Mass for Life 2016

Published: January 17, 2016

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor preached the following homily during the annual Mass for Life at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016. It is based on the readings for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C.

Bishop Taylor

In today's Gospel Jesus takes an embarrassing — even frightening — situation and turns it into a blessing because a third party saw that something was wrong and refused to keep silent. In this particular case it wasn't a life or death situation, but it was serious enough to get Mary's attention and Jesus' intervention.

There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. Weddings are a big deal in every culture, in part because it is out of the love and commitment of the couple that life will be transmitted to the next generation. In the Bible people even thought of themselves as living on in the children to whom they had given life.

And while the abundance and variety of all of the food at the wedding banquet was important, I think it was probably the wine that people noticed the most because the wine symbolized the joy of the union now coming into being.

So to run out of wine would be a very bad omen. It would cast a shadow on the prospects for joy in the life of the newly married couple ... and since children are the greatest source of joy in a marriage, maybe the lack of wine might mean that they would be barren, God forbid! Or lose their children at an early age.

Lack of wine would not just be a problem of hospitality, it could have symbolic implications for procreation and thus for life beyond the grave, if it is true that you live on in your children. Mary sees this and has Jesus intervene. He changes water into wine, abundant wine ... some 150 gallons of choice wine.

Their marriage is going to be truly blessed — maybe even with an equivalent abundance of offspring! And notice that in the Gospel of John, this was the first of Jesus' "signs." The first miracle that revealed his glory.

In today's America, we do the opposite. We see a problem — unplanned pregnancy — and then provide a legal path for people to intervene to make the worst of the situation. Taking the abundant wine of new life and pouring it out on the ground. This wine doesn't just run out, like in a miscarriage, which is tragic and painful, but in some situations can at least bring a couple closer together in mutual support.

It is poured down the drain, wasted intentionally, casting a long shadow on the prospects for joy in the life of the mother and everyone else responsible for that death. Indeed, something inside dies with the death of that child. Healing can come and we pray for healing in this Jubilee Year of Mercy, but the wounds are deep and there will be no joy until they heal.

You and I are called to do all in our power to take the embarrassing and even frightening situation of unplanned pregnancy and turn it into a blessing, because we see what is wrong and refuse to keep silent.

Unlike with the wedding feast of Cana, we are dealing with a life or death situation. We too, like Mary, can intervene with Jesus in prayer — which we do all the time during Mass and at 40 Days for Life, and in our March for Life.

And we can intervene with our legislators. And in direct contact with abortion-minded women and in providing concrete services to pregnant women at our life-saving pregnancy resource centers such as ultrasounds using machines donated by the Knights of Columbus, parenting classes, counseling, baby clothes and diapers.

We can change the good wine of an unplanned pregnancy into even better wine for both the mother and the child. And in so doing, Jesus will be working — through us — yet another "sign," another miracle that reveals his glory.