Reading I
For Zion’s sake I will not be silent,
for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet,
until her vindication shines forth like the dawn
and her victory like a burning torch.
Nations shall behold your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;
you shall be called by a new name
pronounced by the mouth of the LORD.
You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD,
a royal diadem held by your God.
No more shall people call you “Forsaken, “
or your land “Desolate, “
but you shall be called “My Delight, “
and your land “Espoused.”
For the LORD delights in you
and makes your land his spouse.
As a young man marries a virgin,
your Builder shall marry you;
and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride
so shall your God rejoice in you.
Gospel
There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee,
and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.
When the wine ran short,
the mother of Jesus said to him,
“They have no wine.”
And Jesus said to her,
“Woman, how does your concern affect me?
My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servers,
“Do whatever he tells you.”
Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings,
each holding twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus told them,
“Fill the jars with water.”
So they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them,
“Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.”
So they took it.
And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine,
without knowing where it came from
— although the servers who had drawn the water knew —,
the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him,
“Everyone serves good wine first,
and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one;
but you have kept the good wine until now.”
Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee
and so revealed his glory,
and his disciples began to believe in him.
Reflection
Today, Our Church invites us to ponder the Miracle at Cana. This moment “revealed [Christ’s] glory…” and was His first communication to the public of Himself. Thus, this revelatory act shows us much about who Jesus is and how He operates.
In Biblical times, it was the job of the bridegroom to supply the wine for the wedding feast. This fact is illustrated in the Gospel by how the head waiter turns to the bridegroom to inquire about the new wine. Who then is acting as the bridegroom for this wedding at Cana? It is Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
How astounding that Jesus’ first public act to demonstrate His glory and identity would not be as a healer or a savior--though He undoubtedly was both of those things--but as a groom, a lover.
In our first reading, Isaiah prophecies to God’s nation: “as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so shall your God rejoice in you.” We see this enacted when Jesus bestows this gratuitous and overabundant gift upon the wedding feast. The guests had all enjoyed wine already, yet he provided more and better. A lover gives gifts not based on simple necessity, but out of a desire to shower more and more blessings upon the beloved.
We can consider the way a holy groom makes a gift of himself, even with his own body, to his wife. He holds nothing back. This image of the loving groom helps us see how the Cana story prefigures Christ’s total self-gift on the Cross. Jesus, the Bridegroom, gives up His Body for us at Calvary, and He continues to do so in the Eucharist. Jesus turned water into wine at Cana, and He turns wine into His own blood at every Mass.
Of course, we cannot overlook that Jesus worked this miracle at the prompting of His Blessed Mother. Christ allowed His mother to influence the time and manner of His first miracle. Mary knows her Son better than any other human, and she saw in her compassion and wisdom that this would be a good gift for her Son to give this married couple, and that it would be a fitting “hour” for Christ to reveal Himself.
We can all turn to the Blessed Mother when we need help: whether we are planning a big event or undergoing a trial, but also when we need a reminder of the love Christ has for us. Our Mother will bring us to an encounter with the love of her Son, just like she did for everyone at Cana.
Please be assured of my prayers for you before Our Lord, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
+ Bishop Schlert
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