Today’s Gospel reminds us that Jesus went back to Cana where, in John’s Gospel, he had performed his first “sign”, his first miracle, namely the changing of water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana. Now he is back home, and performs another miracle – the healing of the royal official’s son.
Here’s a secondary thought but an important one: both of these encounters of Jesus with his own people take place in the context of the family, first he is with his mother and brothers (disciples) in Cana and now he is with an official from his own region hose son is sick. We, too, are now “back home”, a kind of “forced family isolation”.
Pope Francis has dedicated much of his pontificate to preaching and teaching about the family. He even held a Synod on the Family. Why? Because the family is the “domestic church”. It is the first place where we learn love, we learn about our faith (about God who is love) and where we live it in daily life. It is the place of holiness. Not being able to “go to church”, may now help us to realize “we are Church”
In this context, we can see that Jesus is helping us to understand 3 things about the family:

1. To pray: we learned to pray in the family. Our parents taught us to pray, to look to God and praise him for his goodness, the good we see and experience each day, sometimes even the simplest prayers, the grace before meals, a bedtime prayer. But also, to pray in our need, as the royal official did. Is not our current situation of the coronavirus pandemic a cause for greater prayer? Prayer opens us up to the miracles that Jesus performs in us e ach day. Do I find more time for prayer?

 

2. To keep faith: At our Baptism, did not our parents (the first teachers of the faith) and our godparents promise to share with us their life and love, especially by taking the responsibility of giving good example in the faith. Do I give good example and do I share in the life of the family?

 

3. To Experience joy: family is experienced in the laughter and in the sadness of daily life –sometimes in the silliness and in the simplest ways we interact – yes, in the spilling of milk at the breakfast table. Do I appreciate the uniqueness of each member of my family?

 
We are spending a lot more time at home these days, TOGETHER.  The dynamics may have changes: maybe even the people around our tables have changed. No longer are we with our grown-up children, maybe there are grandchildren in our lives, maybe we are not used to working from home, or having to be home instead of in school with our friends, or simply having to cook more meals for the others, to share the TV with so many other people ... But the question is: can we still experience the joy of being together, to see the beauty of each person and to enter into greater holiness because of one another?
Be blessed.
Fr. Brian