Presider: Fr. Mark Payne Parish: Chaplain, Heart of the Nation Choir: St. Richard www.MySundayMass.org Text of the Gospel and Homily: The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Glory to you O Lord. There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." and Jesus said to her, "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you." Now there were 6 stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding 20-30 gallons. Jesus told them, "Fill the jars with water." So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter." So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it had come from although the servers who had drawn the water knew, the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves good wine first and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now." Jesus did this at the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory and his disciples began to believe in him. The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ. The word I wanna use this morning is transformation, transformation. Here we have Jesus at this wonderful wedding and there’s a transformation that takes place. Jesus comes on the scene and he is ready to begin his ministry and part of his ministry today, we have the insight, is that he's going to transform us, all of us, his disciples, those who follow him. How is that done? Here we have ceremonial jars that were used for washing it was a ritual that was done in the Jewish community and it was something that was done usually and here Jesus, he takes those jars and what he does is he transforms that water in those jars into this magnificent wine and even the headwaiter says "wait a minute! This isn't typical about what is usually done at a wedding, usually you leave the good wine, you serve the good wine first and you leave an inferior wine to the end. Well you turned it around!" and that's what Jesus does for us. He is going to turn our lives around, he's gonna transform our lives as we begin to follow him. But Mary, listen to Mary his mother, always listen to your mother ok. Listen to Mary, what does she say? "listen to him." folks, that's what we need to do, as we enter into this celebration, as we enter into this coming new year I want you to listen to Jesus, he's going to help transform our lives into the disciples that we are called to be we need to listen to his words, we need to follow what he's going to do. He's going to take the old and he's gonna transform it into the new. He's gonna take the mundane that usually happens and he's gonna tip it upside down and he's going to say "hey we need to look at this!" he's gonna challenge us on our relationships with one another, how we interact with each other day in and day out and he's gonna say "let's change that a bit." let's transform ourselves into deep heart, loving people so then that first reading will come true. You're going to see a newness throughout the world, throughout the communities that we live in allow Jesus, my friends, to transform the day in and day out that we experience into something wonderful. Allow your life to be taken over, but we need to listen to Jesus and then follow him. I'm going to invite you to please stand and let us profess our faith.

• published: 16 Jan 2016
• views: 3730