May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy mother pray for
us.
The calendar brings us to the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes
and the scriptures bring us to Cana in Galilee.
We come to the parish feast and to a wedding feast. We come to the celebration of our life
together and to the celebration of two lives being joined together. It is a day of celebration, and the Mother of
Jesus is there.
In Cana in Galilee, at the wedding feast they had run out of
wine. In Lourdes in France they had run
out of hope. And the Mother of Jesus was
there. Like the caring and attentive
mother described by Isaiah, the Mother of Jesus cares for her people. She brings comfort. She brings hope. And she brings Jesus.
It was a mother’s concern that noticed that the wine had run
short at the wedding feast in Cana in Galilee.
It was a mother’s concern that noticed that the jars were empty. And it was a mother’s concern, expressed in a
few simple words that invited the response of the Lord Jesus. The mother of Jesus noticed. The mother of Jesus spoke. The mother of Jesus interceded at the wedding
feast in Cana in Galilee. The jars were
filled with water, the wine was made from the water, and the wine was shared.
It was a mother’s concern that was shown to Bernadette in the
grotto near the city of Lourdes in France.
To a poor and humble girl, Our Lady appeared. The Mother of Jesus gave Bernadette a message
inviting the world to conversion. The
Mother of Jesus gave Bernadette an invitation, inviting the whole world to come
in procession. The Mother of Jesus
showed Bernadette a spring from which flows the waters of healing. The Mother of Jesus invited Bernadette, and
all of the world, to come closer to Jesus.
The message was given, the processions began, and the waters of healing
were shared.
A parish feast and a wedding feast come together in one
day. We are here, dear brothers and
sisters, because of a wedding feast. Not
in Cana in Galilee, but in heaven and on earth.
We join here in the wedding feast of the Lamb of God. We join in this feast so that we can be fed
and so that we can share the message of conversion, of consolation and of
healing. We come to the parish of
Lourdes to be filled with the living waters that flow through the city of
God. We come here because we need to be
filled.
Called by the invitation of the Lord Jesus we come to this
wedding feast, and we are noticed by the mother of Jesus. She has noticed that we are empty. She has noticed that we need to be filled,
and she presents us to Jesus. At his
command, we shall be filled with the waters of life like the empty jars at
Cana. By his power, the mere water in
our lives shall be transformed into the wine of the kingdom. And at his invitation, having received the
water of Baptism and having been transformed like the wine of the Eucharist, we
shall be shared. Amen.
Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes
Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
