficult to translate into English. St. John rendered it very literally into Greek,
\nand the Vulgate preserved this literalism in Quid mihi et tibi, which means, \u201cWhat to Me
\nand to thee?\u201d The word \u201cthat\u201d is not represented in the original phrase; it has been added
\nin the English translation to make the idea more understandable. Knox translates it freely,
\n\u201cWhy dost thou trouble Me with that?\u201d
\nIn order to understand His meaning more fully, consider the words, \u201cMy Hour is not
\nyet come.\u201d The \u201cHour\u201d obviously refers to His Cross. Whenever the word \u201cHour\u201d is
\nused in the New Testament, it is used in relation to His Passion, death, and glory.
\nReferences to this \u201cHour\u201d are made seven times in John alone, some of which are noted
\nhere.<\/p>\n
\nGlory to Jesus Christ \u2013 Glory forever!
\nThursday
\nThese things Jesus spoke; and raising His eyes to heaven,
\nHe said: Father, the Hour has come!
\nGlorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee.
\nJOHN 17:1
\nThe \u201cHour,\u201d therefore, referred to His glorification through His Crucifixion,
\nResurrection and Ascension. At Cana, Our Lord was referring to Calvary and saying that
\nthe time appointed for beginning the task of Redemption was not yet at hand. His mother
\nwas asking for a miracle; He was implying that a miracle worked as a sign of His Divinity
\nwould be the beginning of His Death. The moment He showed Himself before men as
\nthe Son of God, He would draw down upon Himself their hatred, for evil can tolerate
\nmediocrity, but not supreme goodness. The miracle she was asking for would be
\nunmistakably related to His Redemption.
\nThere were, in His life, two occasions when His human nature seemed to show an
\nunwillingness to take on His burden of suffering. In the Garden, He asked His Father if it
\nbe possible to take away His chalice of woe. But He immediately afterward acquiesced in
\nHis Father\u2019s will: \u201cNot My will, but Thine be done.\u201d The same apparent reluctance was
\nalso manifested in the face of the will of His mother. Cana was a rehearsal for Golgotha.
\nHe was not questioning the wisdom of beginning His Public Life and going to death at
\nthis particular point in time; it was rather a question of submitting His reluctant human
\nnature to obedience to the Cross. There is a striking parallel between His Father\u2019s bidding
\nHim to His public death and His mother\u2019s bidding Him to His public life. Obedience
\ntriumphed in both cases; at Cana, the water was changed into wine; at Calvary, the wine
\nwas changed into blood.
\nHe was telling His mother that she was virtually pronouncing a sentence of death over
\nHim. Few are the mothers who send their sons to battlefields; but here was one who was
\nactually hastening the hour of her Son\u2019s mortal conflict with the forces of evil. If He
\nagreed to her request, He would be beginning His hour of death and glorification. To the
\nCross He would go with double commission, one from His Father in heaven, the other
\nfrom His mother on earth.<\/p>\n
\nFor as many have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ\u2026Alleluia<\/p>\n
\nAs soon as He had consented to begin His \u201cHour,\u201d He proceeded immediately to tell
\nher that her relations with Him would be henceforth changed. Until then, during His
\nhidden life, she had been known as the mother of Jesus. But now that He was launched
\non the work of Redemption, she would no longer be just His mother, but also the mother
\nof all His human brethren whom He would redeem. To indicate this new relationship, He
\nnow addressed her, not as \u201cMother\u201d but as the \u201cUniversal Mother\u201d or \u201cWoman.\u201d What a
\nring those words had to people who lived in the light of the Old Testament. When Adam
\nfell, God spoke to Satan and foretold that He would put enmity between his seed and
\n\u201cthe Woman,\u201d for goodness would have a progeny as well as evil. The world would have
\nnot only the City of Man which Satan claimed as his own, but also the City of God. The
\n\u201cWoman\u201d did have a seed, and it was her Seed that was standing now at the marriage
\nfeast, the Seed that would fall to the ground and die and then spring forth unto new life.
\nThe moment the \u201cHour\u201d began, she became \u201cthe Woman\u201d she would have other
\nchildren too, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. If He was to be the
\nnew Adam, the founder of a redeemed humanity, she would be the new Eve and the
\nmother of that new humanity. As Our Lord was a man, she was His mother; and as He
\nwas a Savior, she was also the mother of all whom He would save. John, who was
\npresent at that wedding, was also present at the climax of the \u201cHour\u201d on Calvary. He
\nheard Our Lord calling her \u201cWoman\u201d from the Cross and then saying to her, \u201cBehold thy
\nson.\u201d It was as if he, John, was now the symbol of her new family. When Our Lord
\nraised the son of the widow of Naim from the dead, He said, \u201cGive him back to his
\nmother.\u201d On the Cross, He consoled His mother by giving her another son, John, and
\nwith him the whole of redeemed humanity.<\/p>\n
\nChrist is in our midst \u2013 He is and always shall be<\/p>\n
\nAt the Resurrection He gave Himself back to her, to show that while she had gained
\nnew children, she had not lost Him. At Cana, the prophecy that Simeon had made to her
\nin the temple was confirmed: henceforth, whatever involved her Son would involve her,
\ntoo; whatever happened to Him would happen to her. If He was destined to go to the
\nCross, so was she; and if He was now beginning His Public Life, then she would begin a
\nnew life too, no longer as just the mother of Jesus, but as the mother of all whom Jesus
\nthe Savior would redeem. He called Himself \u201cSon of Man,\u201d a title embracing all
\nhumanity; she would be henceforth the \u201cMother of Men.\u201d Just as she was at His side as
\nHe began His Hour, so would she be at His side at its climactic finish. When she took
\nHim away from the temple as a boy of twelve, it was because she sensed that His Hour
\nhad not yet come; He obeyed her then and returned to Nazareth with her. Now, He told
\nher that His Hour had not yet come, but she bade Him begin it, and He obeyed. At Cana,
\nshe gave Him as a Savior to sinners; on the Cross He gave her as a refuge to sinners.
\nWhen He suggested that His first miracle would lead unerringly to His Cross and
\ndeath, and that she would become henceforth a Mother of Sorrows, she turned at once
\nto the wine-steward and said:
\nDo whatever He tells you.
\nJOHN 2:5<\/p>\n
\nPreserve O Lord while waking and guard us while sleeping that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"