The Gospel for yesterday’s Mass in the traditional calendar was about the Wedding Feast at Cana, and being one of my favorite Scriptures, I cannot help but indulge in a little reflection.
Much has been said and written about the scene described in John 2, including commentary along rather earthbound lines like, “See how Our Lady and Our Lord know the value of a good celebration!”
Well, as true as that may be, I am more inclined to think of Mary’s powerful intercession and that toward which her actions that day were truly ordered.
It is clear enough from Our Lord’s response that Our Lady’s words “They have no wine,” were received as an invitation to do something far greater than supplying suitable drink for a feast.
“My hour had not yet come,” the Lord said in reply; His “hour” being the saving act for which He came as told in Matthew 26:45 “Behold the hour is at hand: and the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners.”
Yes, His “hour” was nothing less than the inauguration of His saving mission, and indeed one well imagines that Our Lady knew precisely what she was inviting.
With this in mind, “They have no wine” is perhaps better understood to say, “They have no life!”
The Blessed Virgin understood that her Son was the promised Messiah who would restore to mankind what was lost in Eden, bringing the wine of new life to a people once dead, an expectation that remained in the consciousness of the Jewish people for many centuries after Christ.
The thirteenth century Jewish philosopher and scholar Moses Maimonides (aka Rambam), for example, wrote of his people:
“Many affirm that the hope of Israel is that Messiah shall come and raise the dead; and they shall be gathered together in the garden of Eden, and shall eat and drink, and satiate themselves all the days of the world … and that there are houses built of precious stones, beds of silk, and rivers flowing with wine and spicy oil.” (Sanhedrin, fol. 119, col. I)
Our Blessed Lord confirmed the association of wine with the restoration of life at the Last Supper:
“And taking the chalice [of wine], he gave thanks and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this. For this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:27-28)
The “remission” of which Our Lord spoke entails, as we know, a cleansing from the stain of original sin, that which brought about man’s death, and it is no coincidence therefore that He made use at Cana of the “water pots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews” (John 2:6) as the vessels that would contain the miraculous wine; a foreshadowing of the Precious Blood that would be shed on the Cross unto man’s purification from sin.
Neither is it coincidental that all of this took place in the context of a wedding feast, as fallen man and woman, banished from Eden, ventured to be joined together as one flesh before God (quite literally in the Person of Christ who was present) that they may go forth to be fruitful and multiply according to the Creator’s command. For all of their good efforts, however, they, like the generations that had come before them, were destined to fall short, for “they had no wine;” no life from which to give life.
Until, that is, the Lord Himself deigned to restore it, and then, only at the behest of Our Blessed Mother.
Beautiful reflection on this passage of St John’s gospel, so full of mystery and symbolism. For me, it has always been a mystery why Our Blessed Lord referred to Our Lady as “Woman” here. Perhaps saying “woman” was a way of referring to the greater dignity of Mary?
Meanwhile, “church of the poor for the poor” Francis is setting up a super bloated Vatican bureaucracy, hiring some of the most elite and expensive management and financial firms on earth:
http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350699?eng=y
Our Lady’s final words in Scripture: “Do whatever He tells you.”
Nothing need be added.
Yes, beautiful Louie. I often think of the setting of a wedding being Christ’s first act of love wedding His Bride, The Church, to Himself.
…..from St. Francis de Sales ‘Wedding Feast of Cana’…..
“Our Lord is the First, the Alpha and the Omega (Apoc. 1:8; 22:13), the Beginning and the End of all things. When God created Adam, the first sign of that creation was changing mud into a human body. Likewise, when Jesus Christ re-created, the first sign of this re-creation was the transformation of one substance into another, the changing of water into wine. Yes, the Saviour came to re-create what was lost. God changed earth into human flesh, then He breathed into this body, and the mass was changed into flesh and blood; He made of it a living man (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:7). Something similar occurs in the re-creation. Our Lord begins by transforming water into wine, giving this sign to reveal His glory.
……Then Our Lord said an interior word which no one heard, and immediately all the water was changed into very good wine. This word was doubtless similar to that which He used when He created all things from nothing and gave life and being to man, and which He used in that last banquet with His disciples when He changed the wine into His Blood in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.”
….”Ordinarily kings and great princes always carry with them powder from the horns of the unicorn, which serves as a protection against poison. The Precious Blood of Our Lord is like the unicorn, expelling the venom of sin, which is poisonous to our souls.”
….. If we want Our Lady to ask her Son to change the water of our tepidity into the wine of His love, we must do whatever He tells us. Let us do well what the Saviour tells us: let us fill our hearts with the water of penitence, and this tepid water will be changed into the wine of fervent love. Do carefully what is at hand today, and tomorrow you will be ordered to something else. Let us nourish ourselves with good thoughts during the day, making frequent ejaculatory prayers. Do not waste time in useless reflections, either on yourself or on what happens around you. Do not amuse yourself with trifles. You would wish to have some light of faith to understand the mystery of Incarnation? Nourish yourself the whole day long with pious thoughts on the infinite goodness of our God. Finally, practice well what you have been taught until now, and rest in the providence of God; for He will never fail to supply what is necessary to you. Praise Him in this life, and you will glorify Him with all the blessed in Heaven. May the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit lead us there! Amen.
This is a rich exegesis, Louie. Our Lady chose the perfect moment for ‘the inauguration of the saving mission’, of Our Lord.
Until, that is, the Lord Himself deigned to restore it, and then, only at the behest of Our Blessed Mother……
….from ‘True Devotion To Mary’ St. Louis De Montfort…….’Especially necessary to the great saints of the latter times’……”I have said that this would come to pass, particularly at the end of the world and indeed presently, because the Most High and His holy Mother has to form for Himself great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity as much as the ‘cedars of Lebanon outgrow the little shrubs’.
….’These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm and sheltered under her protection…….so that they shall fight with one hand and build with the other.
……With the one hand they shall fight……..overthrow and crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms, the idolaters with their idolatries and the sinners with their impieties.
……With the other hand they shall build (Esd. 4:7) the temple of the true Solomon and the mystical city of God, that is to say, the most holy Virgin, called by the Fathers the ‘Temple of Solomon” and the ‘City of God.” By their words and their examples they shall draw the whole world to true devotion to Mary. This shall bring upon them many enemies…….but shall also bring many victories and much glory for God alone…..This is what God revealed to St. Vincent Ferrer, the great apostle of his age, as he has sufficiently noted in one of his works.
……This is what the Holy Ghost seems to have prophesied in Psalm 58:14-15: “And they shall know that God will rule Jacob and all the ends of the earth; they shall return at evening and shall suffer hunger like dogs and shall go round about the city.” This city which men shall find at the end of the world to convert themselves in, and to satisfy the hunger they have for justice, is the Most Holy Virgin, who is called by the Holy Ghost the ‘City of God.” Ps. 86:3.
“Glory be to thee, O refuge of sinners! Intercede for us with God.
Glory be to thee who destroyest heresies and crushest demons! Be thou our loving guide.
Rejoice, O Virgin Mary; rejoice a thousand times!”
The Wedding Feast of Cana is a superb account of both Our Lord and Our Lady. Mary, Our Mother, asked her Son to help those at the Feast. Could He refuse His Mother? Let’s all remember that Our Lady is there for each and every one of us. If you pray to Her, She will listen to our prayer and She will beseech Her Son for us too.
I’m more struck by the sacramental aspects of the episode – that gospel has a lot to say about: water, wine, spirit/Spirit, word/Word, life, & so on.
As to “woman” in that passage: I’ve heard it explained that the Greek word is “gunai,” which means “Lady, mother,” an address of great respect. Even the Catholic Bibles English it badly.