Sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

I have often heard people wonder why God doesn't send us as many miracles nowadays as he used to, to show us his omnipotence.

But he does.  We just don't pay attention.

Every year the Church beatifies and canonizes new saints - and each one of those requires full-fledged miracles. Every year promising young men and women enter seminaries and consecrate their lives to God - isn't each one a miracle, a double miracle in this day and age?

Wasn't Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta a miracle?  A humble, work-wearied nun from Albania becoming the most widely recognized woman on the planet? But I think the most obvious miracle of all, the most convincing and constant evidence of his omnipotence is Creation.

The world of nature is familiar to us, but our technological advances have tended to dampen our wonder and awe at its beauty and magnificence in many.

Pope John Paul II used to love referring to Creation as the first book of God's self-revelation.

Francis Collins, the director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute, the scientist who led the team that cracked the human genome code, is one of the few high-profile scientists who haven't lost this sense of wonder at God's creation.

But it's not just scientists who find the glory of God's omnipotence in Creation.

Blessed Lucy Kim Nursia, one of the Korean martyrs, gives a powerful testimony to this attitude.

She was imprisoned for being a Christian when she was 22 years old.

During her interrogation the authorities tried to mock and intimidate her by asking her if she had ever seen God. She answered: "Can a country man who has never seen the king believe that there is a king? When I see all the creatures on earth, I know that there is a Creator."

We are surrounded by evidence of God's omnipotence.  This all-powerful God, who changes water into wine, wine into the blood of Christ, and sinners into saints - this is our God, who has put his omnipotence at our service.

How can we unleash this omnipotence in our own lives?  We need to do what Mary did.

God has revealed this omnipotence for a reason: to convince us to bring our problems and our needs to him.  He can take care of them.

This doesn't mean being lazy.  I am sure Mary had scoured the kitchen looking for some extra wine before she asked for the miracle.  But she did ask.

Mary knew where to go when the crisis struck. She went to Jesus.

Jesus came onto the earth in order to make his love touch our everyday lives.  But it's up to us to let him in, to come to him.

How often do we speak with him during the week?

When we're coming home from work or school, do we spare a moment to thank him for the day's blessings, to talk to him about our problems?

Before meals, a little prayer of thanksgiving, a small moment of silence to turn to the heart to God?

This week, let's let Jesus be the companion and Savior he came to be.  Let's give him some room to let his omnipotence take action in our lives.

Take a break from the cell phone and the iPod and the Internet.

Turn the radio off for a minute or two and tune in to Christ.

Find a way to remind yourself that he is walking by your side.

Don't let a day go by without at least a few minutes of heartfelt conversation with him.

Start today, start right now, during this Mass, during this Holy Communion.  Make it different.  Don't just go through the motions. Not today. Not this week.  Not ever again.

Come to him, as Mary did.  And you will see the water of your plain, everyday life be transformed into the excellent wine of meaning, purpose, wisdom, and true, lasting happiness that Christ came to give you.