By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
The call, crisis and the charism
January 16, 2022: 2nd Sunday in Ordinary time
Isaiah 62: 1-5; 1 Corinthians 12: 4-11; John 2: 1-11
After all the festivities of the Christmas season which ended with the Baptism of the Lord last Sunday, we entered into a more sober season of the Ordinary time – but the Word reminds us: the festivities cannot end! Our entire Christian life has to be one long celebration, because the bridegroom is with us! The Lord is with us; the incarnate Lord, the resurrected Lord is with us! And therefore, our life has to be perpetually in celebration mode – that is the crux of Christian life.
The first reading from Isaiah and the Gospel passage from John, remind us of another event in the Gospel accounts (see Mtt 9, Mk 2, Lk 5), where Jesus is questioned as to why his disciples do not fast! And the epic reply of Jesus draws our attention to what we indicated above as the crux of Christian life: can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? Yes, that is Christian mode of living – the Celebration Mode!
The Call – to celebrate life unceasingly!
As disciples of Christ, as brothers and sisters of Christ, as sons and daughters of God our Father and Mother, we are called to celebrate life! ‘I have come that they may have life, life in all its abundance’, was the self-declaration fo the Son of God who came to be with us and show us what it meant to be sons and daughters of God. Our life has to be one long celebration; it cannot be otherwise because God is with us, the Son of God is with us, the bridegroom is with us. This first of all refers to the mystery of incarnation we believe in – that God became human and came down to live with us. Secondly it refers to the great paschal mystery, as Jesus in his resurrected self assures us, ‘I shall be with you till the end of times’! Isn’t that a fact to be celebrated?
The Word today presents us, people of God, as the bride getting ready for the bridegroom! We are expected to delight in the presence of the Lord. We are to cherish the intimate relationship that we have with God, which implies that we have developed such a relationship, that we have an ongoing rapport with the Saviour that constantly unites us with God and with each other. When our relationships, be it with God or be it with our brothers and sisters, are in order, we have a peace of mind, serenity of spirit, joy in the heart that can equal the paradise alone! That is the presence of God and that is the wedding feast, the Reign of God that we are called to.
The Crisis – facing the dry patches in life!
Does that mean we shall not have any problems? Does that mean life is all flowery and glorious? No we do have dry patches. Like Isaiah points out, there will be moments when we shall feel like we are forsaken, as if we are abandoned! As in that wedding feast, there will be moments with the jars of our life will run dry! There will be moments of crises, certainly. And none of us would gainsay on this point, because we have all faced this part of our lives and perhaps, we are going through those in these times!
The pandemic experience for many has been the recent rough patch – with fear around, constraints all over, disease in the family, death of dear ones, lack of resources, stress and depression and so on! Otherwise too, at times we face issues like misunderstanding between spouses, tensions between parents and children, frictions among siblings, heartaches among friends, economic straightjackets, social misgivings, political exploitations and so on, make us question the very meaning and purpose of human life. But can we give up? Can we rest merely with the crises? Can we get drowned in those worries – are they so deep as to sway us totally off our feet?
The Charism – the gift of the Presence of the Lord!
Nothing can separate us from the love of God, and nothing can overwhelm us beyond our limits. God, who has given us life and who call us to celebrate it, is with us and the presence shall sustain us and energise us to face all these crises. The Lord will once gain fill our empty jars; the Lord will once again restore our splendour and joy; the Lord will renew us and call us by a new name, yes the Lord will continuously revive us to new life. And the Lord does this by three means:
Firstly, through the Holy Spirit who fills us with new life. The Holy Spirit will transform the waters of our life into wine, the troubles of our life into opportunities to glorify the Lord by our splendid testimony. The Spirit will give us the courage and the capacity to celebrate life, amidst all the difficulties and temptations.
Secondly, through the presence of the saintly intercessors. Beginning with our Blessed Mother who stood by Jesus right until the Cross, who knows what it means to suffer and be pierced to the heart with swords of agony, we have have a great array of help. Saintly persons with whom we have a communion, as saints of one big family, we count on them for help, encouragement and example.
Thirdly, through our own brothers and sisters. God has filled each of us with the gifts of the Spirit, “for a good purpose” says St. Paul. And that purpose is to sustain each other in our day to day living. Let us not immediately point to the others and say, “see, God has given you gifts to be of service to others!” but let us realise, God has given me gifts to be of service to my brother and sister in need. What is the gift that God has given me? How am I and how much am I using those gifts to help and assist my brother or sister to live his or her life to the full? Imagine if only every disciple of Christ, realises the true gift given the Spirit and puts it totally at the service of the common good – our life shall be truly a Celebration.
We are called to celebrate life and inspite of the crises and difficulties, let us strive to live life in celebration mode! The Holy Spirit fills us with a joy that no one else can give and none can take away – in and through all the gifts we are showered with, let us live our life in Celebration Mode!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.