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Pastoral Messages

Hope, Pilgrimage, and Jubilee

Over the Jubilee Year, we will explore the themes of Hope, Pilgrimage, and Jubilee, always ending with a question for you to consider over the week.

This year, Pope Francis has invited specific groups to join the Jubilee through particular gatherings and celebrations. Next weekend, the Pope has invited all those involved in communications in particular to observe a jubilee celebration. At St. Rita’s, there will be a special blessing after all Masses next weekend (January 25/26).

In today’s Gospel, we hear about the wedding feast at Cana. Celebrations are a key part of Jesus’ ministry. So much so, that He began His public ministry at a wedding celebration. Jubilees, likewise, are important moments in our Church. A time to right our relationships and celebrate our faith journeys.

Pondering Point

How do you celebrate with Jesus? Do you remember Him at celebrations or parties?

An Introduction to the Sunday Scriptures - January 19, 2025

“Do Whatever He Tells You”

This Sunday, we begin anew what is called "Ordinary Time". It is the time between the high seasons of Christmas and Easter and between Easter and Advent. The readings for today remind us that God's love for us is like a young man's love for his bride: exuberant, with an abundance of generosity. God’s love for us is an overabundant love.

Our first reading (Isaiah 62:1-5) is from a time when the Jewish people were returning to Jerusalem after their 50-year exile in Babylon. They were rebuilding their city of ruin. Isaiah's words gave them hope in the future, that God still loved them and would pour out His love upon them - "For the LORD delights in you and makes your land His spouse. As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you."

In our Epistle reading (1 Corinthians 12:4-11), St. Paul teaches us that God, through His Holy Spirit, is the giver of all gifts. Each one of us has at least one spiritual gift (manifestation) from the Spirit, to be used in service to God and others. The gifts are all different as the Spirit chooses, "but one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as He wishes."

In our Gospel reading (John 2:1-11), we hear St. John describe the miracle of the wedding feast of Cana as the first of Jesus' "signs" or miracles and the beginning of His public ministry. Jesus may have chosen this miracle and this setting to manifest His glory because of its likeness to our covenant relationship with God and the overabundance of His love. Jesus could have made ordinary wine, but He chose to make the choicest wine. He could have made one jar, but He made six. Note the trust His mother had in Jesus when she simply said, "Do whatever He tells you."

Imagine if we lived in a town with all gas stations and no grocery stores or drug stores. How difficult life would be if God only gave one type of spiritual gift. We should rejoice and give thanks for the wide variety of charisms the Spirit gives to His loved ones. It is this mosaic that portrays the image of a God so in love with His chosen ones that, "As a bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so shall your God rejoice in you." And so what are we to do with our individual gifts/charisms? Perhaps we should just listen to the words of Jesus’ mother Mary, “Do whatever He tells you.“

www.bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011925.cfm

Women Enjoying Rediscovering Our Catholicism - Tuesdays at 9:00 am in Room 1
Men's Faith Group - Monday, January 20 at 7 pm in Room 1
Free Community Dinner - Wednesday, January 22 at 5 pm
Women's Faith Sharing - Thursday, January 23 at 7 pm
Craft Night - Friday, January 24 from 6-8 pm
Youth Group - Sunday, January 26 at 4 pm
Priest, Prophet, and King - begins January 19, Sundays and Wednesdays

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