Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome to the Blessed Sacrament Homilies podcast, where our mission is to help everyone recognize and experience the presence of God. We hope you are nourished and encouraged by the Word. Thank you for joining us.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: The Lord be with you.
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Glory to you, O Lord.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.
When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine.
And Jesus said to her, woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.
His mother said to the servers, do whatever he tells you.
Now, there were six stonewater jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding 20 to 30 gallons.
Jesus told them, fill the jars with water.
So they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, draw some out now and take it to the head waiter.
So they took it. And when the head waiter tasted the water that had become wine without knowing where it came from, although the servers who had drawn the water knew, the head waiter called the bridegroom and said to him, every one serves good wine first. And then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one. But you have kept the good wine until now.
Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana of Galilee, and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him, the Gospel of the Lord.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: Every time I have proclaimed this gospel, there's a part of me that keeps thinking, boy, if you're going to have a party, Jesus would be somebody you'd want there.
But I want to talk about the first Letter to the Corinthians, because Paul gives a secret to us. And that secret is what makes a good and successful parish.
And at its heart, what makes a good and successful parish is that the many gifts among all the people come together to make one cohesive body that is the body of Christ, and that none of us on our own possess every gift.
But when we draw on the strength of our brothers and sisters, amazing and profound things happen.
Now, with that being said and at the gigantic risk giving you all big heads, you do this very well.
I have heard more times than I can count over the last almost six years from people who were here visiting that as they leave, they say to me they felt welcomed and wanted, and they appreciated that.
They felt that there was a spirit of joy in the hearts of all of you.
And for some, they want to be a part of it.
Now, that doesn't mean that there aren't times where any one of us are just having a bad day or a bad week. And we may be so self absorbed that we don't pay much attention to those around us. But the good news is there's more than one of us, so somebody else virtually always picks up the slack.
And the amazing thing about sharing the presence of Christ is it doesn't take an advanced degree in theology.
It doesn't take a real solid understanding of the Catechism even.
What it takes is allowing the joy of the Holy Spirit to come out of us, to let people know that we're not here because we're here out of obligation, but we're here because we want to be. Because we want to celebrate all that the Eucharist means to us, but also that we want to gather together with our brothers and sisters, because that's an important thing to do. We enjoy being together as one body.
And reiterating what I already said, you do that very, very well. But I want to encourage you to keep doing it. Because it's only in that type of attitude and that type of life that the church will continue to grow and blossom.
If we look like we're miserable, if we ignore those around us, if we get so self absorbed that we think the reason we're here is me and God and nobody else matters, we will die. But as long as we are open and loving and welcoming, the church will definitely thrive.
