We all play a part in the miracles that happen in the life of family, friends and even strangers. We can if we want to. Are miracles rare? Changing water into wine is. But the Epiphany, the revelation of God in our life, isn’t. It happens all the time, every moment, and is most visible in acts of love, in mercy and compassion. God’s presence amidst us is no less a miracle, and we are invited not only to see for ourselves, but to also let others see, through our acts in life.

“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.” (Sunday’s Gospel)

We each have a God-given role in life. Often this role is a selfless role. It helps others, the community around us. Our role is often not spectacular. God does not call us to do very difficult things. Often, they are simple ordinary roles, maybe seemingly insignificant to us, without that attention-giving glory, so small that we tend not to bother for it being not worthy of our time and attention. But it is in community, the people around us, where we see the perpetual miracle of God revealing himself to us. This pandemic has repeatedly taught us that we are all in this together.

“There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them. The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose.” (Sunday’s second reading)

Our role for a good purpose is often as simple as that of the servants to fill up the jars with water, a skill not beyond us. In the story, Mary was the intercessor who did not know how it would happen. The steward, like us many times, unknowing that he was part of a miracle. We are never called to work alone but always as part of a community, each with a different part, but the sum of all parts is the miracle of God revealing himself.

Last Wednesday, the reading was about God calling Samuel. We too are called every day to play a part in the miracles of life. To understand our roles, a friend in our community shared an excerpt from the reflection of the Word Among Us for that day.

“The calling of Samuel reminds us that we aren’t alone in our efforts to understand God’s call. He gives us brothers and sisters in Christ who can use their different gifts to help us hear and accept it. That means that none of us individually needs to try and discern God’s will for our lives on our own. God has united us as a body of believers, some of whom are meant to accompany and guide us on our faith journey. The Lord works through these friends, spiritual directors, and confessors to help us to “see” so that we can know and follow his will for every season of our lives.

So, if you are trying to discover what God might be saying to you, you may get clarity through the help and prayers of another believer. Sometimes God wants us to rely on others just so that we can have more confidence in his direction and guidance. Not only that, but he uses these opportunities to knit us closer to one another.”

At mass this Sunday, our homilist shared that in the liturgical cycle, this gospel of the wedding feast at Cana is the third epiphany, the revealing of God. He invited us to reflect on our life with these questions, “How do we reveal God? What sort of God do we want to reveal in reality? And what do we want to present to our world as the epiphany of God?

We are invited to allow for the passage of miracles through our life, and when we do so, our ordinary becomes spectacular, our water becomes wine.

2^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time