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Connections…
January 14, 2001-- Second Sunday of the Year
When the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from, he called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now."
John 2:1-11
The one memory that never dims
They met, they fell in love, they married, they raised a loving family, they worked hard and sacrificed much to create a caring home. Finally they retired to a wonderful little house in Arizona. But their dreams were shattered when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She struggled at best she could, but finally, she had to place him in a nursing home.
The years of his illness had taken their toll on her--she was down to 98 pounds and badly stooped from arthritis. Yet every day she mad the 12-mile trip to the nursing home to fee him his midday meal.
Everyday she would go through the same routine. "Who's this?" she would ask, lifting a framed photograph of their daughter from his dresser. He would stare at it, then shake his head. It was the same with the pictures of their son, their grandchildren, their old collie. She would then lift his hands from the arms of his chair, hold them in both of hers and ask, "Who am I, dear?"
At first, he would look confused. Then his face would brighten and he would look like the man she fell in love with.
"You love me," he would say.
Most days they would be the only words he would speak.
But they were enough.
CONNECTION: The love of God is manifested at its most powerful in the love between husband and wife: in marriages in which spouses have negotiated together life's twisting and turning roads of fear, disappointment, heartache and illness; in marriages that are living sacraments of God's presence in our midst; in marriages in which Christ is the always-present Wedding Guest. Throughout Scripture, God speaks of his love for humanity in terms of espousal. Christ, who performed his first miracle at a wedding, called himself, "the Bridegroom" who comes to bring his people to the wedding feast of the Father. As ministers of the marriage sacrament, husbands and wives, in their love for one another, help all of us to realize the great love of God the Father and Christ his Son, the Bridegroom.v
PENNIES FOR LIFE
The St. John's Respect Life Committee will collect "Pennies for Life" on Sunday, January 21, as a fund-raiser for pro-life organizations. We invite parishioners to donate a penny for each year of your life.
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