God is in our midst

One of the readings from the Franciscan Liturgy of the Hours, that is, the Prayer of the Church that is prayed daily by priests and religious, is from the prophet Zephaniah 3: 14-17.  Zephaniah proclaims the joyous reality that the Messiah is in our midst: “Rejoice and exult with all your heart…The king of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more…He will rejoice over you…he will renew you in his love…” because “the Lord has taken away the judgment against you.”  Wow!  The Lord God is truly in our midst. Life will never be the same, as it wasn’t, for certain, at the wedding feast of Cana in today’s Gospel.  At Mary’s intervention and keen sense of impending disaster for the wedding party, Jesus changes water into wine, fills the empty jugs. Imagine saying to guests “all I have is water” and/or believing that you have nothing to give, cannot  make a difference, that you are inferior to anyone else because you are not an astonishing entrepreneur, you are not as intelligent as another, etc.  No, even though you and I are ordinary kinds of persons  we extraordinary because God is with us and works through us and in us.  Every one of our experiences is a Cana experience: Mary is there but not only present but  fully aware of the need that calls forth her Son’s power. The ordinary in your life and mine can become the extraordinary. That which is lacking and needs an intervention will happen because Mary, the mother of God, and God Himself is in our midst. The embarrassing moment can be transformed into a moment of delight and gratitude because Mary and Jesus is not just observers of what is happening but  doers working with us to make a difference. I believe that. Do you?