DO
WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU
The last words spoken by our Blessed Mother that are
recorded in Scripture are from the wedding feast at Cana. Jesus, His
mother, and Disciples are celebrating a young couple's new phrase
of their life together. They must have been having a good time since
the wine ran out, Mary notices.
Her mother's instincts are stirred, Lacking wine will
be a great embarrassment to the families of the bride and groom. Mary
goes to her son and nudges Him towards His first public miracle. Knowing
her Son, Mary doesn't hover or badger Him. She simply makes known
the need and trusts Him to fill it. For those who aren't as familiar
as she to total trust in Jesus, she assists: "Do whatever He tells
you"(Jn 2:5). Then she leaves the matter in His hands and Heart. We
know the wonderful ending - huge jars of great wine to continue the
celebration.
Of all the events in Jesus' life, it is interesting
that this one was recorded. Surely, there were far more significant
miracles that didn't make it into the Gospel story. Perhaps because
it was the first signs, it rated special mention. Or perhaps it was
because God knew that we would need to reflect on the intervention
of Mary for our own daily risings to grace.
The process is so simple. By the grace of God, we see
beyond our own concerns to the needs of others, as Mary did. We respond
as we are able; we seek God's help; and then we do what God tells
us.
ACCEPTING GOD'S DIRECTIONS
But then, all too often, we start to fumble. Most of us claim we don't
know what Christ wants us to do, that we know what He has told us
to do in a given situation. But if we are truly honest, most of the
time we just don't want to hear His instructions. They are too hard
or scary or radical, and seem to be beyond our power and leave us
in a state of vulnerability.
One of the many wonderful attributes of God is trust
in ordinary women and men to work out the details of their lives.
But God does tell us how to proceed if we listen. And the instructions
God gives us are always for our benefit. As the prophet Jeremiah wrote,
"For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans
for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
Then you will call upon Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek
Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your hearts"(Jer. 29;11-13).
TRUSTING GOD IN THE DETAILS
When Mary was asked to be the Mother of God, she surrendered to the
reality which she could not control, a request which threatened her
very life as she could have been stoned for the pregnancy. Mary's
response can inspire us in every circumstance: "I am the Lord's servant.
Be done unto me as you say."
Mary heard her Son saying that He had to be about His
Father's business, but her mother's heart still felt the anxiety of
loss. At Calvary, she continued to trust even when it looked as if
God was deaf to her pleas for her only Son.
When we face the crisis of our lives, we follow the
way of Mary. First, we make our needs known to Jesus Christ. Then
we keep ourselves alert to see if He is showing us "jars to fill",
a way to meet the crisis. We wait in love until we see the next step.
The key is to wait, not to jump in with solutions that are contrary
to the Gospel. So often in today's society when we struggle with serious
problems for which we see no easy solution, we want to settle it immediately
by using means contrary to the ways of Jesus.
FILLING JARS WITH PEACE
Thinking our own ideas will bring us "a future and a hope," we ignore
Jesus and Mary's example. A woman faces a difficult reality in an
unexpected pregnancy. Feeling trapped, she seeks an abortion. Fear
of crime is paralyzing our streets, so we begin a avalanche of state
executions. The horror of evil on foreign soil sickens us, and we
send in the military to bomb and kill in order to stop the killing.
Our children are sometimes inconvenient, so we abandon them to violent
video games, movies, sports, and television.
Rather than doing what Christ had told us, we try settling
things according to our own will. And we end in calamity. We feel
the pain of the violence, in ourselves and in others. We sincerely
mourn lives lost in the violence of our homes, schools and world.
In light of all this, we need to respond as Mary did
in Cana. We turn to her Son, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to
make known our needs and then act in the way He taught us. It is the
way of filling jars of peace, not smashing them, the way of looking
at one another as Jesus looks- in love and service and forgiveness.
The good wine awaits, but we can't get to it by force.
It will only come through the nonviolent, loving ways of Jesus.
-by St. Patricia McCarthy, CND (from the Association
of Marian Helpers' "Thirteenth of the Month Club," July 1999)
