Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily (2025)

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm 96:1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10 (3)
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
John 2:1-11
January 19, 2025

Christmas is over and we have begun Ordinary Time.  Our use of the term “ordinary” for this time of year does not mean God isn’t doing extraordinary things.

Our use of the term “ordinary” to name this time of year simply means that it isn’t Advent, Christmas, Lent, or Easter.

Jesus does extraordinary things in ordinary, everyday settings.

Jesus goes to a wedding in Cana as a guest.  He goes as nobody special.  He’s just one of the guests.  It is at this wedding that Jesus begins to reveal his glory.

At the wedding there is a problem.  They run out of wine.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, knows this.  Mary does what she always does when there is a problem.  She intercedes by taking the problem to her son, Jesus. 

At first, it might seem Jesus dismisses her request when He says, “Woman, how does your concern affect me?.”  Mary is not deterred.  She “said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”  She has complete trust in Jesus.

Jesus is concerned for his people.  It is the reason He became incarnate in the flesh.  He came to speak the Truth.  “For Zion’s sake, I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake, I will not be quiet.”

Jesus came to speak the Truth.  In turn, He calls us to speak the Truth to others.

We have reason to do what Jesus says.  He has “revealed his glory” to us.  This begins when He changes the water into wine.

Do you believe that He changed water into wine?

I think most Christians do.

If you believe that Jesus changed water into wine, it shouldn’t be hard to believe that He can change bread and wine into his Body and Blood. 

Yet not all Christians do.  In fact, unfortunately, not even all Catholics do.  We should.  After all, Jesus said himself at the Last Supper, this is my Body…this is my Blood.  In John 6, He tells us that we must eat his body and drink his blood to have life within us.  He would not say this without making it possible for us to do so. 

Why would Jesus give us his Body and Blood in this way?

The Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Jesus is food for our souls so that we may become what we eat, the Body of Christ.

“No more shall people call you “Forsaken,” or your land “Desolate,” but you shall be called “My Delight,” and your land “Espoused.”

Espoused…Jesus seeks a relationship with us.  “As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you.” 

In Baptism we are made children of God.  Jesus takes our church as his bride.  What God offers us defines us as individuals and as a Church.  What defines us as Catholics is that we believe that the Bread and Wine are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Jesus.

Jesus’ “disciples began to believe in him” when He changed the water into wine.  Do you believe in Jesus?

Jesus Christ has given his Body and Blood for us on the Cross?  Do you believe this?

If we believe, as well we should, that Jesus has done these things for us, it will change the way we live.

If we believe in these things, we will listen to what Jesus teaches us and we will do everything we can to follow what He teaches.  Yet, in our human weakness, we may not always succeed for “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

This is why Jesus died for us.

Knowing this, we should “tremble before him,” not so much in fear but in awe.  We should come to “Worship the LORD in holy attire.”  We should “Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations.”