Do whatever He tells you

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Our time in Nazareth has been marked rather explicitly and dramatically by one person – the virgin mother, Mary.

We’ve had the opportunity to reflect on life in Nazareth at the time of Christ.  We went to Sepphoris, a town just north of Nazareth.  Sepphoris was the capital of the Galilee, and just about one mile north of Nazareth.  Nazareth itself was a town of a mere 300 people and served as the source of water and stone for the capital.

Joseph and Mary were probably of a clan from Nazareth, having moved to be closer to the source of work, but would often go to Sepphoris to sell goods.  So, the hidden life of Jesus begins to appear from the shadows in the context of the ruins of this ancient city, which we visited.

 

Following our Lord and his Blessed Mother, we go with them to a wedding in Cana.  Cana was also a nearby town to Nazareth, and as we remember from the Gospel according to John, in the middle of the celebration they ran out of wine.  It was here that the groom’s family went to Mary, telling them of their predicament, and here that Mary asked her son for his first miracle.  From this moment in John’s gospel, the mission of Jesus begins.

 

 
One of the six stone jars

Finally, some of our own number consecrated themselves to the Blessed Mother in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, right in front of the house of Mary and her family.  So too may we all follow the command of Mary to the waiters at Cana, and whatever he says, do.