WE FLY UNTO THEE

A SERMON FOR THE 2nd SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

In the last couple of weeks, we have taken quite a leap forward in the Gospel story.  On the feast of the Holy Family we heard the tale of the Christ Child, twelve years old, remaining behind in Jerusalem, being lost and then found by his parents, conversing with the elders in the temple, being about “his father’s business.”  The Gospel ended by setting the scene for the raising of the Christ Child in Nazareth, where, we are told, he was subject to Saints Mary and Joseph.

From this idyllic picture of family life on the feast of the Holy Family, we traveled forward in time a period of 18 years. The young child grows up.  At some point his foster father St. Joseph passes on into eternity, and then last Sunday, the octave day of the Epiphany we celebrated the Baptism of Christ, now a young man of 30.  It is the beginning of Christ’s three years of ministry, during which he taught us by his parables, his actions, his miracles.   

But before Christ began his public life of ministry, there was something he wanted to do first.  And so, when he and his Mother were invited to a wedding feast at Cana, he had no intention of performing his first miracle, and starting his public ministry with the dramatic and miraculous changing of the water into wine. What was it that he wanted to do first? We’ll not know that until we are in heaven.  All we know is that his hour had “not yet come”.  And this, then, is the greatest drama of today’s Gospel.  Not that he changed water into wine—this was nothing to the almighty Word of God who had created an entire universe out of nothing. No, the great drama today is that this almighty God changed his plan at the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary his Mother.

With this in mind, we should never hesitate to ask her to intercede for us at the feet of her Son.  He can refuse her nothing that she asks.  And so we ask for her help.  And “never was it known”, says the prayer, the Memorare, “that anyone who fled to her protection, who sought her help, or sought her intercession, was left unaided.”

Today’s Gospel begins with the words:  “There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was there.”  Note that the Gospel does not tell us WHO is getting married.  That’s not the important part of this story.  The bride and groom at Cana represent and foreshadow all future Christian brides and bridegrooms, for this, my dear people, was the very first wedding on which Lord was to bestow the grace of a sacrament. Yes, this wedding at Cana was the first marriage to be a sacrament.  “And the Mother of Jesus was there.”

How important is it therefore, that we invite the Mother of Jesus into our own homes.  That we make her a permanent guest here amongst our family.  The name of Mary should never be far from our lips, and the thought of her loving care should never be far from our minds.  Remember the famous words of Father Peyton, that the Family that prays together stays together.  Pray the Rosary—Our Lady’s Rose Garden.  Say the 150 Hail Marys of the Rosary together each week, calling on her to help you, poor banished children of Eve, in this vale of tears.  

Some days are happy, some are sad.  Sometimes we are joyful, at other times we are sorrowful. The Rosary reflects these different moods and circumstances of our life, with its joyful and sorrowful mysteries. The Rosary makes sense of all these ups and downs by placing before us the promise of a life to come, the glorious mysteries of an eternity with God.  Let the life of Our Lady and her Divine Son enter into your life, let them both be guests in your home as you gather together in prayer.  They should not be strangers but welcome friends, so that when the time comes for you to ask a favour of Our Lady, she will bestow a sweet smile on your prayer, and remind her Son that you have “no wine”, or whatever plight you happen to be in.  And Our Lord, even though he may have been planning something altogether different for you, will do as she asks and grant the favour you so badly need.

And so, inspired by this confidence, as the Memorare reminds us, “we fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, our mother.”  It is not enough to drag our feet slowly to prayer.  To reluctantly give up a few minutes of our day to mutter through a few tired old incantations, without thought, or even worse, with our thoughts on our own distracted life, with its fears and pleasures.  No, we must FLY to the Virgin of virgins, our Mother. Invite her as a guest into your home, and then come before her presence with joy, inspired by the confidence that she will intercede for us to her Son, and that he will grant her the favours she asks.  Stand before her, sinful and sorrowful.  She is the Mother of the Word Incarnate, and she will not despise your petitions, but in her mercy she will hear and answer you.