My Dear Brothers and Sisters:
I really like this weekend’s Gospel, especially when Mary instructed those waiting on table to “Do whatever He tells you.” (John 2:5) In our daily life, we run out of “wine” so many times – not only out of physical wine at a dinner table, but our spiritual wine runs out in our family relationships. To remedy this, we need to do what Jesus tells us.
When you don’t see any way out of all your problems, obey Jesus in detail. When you are in the desert and have not entered the Promised Land, obey Jesus without looking to the right or the left. When you want to do your own thing, do Jesus’ thing instead. When everything seems to let you down, you want to give up, obey Jesus’ command and do what Jesus says. When you want to lead your children to Jesus or above all save your marriage, obey the Lord. And when you want to face death fearlessly, obey Jesus.
As the Scripture says: “Sin entered the world through the disobedience of the one man, Adam, but salvation came through the obedience of the one man, Jesus.” Thus, obedience is an opportunity, a privilege and a joy to those who are submissive to the Will of God: with God and in God, through the Lord Jesus. In obedience, we have reason to be hopeful even under the worst circumstances. In obedience, we imitate Jesus who obeyed His Father, even to accepting death on the cross.
I would like to invite you all to comply with the Lord Jesus in the way of obedience. Obey God’s Commandments; obey the Church, which represents God; obey you local ministers who are working under our Mother Church. Above all, obey your inmost conscience, where God is present.
Life in Christ is the “Life of obedience.” Obedience is the way to victory. Why don’t we – you and I – just try to obey God each day and follow Mary’s command: “Do whatever Jesus tells you.” Surely Jesus will transform our “water of life” into “wine of life,” full of taste and color, splendid in light and radiant in love, like the wine at the wedding at Cana. We should thank the Lord Jesus each day for the privilege of obeying Him.
With love,
Fr. Thuong Hoai Nguyen