lemuel and maychelle - the signs

When John describes what has just taken place in Cana he does not call it a miracle.  Actually in the gospel of John there are seven miracles including the event in our gospel today when Jesus turns water into wine.  It also includes the multiplication of the loaves, healings, walking on water and even the dead rising to life.  But John do call these miracles.  Instead he called them signs.  Yes, no doubt, these are miracles.  But John did not call them miracles.  Why?   Because in miracles our attention is called to the laws of nature which Jesus defiles.  In miracles our focus is on the supernatural power of which Jesus has in abundance.  But John does not want us to focus on these, instead he calls them “signs” because he is interested in whether or not we can sense God’s presence in these events.  He is interested on whether or not we can see God having a hand in the events that are taking place because of Jesus.

A sign points to something deeper, it points to a reality beyond itself.  It reveals something.  Jesus is a revealer – he reveals God to us.  Jesus is not a miracle worker, he is a worker of signs to show us the Father.  That is why Pope Francis calls Jesus the face of the Father’s mercy – he reveals to us the Father, he is the face of the Father, in the love of Jesus, in the compassion of Jesus we can know and experience the Father’s love and compassion.  So the miracle in Cana is not just an amazing feat of Jesus turning water into wine.  No, instead Jesus is asking us through this miracle, can you sense God in your midst, do you know the kind of God who is in your midst, do you recognize his care for you?

When we focus on the signs rather than on miracles, so many things will be revealed to us by God, signs that make God and his love for us real, tangible, and alive.  The problem with us is we often look for miracles instead of signs, and so we look for extraordinary events in our lives and see them as miracles, rather than see even the ordinary as signs of God’s presence and care.

And so on this wedding day indi kita mag-focus sa mga milagro, rather we shall look for signs in the ordinary, signs that reveal, signs that point to a deeper reality, signs that manifests God’s presence and care in the life of our young couple today.  And so we begin.

The first sign.  My connection with our soon to be newlyweds is the fact that, first, the mother of the bride has been a mentor when I was a small child – she was my yaya, my daday who accompanied me through my elementary years, about 40 years ago.  And secondly, I have been one of the mentors myself of the groom when he was in college for more than three years in the seminary. 

Lemuel’s exit from the seminary was a bit mysterious.  He already wore the sautana.  He went out of the seminary in the middle of the year, two months before the year ended, in other words he was so in a hurry to leave he could not stand two more months.  He was a serious seminarian, diligent in his formation and in his studies, quiet, reserved, dead serious.  He was your ideal seminarian – in short he was the opposite of al sonza, tomas guidoriagao, and king flores but more or less like maynard balofinos.  Then all of a sudden he went out and I never came to see him again, until about 10 years after.  This time he had Maychelle in tow.  And he was different man – he is still serious in everything that he does, in his responsibilities but he jokes a lot, he laughs a lot, the seriousness was still there but the funny side was more obvious.  Why can I see a difference here, I asked him in the presence of Maychelle and he said he was happy, and Maychelle would affirm that – he is happy, they are happy when they are together.

This is the first sign.  Happiness is always the most obvious result when you choose what God wants for you.  It is the first indicator that you have chosen God’s plan for you.  In life you do not run after happiness.  No.  You run after God’s plan and happiness will just follow wherever you are.  Kon boto ang Dios sa ginabuhat mo mangin happy ka gid.  At least bisan amtuod naggwa si Lemuel sa seminario may malipayon kita nga Mr and Mrs lemuel Java sang sa buringot nga Rev. Fr. Lemuel  Java.  When God is happy with your choices the first indicator of God’s happiness is when you yourself are happy.  That’s the first sign.

The second sign, ang pagkitaay sa palacio, ang pagkitaay sa archbishop’s residence.  I do not know if the good archbishop knows what is happening right under his house.  For starters the archbishop’s residence is where the main offices of the church are located. You will find there the offices of the movers of the archdiocese including the offices of the youth, an office and an apostolate where Maychelle chose to serve God. 

When Jesus said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you, Maychelle chose to follow that call, spending her time and the most wonderful part of life, her youth, in the service of God through her fellow young people.  She could have spent it in malls, or with barkadas in discos and in its more fun places.  But instead she chose to follow Jesus by seeking first the kingdom of God - well that’s clear until that point.  What is not clear is, what are those things which will be added unto you, unto her for seeking God’s kingdom first?  That is where Lemuel came in.  When you provide a space for God in your heart, when you provide a space for God in your life and in your time, you will find that things will fall in its proper place – things will be provided for, all these things will follow as a result of putting God first.  This is your second sign.  Learn from this experience too – always provide room for God in your life and the rest will just follow.

Third sign, the lunch at Breakthrough.  Having lunch together by the seashore can be one of the most inspiring things lovers can have, because as Sarah Kay said, “there’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it is sent away.”  It was supposedly a romantic occasion until nga nag-abot ang manugbaligya mani – a little kid selling peanuts.  For a normal couple not wanting to miss a beat in this romantic moment there are two possible things to do – you can either tell the kid kindly that you don’t want to eat peanuts because you have arthritis or you can buy one or two so that the kid can leave you undisturbed.  But not Lemuel, wala sia nagbakal mani, wala man niya ginbalibaran and manug-mani, instead he invited the kid to have lunch with them.  And that struck you Maychelle as something very odd yet very attractive.

I do not know if it was just a passing fancy or part of his trying to be funny.  But for me that was a sign, a sign from God moving you to acknowledge that married love is primarily your faith and trust in each other’s capacity for goodness.  Recall that event when mistrust comes in, when conflicts get the better of you – recall each other’s capacity for goodness because in the end it is this capacity which will make you forgiving and hopeful even in the direst of circumstances.

Today I have given you three signs, signs that reveal to you and to us God’s handiwork in you, how he guided you and nourished your love for each other. There are more and there will be more.  God is a God of abundance.  Trust in him who made water into wine, trust in him who brings blessings out of a curse abundance out of scarcity, joy out of sorrow and eventually joy out of death.