From the Pastor - 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s Gospel reading from John recounts the familiar story of the wedding feast at Cana when Jesus launched His public ministry by performing His first miracle at His mother’s request.
In the midst of the feast, the Blessed Mother noticed that the wine had run out and pointed out the problem to Jesus. Then, she gave the servants instructions that are equally applicable to us modern-day stewards, saying, “Do whatever He tells you.” Jesus gives the servants a simple and seemingly mundane task, telling them to fill some stone jars with water. They did what He told them to do. And Jesus used their obedience in the accomplishment of that simple task to perform His first miracle, turning the water into the choicest wine.
Our Lord didn't have to include those servants in order to perform this miracle — He chose to. And today, 2,000 plus years later, He still chooses to include us in the performance of His miracles through our cooperation with Him in using the gifts and talents He has given us. What a privilege!
Let us take care to listen to our Blessed Mother. Let us examine our lives this week to see if we really are doing whatever He tells us and cooperating with God to make the best use of the gifts He has given us for the benefit of those around us. If we all take this call seriously, He will perform miracles in our families and our parish. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2022
Pastoral Pondering – This coming Saturday marks the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Roe vs. Wade. Therefore, the 9 am Mass will be offered in Thanksgiving to God for the Gift of Human Life. While not everyone is able to travel to Washington, D.C. for the annual March for Life, we can all use the anniversary as an opportunity to pray for an end to the scourge of abortion as well as protection of the traditional family. These two concerns are intertwined and with them the very health and wellbeing of our culture and our country.
By 1965 the United States was approaching zero population growth. The rise of artificial contraception and the dire warnings of some that world population would soon overwhelm our common home led to a drastic reduction in live births. Even though the Immigration Act of 1965 delayed the inevitable, the inevitable has arrived. According to statistics released by the CDC, from 2019 to 2020, the number of US births decreased 4%, from 3.75 million to 3.6 million. For the previous six years (2015-2020) births declined an average of 2% per year. This is bad news for society. Even Elon Musk recently noted that the potential collapse in population is the greatest risk to the future of civilization, and Pope Francis recently noted that the trend of couples to parent their pets rather than having children is also a concern because it undermines the very foundation of society, the human family.
All of these points should be a significant concern for all of society but certainly for those who follow Christ, who, we must remember, said to His disciples, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them” (Mt. 19:14). Sadly, the trends identified above are as common among the secular as they are among the religious; although, those who identify as practicing Christians tend to be more prolific than other demographics. Nonetheless, we as individuals and as a Church must do a better job of promoting parenting and family life. To that end, the Diocese of Charlotte has recently established a new office of Family Life as a separate office in the Diocesan Curia. Prior to this, Family Life concerns have been housed under Catholic Charities. This decision by the Bishop underscores the importance of family life to the health and wellbeing, not only of the Church, but also for society as a whole.
As we begin our celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Diocese of Charlotte, we as a parish, must do our part to support these important concerns. To that end I would like to highlight, in the next few weeks, the apostolates that support families and family life. I’ll begin doing so next week. Until then, let us pray for our families and pray that all of those societal ills which attack the family, either directly or indirectly, might come to an end due to a reawakening of the importance of the family to the Church and to society as a whole.