Sunday January 19, 2025

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Good News Reflections:
Making scripture meaningful to your daily life
by Terry Modica

Conflicts become sacred opportunities for wonderful solutions when we entrust them to God.

Good News Reflection for:

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 19, 2025

Today’s Prayer:

I thank you, Blessed Mother, because you intercede for my needs before your Son. I wait with confidence while working the changes that Jesus wants to make in my life. Amen.

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Powerful Catholic prayers are available on our YouTube channel.

Today’s Readings:

Isaiah 62:1-5
Ps 96:1-3, 7-10
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
John 2:1-11
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011925.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-january-19-2025

How to handle conflicts without sinning

The Gospel story this Sunday gives us a good example of how to handle conflicts without sinning.

Mary sees a need and wants Jesus to do something about it. She knows full well that only a miraculous intervention will solve the problem. She wants the divine in him to respond to her request, but the human nature of Jesus responds first: He doesn’t want to reveal his divinity with this kind of miracle. He’s eager to heal souls, not empty wine jars.

“Woman, how does your concern affect me?” he says. “My hour has not yet come.” This is like saying, “I respect your request, holy Daughter of Eve, but think about how a miracle in this situation would affect the ministry I’m about to start! People will come to me for party favors and other earthly pleasures, but I want to give them eternal salvation.”

We Catholics like to use this scripture as faith-building evidence of the Blessed Mother’s ability to help us. We see her in this story as a mother who can get for us whatever we want from Jesus, because she can make him change his mind. Jesus told her no, but the conflict was resolved her way. Mary won, Jesus lost.

Isn’t this how we view conflicts? It’s not resolved until someone’s a winner and someone else is a loser. Therefore, when we make requests of God and he doesn’t give us what we want, we feel like we’re the loser, so we pray harder, trying to make God become the loser. And when that doesn’t work, we ask the Blessed Mother to side with us and influence her Son against his will.

But God wants us to be the winner from the start! He always wants what’s best for us. Mary knew this when she told the wine stewards, “Do whatever my Son tells you.”

Conflicts are not inherently bad. Conflicts become sacred opportunities for wonderful solutions when we entrust them to God. Mary trusted that Jesus cared about the people at the party. Jesus trusted that the Father cared about both the people and his ministry. It was a win-win situation.

Questions for Personal Reflection:
How do you feel when you lose an argument? How hard do you work at making the other person lose? Will you trust God to take good care of you — even if you feel like a loser?

Questions for Family & Community Faith Sharing:
Describe a conflict (a hypothetical one or a real one from your past or present) and suggest an ideal solution. Is anyone a loser in this scenario? If you were to truly trust God, what might he do to resolve the conflict so that everyone benefits?

For more on this subject, use our video: “To Pray as Mary Prayed” @ https://gnm-media.org/pray-as-mary-prayed/

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