First Reading:
“One of the most intimate and powerful images of God’s love for his people is that of a marriage. God has wedded himself to us his people in an intimate and fruitful bond. And in that choice of us, he rejoices in us. Here is again the mystery of Christmas. Although the Christmas season might be over, what we celebrated at Christmas remains forever. God became human so that we might become divine. In Christ humanity and divinity have become in intimately united. God’s nature has wedded itself to ours”.
Fr Billy Swan
Second Reading:
“The plurality of religions and cultures, the diversity of spiritual and theological traditions, the variety of the gifts of the Spirit and of the tasks of the community, as well as the diversity of age, sex and social affiliation within the Church, are an invitation to each person to confront his or her own unconscious bias, resist the temptation of being at the centre, and open oneself to the acceptance of other perspectives. Everyone can make a particular and indispensable contribution to completing our common task. The synodal Church can be described using the image of the orchestra: the variety of instruments is necessary to give life to the beauty and harmony of music, within which the voice of each one retains its own distinctive features at the service of the common mission. Thus, is manifested the harmony that the Spirit brings about in the Church, the One who is harmony in person (cf. St. Basil, On Psalm 29:1; On the Holy Spirit, XVI: 38).”
From Final Draft of Synodal Document, October 2024, para. 42.
Gospel:
“When Mary interceded with her Son at the wedding feast of Cana, she placed a need before him: ‘They have no wine’. Mary saw the need that had arisen and refused to remain passive. She named that need and brought it to her Son. Notice too how she did not make a demand on her Son to respond to that need. She didn’t say: ‘They have no wine. Please provide some’. No. She left that need with him and anticipated that he would meet that need somehow, someway. That’s why she said to the servants: ‘Do Whatever he tells you’. When we present a need to God, unlike Mary, we sometimes demand how it should be met and when. But Mary’s example shows us the way. We present our needs to the Lord and trust that he will meet them, in his own way and time”.
Fr Billy Swan
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