Today's celebration is one of the times when the reading from the letter of Paul will be preached on as much as the Gospel. If the second reading on the nature of love is going to be the focus of preaching this weekend, it is important that the longer form of the reading be used, in order to get the fuller message. The apostle paints an intricate picture on this topic, and he makes it clear that love is not only something we crave, but also it is what will most surely lead us to God.

The other readings today speak more about conflict and even hatred. The role of the prophet Jeremiah was to speak doom to the people, a mission that would certainly bring him pain. The psalmist likewise clings to God even when proclaiming the message of God brings shame and the need for deliverance. In the Gospel, Jesus is not content to speak words that will please the people; he provokes their anger by reminding them of how they had treated prophets in the past.

All the readings, though, speak about the nature of the love of God. Yes, it is all the things that Paul commends to us, but it is also strong as death, and as Jesus knew, the consequence of love is sacrifice, with the ultimate love leading to the ultimate sacrifice of the cross.

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Reading - it is something that society takes for granted these days, and for those who cannot read, life is especially difficult. And so both the first reading and Gospel speak about the value of reading, and in particular of reading aloud to an assembly of people gathered in faith. The word proclaimed is powerful, and in both of these cases it provokes a strong reaction. In the case of Nehemiah, the people rejoice at hearing the word and so hold a festival in honor of the Lord. In the case of Jesus, however, something goes wrong in the hearts of his hearers, and as we will see next week, they reject the good news. But whether the news is received or not, reading God's word is a powerful action, one which makes things happen. The psalm is likewise a meditation on God's word, the power and the beauty of the Law.

The second reading is a continuation of the reading from last Sunday, and this week we come to understand that the variety of gifts from the spirit come together to make up the whole body of Christ. It is not only that each is given their own gift in service of the community, but moreover the community exists truly as a whole only when these gifts are seen as part of that whole.

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While the Christmas season is over, today's Gospel presents us with one of the traditional images of the feast of the Epiphany. This first sign of Jesus, the wedding at Cana is seen as another moment when Christ reveals the arrival of the messiah to the world, in this case to the people of Cana. It is no wonder then, that the psalm is the same as what we sang at Christmas, or that the first reading is like Epiphany, with God coming to save the people and to enter into a covenant like that of marriage. In fact the first reading uses the word 'espoused' to describe the people. As Roman Catholics we understand our relationship with God in this way, so much so that marriage is considered a sacrament, blessed by God, and by Christ since that wedding at Cana.

Even the second reading comes from the chapter of First Corinthians just before the famous reading on love that we so often hear at readings. In this passage, however, Paul is focusing on another aspect of life in the faith community, the simple fact that God gives gifts in the spirit so that everything can get done if everyone does what they have been gifted to do. This is as true of marriage as it is of the life of the parish, and it challenges us all to offer the gifts we have been given to the service of God and neighbor, to parish and family.

© 2003, OCP. All rights reserved.

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