SERMON/HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 5HT WEEK OF EASTER OUR LADY MOTHER OF AFRICA 30TH APRIL 2024

HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 5HT WEEK OF EASTER, (OUR LADY, MOTHER OF AFRICA)

Act 1:12-14; Lk.1; John 2:1-11

Do whatever He tells you

As a Church in Africa, today, we celebrate our Lady of Africa. Africa as a continent is rich in culture, human and natural resources but shamefully marred by many kinds of problems because of greed and the mismanagement of these resources. Consequently, today’s gospel calls us to reflect on how the Blessed Virgin Mary saved a couple from the shame of lack of wine on their wedding day.

The first thing we must note is that this miracle was the first public sign of Jesus; which means that before then, Jesus was not known to be a miracle worker. Therefore, Mary and Jesus were not invited on the basis of Jesus’ supernatural power but for some other relationship they may have had with the couples. When they ran out of wine, obviously, they must have sought different ways to remedy the situation. Meeting Jesus and/or Mary would not have been one of the options because no one thought or expected that they could be of help. Thus, Mary’s intercession was purely her personal initiative.

When the Son told her that His hour has not yet come, she told the servants: “do whatever He tells you”, which means that she was rest assured that Jesus was going to ask them to do something. The importance of Mary’s admonition is well understood when we consider the weight of Jesus’ instruction to the servants. Jesus asked the servants to: “fill the jars with water…draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast”. Literarily, he was asking the servants to go serve water to guests that were expecting wine. This will heighten the embarrassment already at hand. Besides, since the servants were not employed by Jesus, they had no moral justification for obeying such instruction. Thus, by all standard, the servants ought not to obey Jesus who was just one of the invited guests. The only reason they obeyed was because Mary had said “do whatever he tells you”. That was the secret behind the miracle.

Our continent and country in particular is in need of a miracle (Divine Intervention) to save us from this shameful condition. The way out is to listen to the Blessed Virgin Mary asking us to do whatever Jesus asks of us. Jesus asks us to follow him, to live by his teaching, to love unconditionally and to serve humbly. This could be difficult and without meaning to our human reasoning but it remains the way out. Let us not be like the rich man in Mark 10:17 who asked Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life. When Jesus answered him, he walked away sorrowfully. When we wish and pray for the betterment of Africa and refuse to obey Jesus, we become like this man who walked away sorrowfully.