"They Have No Wine"

Most of us know exactly where the center of the universe lies -- it is with us.  Yesterday, as I listened to Joyce Meyers on the radio, she was reciting the "hymn" of complaint that she used to sing on a daily basis:  Nobody wants to help me; I have to do everything; I clean it up and they mess it up.....on and on and on.  I suspect that every wife and mother has sung this song at least once or twice in our lifetimes.

Joyce's audience knew what was coming next, and they immediately began cheering for the "robot."  They had heard it before and they loved it.  Joyce said, laughing, "Don't you people ever get tired of hearing the same old stories?"  I wanted to shout over the radio: Not when they hit home this hard!  Anyway, I had never heard the "robot" story, so I was happy that she was repeating it.

Joyce said that every morning, she awoke with "ME" on her mind:  what she had to do that day, who was going to help her do it; how she was going to get them to help her, etc.  Then one morning, the Lord spoke to her:  Joyce, you remind me of a robot.  Every morning, the devil winds you up, and you go through the day saying, "What about me?  What about me?  What about me?"  (accompanied by robot voice and movements, of course.)

When we entrust our entire lives and projects to the Lord, He begins to free us from the "What about me? syndrome.  Our gaze begins to shift to those around us, to what they need, to what we can do to supply their need.  A friend of mine told me that in her apartment complex is a military veteran who has been to Afghanistan several times.  He lives alone; she is a great cook, so she told him that since he served our country, she would feed him.  Now, he regularly knocks at her door, asking what she has on the menu.  What a great shift of focus from "me" to "you"!

Pope Francis is turning the church upside down by insisting that we look at the needs of the poor and disenfranchised, that we become an evangelical church, going out into the highways and byways.  He says we need to "smell like the sheep."  As we read his encyclical "The Joy of the Gospel," our study group keeps asking ourselves how we can be more help to the "poor," even though most of the ladies are members of the St. Vincent de Paul society which every Friday helps the poor with their needs -- paying the electric bill, putting food on the table, getting people to the doctor, etc.  Still, they know the poor need much more than they are able to give.

This morning, as I awoke, I remembered something that happened to me back in the 70's, when I was in charge of our Parish Renew -- I had to coordinate the activities of 12 committees all seeking renewal of our parish in various ways.  The work was constant and lonely, for the most part.  One or two people would come in to the office one day a week to help me, but most of the work was mine alone.  Of course, I sang the "What about me?" song frequently, as no one seemed to recognize "all the work I was doing."  Then, one day in the quiet of the office, when I was all alone, the Lord spoke to me as He had with Joyce:  Look around you; you want to be recognized by those you think important.  But all around you are people waiting to be recognized by YOU!.

That got my attention.  From then on, my gaze shifted dramatically; the next time someone came in to help me, I was no longer concerned about all the work that needed to get done and what they could do for me.  Instead, I began to focus on the person in front of me -- who she was, what she thought important, what she needed from me.  That moment changed my perspective entirely; I no longer cared whether anyone ( the pastor, for example) knew how much I was working or what I was doing.  I only cared about the people the Lord brought into my life. 

When Mary went to the wedding at Cana, she was not pre-occupied with her clothing, her appearance, or the impression she was making on others as the Mother of the new Rabbi.  She gazed intently at the host and hostess, the newly-wedded couple, and saw their embarrassment at having run out of wine.  In those days, in that culture, a wedding ceremony lasted for about a week, so a plentiful supply of wine was critical.  She went to Jesus; "They have no wine," she said.

I have come to realize that the "poor" are all around us in every one of our lives.  We do not have to venture out to the slums and the ghettos to find them.  We just have to be aware of the "little ones" in our lives who "have no wine."  Jesus said to the apostles, "You yourselves give them something to eat."  In their minds, they had nothing to give that would feed 5000 people, but they looked around and found 5 loaves and 2 fish.  They brought what they had to Jesus, who took and blessed it and made it be enough, just as He has blessed the 6 jars of water at the wedding. 

"They have no wine."  How many people in our lives are missing the essential joy of the Gospel?  How can we feed them?  What can we offer to slake their thirst?  It is no good trying to feed those who are not hungry, but it seems to me that all around us are the Poor, those who are hungry and thirsty for what we can give -- love, acceptance, companionship, recognition, hope.  "What about me?"  "You yourself give them something to eat."