A Geezer Looks at Scripture

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”  And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”  His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”  John 2/1–5 This is one of my favorite scriptures.  It contains one of Mary's few speeches (only two lines!) but it tells me so much about Mary and about Jesus's relationship with her.  I can meditate on this scripture for days at a time and I always will find something new to think about. First, the scene:  I imagine that it's after dark, because the party has run out of wine, and that tells me the party has been in progress for a while.  I imagine that there are many guests at the party for the same reason: they are without wine and the party is still going stro...

Hello! My name is Ed Hawkins.  I'm 72 years old as of this writing.  I'm a Catholic from birth. I attended various Catholic schools from elementary school through grad school.  I was a member of the Franciscan Order for several years in my youth, but I left before anything permanent happened, like solemn vows or ordination.  I also love the Scriptures, especially the four Gospels where Jesus shows Himself to us so clearly. Father Jim Martin, a Jesuit priest in New York, writes some very powerful books (in my opinion, anyway).  One of his books that has had a huge impact on me is Jesus:  A Pilgrimage .  In that book and in others, he instructs the reader on the Ignatian method of mental prayer.  In that method, the person praying reads something from the Scripture and then, through their imagination, puts themself in the scene and imagines the details of what is happening. I've been practicing this method (and practice is the perfec...