Homily
Nuptial Mass of Jordan McEntee and Justin Schmitz
St. Michael the Archangel Leawood, KS
16 December 2017
Saturday of the 2nd Week of Advent IIB
Justin and Jordan, you have invited the chaplain at KU to give your wedding homily. So I hope you are expecting a homily wrapped in crimson and in blue. So here it is, with no apologies in the least to anyone who doesn't like KU.
Justin and Jordan, this crimson and blue homily will actually be your fault, you see. For you picked today's Gospel, not me. Let's look at the scene of Cana together. A lack of crimson wine is the problem at hand. Jesus turns water into wine, and when Jesus and wine get together, a superabundance of divine love is present. Jesus, divine love, and a lot of the very best wine foreshadow the crimson superabundant gift of Christ's own blood, made present through wine by the crimson fire of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit shows up, guess who else is there? Well, lookee here - it is the spouse of the Holy Spirit, a lady more glorious than the blue of the heavens, our blessed Mother, who is there. A crimson and blue scene indeed. All this at a wedding, no less. And dare I say that everything present at Cana, is even more present here.
Mom! Are you seriously asking me to get involved in a wedding? My first sign should be performed at a wedding? I don't think this is a good idea. You're killing me, mom. It's fun listening to Jesus tease and test his mom, isn't it? You can almost feel Mary's wink to her Son as she answer's Her Son's challenge with her last 5 recorded words of scripture. Do whatever He tells you. Yes, that's right. Mary's last recorded words in scripture are said at a wedding. Do whatever He tells you. Yes, my son, here is where we are most needed, so this is where we will always be. The recreation of the world from the inside out begins with the Holy Family. So we will show up to help, not only today but everyday, not in small way but with a big superabundance of divine love and grace, at every wedding to which we are invited. But mom, do we have to show up at Justin and Jordan's wedding? Yes, son, we do and we will. We will show up at Justin and Jordan's wedding. You in crimson and I in blue. We are here, for the start of this little holy family, from where the recreation of the world is destined to happen.
Justin and Jordan, you have invited Jesus and Mary to your wedding. Good call. Smart kids, you are! They are most certainly here, not taking anything away from your love for each other or the love of your family and friends for you, but elevating and transforming all the human love that we can muster, 6 jars worth filled to the brim with water, into wine, into the mystery of the divine love and divine plan. So after vowing your human love to each other, you immediately allow that love to be subsumed into the mystical marriage of Christ the eternal bridegroom to us, his bride, the Church, and you proclaim immediately that your marriage is for nought if it is not a sacrament of Christ's marriage to His bride the church.
My friends, the most unique beauty of a Catholic Mass is that the first thing that hits the lips of a newly married couple is not cake or champagne, nor even the lips of one's own spouse, but is the body and blood of our eternal spouse, Jesus. Justin and Jordan, your great love for each other dissolves into His love for His bride, like a drop of water into the wine of the chalice. In the words of the Mass we rarely mention you but keep talking about Him. And this is good! For to make today truly your day, we must celebrate that of all the places in the world where Christ wants his love to be, starting at Cana and continuing to today, he wants His love to be here, at the heart of your marriage, at your wedding. That is what makes this wedding truly yours, that Jesus is here. And by turning first to Jesus in the Eucharist you surrender to the way Jesus chooses His disciples. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will last. By turning to Jesus first in the Eucharist as a married couple, you dare to answer his most challenging question: Can you drink the chalice that I will drink? Justin and Jordan, your great faith is about to empower the greatest 'yes' of your entire lives. Yes, Lord, we can drink of the chalice of which you drink.
Holy moly! All this is pretty scary, right? We better enlist reinforcements, lest the gravity of the moment before you scares you away. Well, lookee here. You already thought of that too. Right after you receive the crimson blood of the Eucharist, the second thing you will do as a married couple is to consecrate your marriage to the lady dressed in blue. Nice. Smart kids, you are. I am loving this crimson and blue wedding. Thank you as well, Justin and Jordan, for inviting Mary to your wedding and for entrusting your marriage to the one who was not afraid to let it be done to her according to His word.
So I happily finish this homily using the final words of Mary and the first words of Pope John Paul II, whose crimson love of God entrusted totally to the lady dressed in blue inspired many of the vocations present in this Church today, including mine. Justin and Jordan, I leave you with these words - Mary's last and John Paul II's first. Do whatever He tells you. And do not be afraid.
Nuptial Mass of Jordan McEntee and Justin Schmitz
St. Michael the Archangel Leawood, KS
16 December 2017
Saturday of the 2nd Week of Advent IIB
Justin and Jordan, you have invited the chaplain at KU to give your wedding homily. So I hope you are expecting a homily wrapped in crimson and in blue. So here it is, with no apologies in the least to anyone who doesn't like KU.
Justin and Jordan, this crimson and blue homily will actually be your fault, you see. For you picked today's Gospel, not me. Let's look at the scene of Cana together. A lack of crimson wine is the problem at hand. Jesus turns water into wine, and when Jesus and wine get together, a superabundance of divine love is present. Jesus, divine love, and a lot of the very best wine foreshadow the crimson superabundant gift of Christ's own blood, made present through wine by the crimson fire of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit shows up, guess who else is there? Well, lookee here - it is the spouse of the Holy Spirit, a lady more glorious than the blue of the heavens, our blessed Mother, who is there. A crimson and blue scene indeed. All this at a wedding, no less. And dare I say that everything present at Cana, is even more present here.
Mom! Are you seriously asking me to get involved in a wedding? My first sign should be performed at a wedding? I don't think this is a good idea. You're killing me, mom. It's fun listening to Jesus tease and test his mom, isn't it? You can almost feel Mary's wink to her Son as she answer's Her Son's challenge with her last 5 recorded words of scripture. Do whatever He tells you. Yes, that's right. Mary's last recorded words in scripture are said at a wedding. Do whatever He tells you. Yes, my son, here is where we are most needed, so this is where we will always be. The recreation of the world from the inside out begins with the Holy Family. So we will show up to help, not only today but everyday, not in small way but with a big superabundance of divine love and grace, at every wedding to which we are invited. But mom, do we have to show up at Justin and Jordan's wedding? Yes, son, we do and we will. We will show up at Justin and Jordan's wedding. You in crimson and I in blue. We are here, for the start of this little holy family, from where the recreation of the world is destined to happen.
Justin and Jordan, you have invited Jesus and Mary to your wedding. Good call. Smart kids, you are! They are most certainly here, not taking anything away from your love for each other or the love of your family and friends for you, but elevating and transforming all the human love that we can muster, 6 jars worth filled to the brim with water, into wine, into the mystery of the divine love and divine plan. So after vowing your human love to each other, you immediately allow that love to be subsumed into the mystical marriage of Christ the eternal bridegroom to us, his bride, the Church, and you proclaim immediately that your marriage is for nought if it is not a sacrament of Christ's marriage to His bride the church.
My friends, the most unique beauty of a Catholic Mass is that the first thing that hits the lips of a newly married couple is not cake or champagne, nor even the lips of one's own spouse, but is the body and blood of our eternal spouse, Jesus. Justin and Jordan, your great love for each other dissolves into His love for His bride, like a drop of water into the wine of the chalice. In the words of the Mass we rarely mention you but keep talking about Him. And this is good! For to make today truly your day, we must celebrate that of all the places in the world where Christ wants his love to be, starting at Cana and continuing to today, he wants His love to be here, at the heart of your marriage, at your wedding. That is what makes this wedding truly yours, that Jesus is here. And by turning first to Jesus in the Eucharist you surrender to the way Jesus chooses His disciples. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will last. By turning to Jesus first in the Eucharist as a married couple, you dare to answer his most challenging question: Can you drink the chalice that I will drink? Justin and Jordan, your great faith is about to empower the greatest 'yes' of your entire lives. Yes, Lord, we can drink of the chalice of which you drink.
Holy moly! All this is pretty scary, right? We better enlist reinforcements, lest the gravity of the moment before you scares you away. Well, lookee here. You already thought of that too. Right after you receive the crimson blood of the Eucharist, the second thing you will do as a married couple is to consecrate your marriage to the lady dressed in blue. Nice. Smart kids, you are. I am loving this crimson and blue wedding. Thank you as well, Justin and Jordan, for inviting Mary to your wedding and for entrusting your marriage to the one who was not afraid to let it be done to her according to His word.
So I happily finish this homily using the final words of Mary and the first words of Pope John Paul II, whose crimson love of God entrusted totally to the lady dressed in blue inspired many of the vocations present in this Church today, including mine. Justin and Jordan, I leave you with these words - Mary's last and John Paul II's first. Do whatever He tells you. And do not be afraid.
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