A Lesson From Mother Mary

Mary started the ministry of Jesus by giving him the task of helping out the wedding couple at Cana. We see that she is there throughout the life of Christ. With her last recorded words in the Bible, Mary gives us instruction too which is practical and very specific. The White Robed Monks of St Benedict believe that Jesus never said no to anyone and try to focus on the lessons that Christ came to teach humanity - that of unconditional love.

Transcript

There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee.

The mother of Jesus was there,

And Jesus and his disciples had also been invited.

When they ran out of wine,

Since the wine provided for the wedding was all finished,

The mother of Jesus said to him,

They have no wine.

Jesus said,

Woman,

Why turn to me?

My hour has not come yet.

His mother said to the servants,

Do whatever he tells you.

There were six stone water jars standing there,

Meant for the ablutions that are customary among the Jews.

Each could hold twenty or thirty gallons.

Jesus said to the servants,

Fill the jars with water.

And they filled them to the brim.

Draw some out now,

He told them,

And take it to the steward.

They did this.

The steward tasted the water,

And it had turned into wine.

Having no idea where it came from,

Only the servants who had drawn the water knew.

The steward called this bridegroom and said,

People generally serve the best wine first,

And keep the cheapest sort till the guests have had plenty to drink.

But you have kept the best wine till now.

This was the first of the signs given by Jesus.

It was given at Cana in Galilee.

He let his glory be seen,

And his disciples believed in him.

After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and the brothers.

But they stayed there only a few days.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you,

Lord Jesus Christ.

Don't you think that Jesus was a bit of a handful growing up?

We see that in the presentation at the temple Jesus disappeared.

Here his mother asks him to do something,

And he says,

Why?

Why?

It's not my time.

What do you want?

That makes Jesus human to me.

That makes Jesus relatable to me.

Because we oftentimes almost see Jesus floating around on this little cloud and giving blessings out,

Much like the Pope on the Pope mobile does.

No.

Jesus challenged his mother.

Jesus was a human,

Just as much as Jesus is God.

And that is beautiful.

Now today we see this very beautiful tale,

The start of Jesus' ministry,

Where he goes and prays.

It changes.

He starts and he does his first miracle.

But we see there's something that happens before.

Remember this woman who we've been talking about,

This one who had a visitation from an angel,

Who asked her to be the mother of God.

This woman who,

At the Epiphany of the Lord,

When the three Magi came to visit,

Remembered everything and she put all of what happened in her heart.

Our Holy Mother Mary starts the ministry of Christ.

Jesus was happy to celebrate with his friends and to celebrate,

I think,

With the couple.

And his mother gives him something to do.

Mary says,

Listen to him.

Which also to me says that in the wedding party,

She wasn't just a guest.

She must have been an honored guest.

Mary plays such a significant role in Jesus' life that we read that Mary was invited and Jesus was also invited.

We read that after this beautiful miracle,

Jesus goes with Mary to Capernaum and the brothers.

And I think that for me it is a sign that maybe Mary was much more involved in the life of the Christ than we are led to believe in many of our denominations.

She wasn't just there to be a womb.

Because we also see here that Jesus says to her,

My hour has not come.

So somewhere Jesus knows that something is going to happen for him and with him and to him.

Don't you think that the human Jesus was prepared for this life by his mother and his father?

Of course,

St.

Joseph,

We don't read much in here or about St.

Joseph,

Other than him finding space for them,

For Jesus to be born.

But his mother features prominently.

When Jesus is crucified,

Who is there?

His mother.

And we can now ask what does this mean to us today?

We just prayed the Holy Rosary earlier with a group.

And through the intercession of our holy mother,

We know that we have Jesus.

We pray directly to Jesus.

It's not a lot of people,

Especially from more Protestant denominations,

Think that we pray to Mary as God.

We pray through Mary.

We ask her,

You know,

That same motherly voice that you use in getting Jesus to do his chores,

To turn the water into wine and to help this couple who would have been sitting with red faces,

And not from wine,

But from embarrassment.

Do your chore,

Do your part,

My son.

We ask her to use that same voice and pray for us,

For our salvation and for the grace of God to be shown to us.

Now,

That is beautiful to know that we have somebody in heaven praying for us,

Somebody looking out for us,

Somebody who loves us and cares for us.

I attended mass this morning with my bishop at his chapel,

And he had the most profound thing to say about this piece.

And I'm going to,

With a very open heart,

Borrow this from him,

But he said that when Mary told the servants,

Do whatever he says,

That is the last record of words that Mary spoke that we have in the Bible.

And what makes it so profound is that it's still true for us today,

Where Mary's message to us is,

Do whatever my son says,

Trust him.

And what does her son tell us?

Jesus tells us the message that we come back to over and over and over in our discussions here.

And that is love God and love each other.

Those two things.

So Mary tells us,

Listen to what Christ says,

And Christ says,

Love God and love each other.

Now,

We are given gifts to do so.

We read in the first letter to the Corinthians,

The most amazing section,

Where it says that some people are given the power or the gift of prophecy.

Some people are given the gift of discerning spirits.

Some people are given the gift of talking in tongues.

Some people are given the gift of understanding and interpreting what is said.

And it goes on and on and on.

And we are all given these gifts,

Gifts of the Spirit.

So that when we say to God,

Here I am,

Lord,

Use me,

Make me your instrument in whichever way you want me,

That's important.

Now let me give myself over to God.

And give,

Accept everything God gives me,

But give everything that God asks of me.

We know that we are given the tools to do so.

Sometimes we don't want to accept those gifts,

Of course,

Because with the gift comes the responsibility of having to use it.

Sometimes those gifts are not fun.

You know,

For those who practice the healing arts and reiki and all of those beautiful,

Beautiful arts and modalities,

Some of us are soundboards to others.

Some of us physically feel what is going on in somebody else's body.

That's a gift,

But it's a very,

Very intense and challenging gift to have.

Many of us are finding that we are becoming extremely sensitive to each other's energies.

Many of us are empaths and we are becoming aware of that energy,

Of that gift of picking up on other people's vibes.

And it is beautiful to recognize it,

But it's also not a very fun gift to have if we don't know how to use it.

And so,

I think for me,

A massive lesson,

And the lesson that I want to share with you today and going into the week is that when I recognize my gifts,

And I see that I have this power,

If we want to call it a power,

This gift,

What do I do with it?

I listen to our holy mother,

And she says to listen to her son.

And he says,

Love God and love each other.

And if I use my gifts to do those two things,

Then my mundane life goes away.

Then it is not,

Ooh,

I need to take an hour to pray.

I need to take an hour out of my life to go and pray.

And I sit there and I wish that it would go over quickly because I have things to do.

Life doesn't stop because I need to pray.

I'm learning that myself.

And it's difficult to face the reality that life is nothing.

Life is in preparation of where we go to afterwards.

So these times that we take to pray and to meditate and to be in communion with God,

That is the reality.

That is not getting up and going to an office.

That's important.

That's why we came here.

I'm not saying that we should all sit on mountaintops going,

Oh,

That's beautiful if we can.

But what I am saying is that we must recognize that this is fleeting.

That we have these gifts and we can focus and we can grow on these gifts in order to prepare ourselves,

To give ourselves wholly to God.

So that the day when we have what we pray for,

A beautiful death,

We have lived a full life and we have lived as much time as possible in communion with God.

Amen.

Reviews

So lovely deepened my connection w Mother Mary..... Always helps me get a good nights sleep too. 🙏🏼💕thanks you

Thank you for your insights and interpretations. You helped me with something I was wrestling with. I see it differently now and feel closer to the Divine.

Thank you

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Dear Father Carel,
Thank you for opening my thinking to understand that when we pray to Mary, she tells us to do what Jesus says, and what Jesus says is one primary thought... Love God and each other. It's that simple.

With gratitude and live.
Stacey

Thank you for the reminder and simple message - love God and our neighbour. Beautiful. 💓😇🙏

Grateful for this wisdom. Just what I needed to hear today. Thank you Father ❤️

Honoring the Blessed Mother~we honor Jesus.
Thank you for your gift of preaching God’s Word

Thank you so much Father. I really enjoy your tracks. I’m so glad insight timer recommend your teachings to me. I am blessed 🙏🏼

I've done tons of reading and seeking regarding how to manage life as an empath; your brief, yet, poignant guidance herein regarding Mary and trusting Her Son, is perhaps what I've wished to hear for a long time. Thank you, Fr.

What a magnificent inside, the last documented words that Mary spoke, instructions for us today🙏🏽💕

Thank you, Father. This was a beautiful and powerful message. It touched my heart. This wisdom is right on time for me. I’m so grateful. 🙏🏻

You lead me closer to God. Thank you.

You speak to me in a time of
great sorrow and loss and challenges in the family. Thanks be 🙏🏽