A Short Sunday Sermon

 

We celebrate the second Sunday of Epiphany today and with it the first of our Lord's signs, the miracle of turning water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana. How is this an epiphany? Most obviously, in that it demonstrates Christ's divine power. He can change water to wine and I cannot, which is doubtless a very good thing, but let's go a bit deeper. Per Benedict XVI:

Let us briefly recall the events that occurred during that wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. It happened that there was not enough wine and Mary, the Mother of Jesus, pointed this out to her Son. He answered her that his hour had not yet come; but then acquiesced to Mary’s request and, having had the six large jars filled with water, he transformed the water into wine, an excellent wine, better than the previous one. With this “sign” Jesus revealed himself as the messianic Bridegroom come to establish with his people the new and eternal covenant, in accordance with the prophets’ words: “as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (Is 62:5). Moreover, wine is a symbol of this joy of love; but it also alludes to the blood that Jesus was to pour out at the end to seal his nuptial pact with humanity.

 

It also alludes to the blood that Jesus was to pour out at the end to seal his nuptial pact with humanity. Yes, the blood of the new Covenant, shed for us on Calvary for the remission of sins. This is prefigured in the miraculous wine at Cana and made present at the Last Supper, and in the Sacrament of the Altar through which we find union with Christ as a bride to a groom. 

New wine which flows from the purifying, enlivening water of Baptism, undergirded and held by stone, the rock of faith. All this in fulfillment of the six ages of prophecy: Adam to Noah, Noah to Abraham, Abraham to David, David to the Exile, the Exile to John the Baptist, and John the Baptist to the end of the world. (Augustine)

Wine which is given to us by Christ in the Mass as we kneel to make our communion with Him. A miraculous communion that is a participation in and foretaste of the heavenly banquet, the marriage feast of the Lamb in paradise. All this prefigured at Cana.

Rejoice in that and give God the glory who has given us so great a gift, His blood shed for us for the forgiveness of sins and our union with Christ to eternal life.

Bless You All,

LSP

What A Beautiful Day

 

Yes, the sun shone, big birds wheeled across the sky, woodpeckers did their thing in the pecan trees and the squirrels got, well, nasty. I guess they thought it was Spring, and it sure felt like it, T shirt weather. So, struck by the beauty of the moment I reflected on the Gospel for Sunday, the miracle at Cana, water into wine.

This struck me, by Farrer:

Christ attended a wedding.  What, then, was Christ’s concern – what is Christ’s concern – in the weddings of his friends?  We do not read that he laid down the law to them at that time, or told them their obligations – we read that he concerned himself with the supply of their wine.  It seemed a shame to him, if anything was lacking that could spread abroad delight.  The bride and bridegroom drank from the cup.  They passed it round, and their friends tasted the very flavour of their joy.  Christ would not bear to see the flow of happiness interrupted, for lack of wine in which to drink it.

Does this surprise you?  Did you not expect Jesus to be the servant of natural delight, the abettor of warm-hearted pleasure?  But have you forgotten what Christ is?  He is the desire of nations, he is the joy of all mankind: he came to take away the cold religion of duty, and to substitute the religion of delight.  We are to do our duty – yes, but we are to delight in it, for the love of our neighbour, and for the dear love of God.  There is nothing else but this, that we can hope for in heaven itself – nothing but to do good unalloyed by any meanness, and to do it with infinite delight.  And how shall we be able to do so?  By feasting on the vision of a face, whose eyes are the deep wells of happiness and love.

It is not surprising at all, then, that Christ should begin his ministry at a wedding: for a true marriage is a special favour of God’s grace, and a direct foretaste of heaven.  God’s glory is reflected, for those who truly love, in one another’s faces; they see the Creator shining through his handiwork, and the vision inspires them with a simple delight in doing one another good, and in furthering God’s will.  Those who are being married know what they want to do: and it is exactly what God desires them to do.  They do not, as the rest of us so often must, make themselves care about the will of God: they do care for it: for they care for one another.

 

I sent this to a churchman who writes books like we shoot, a lot, and he liked it too. "It is clear," he emailed magisterially, "that Jesus loved a good party—that was about 120 litres of the best :)" Well said!

Do not lose heart, punters, whatever the circumstance. Instead, rejoice in the power of the Lord who is joy in Himself and shares that perfection with us, His Bride, the Mystical Body of Christ.

Ad Gloriam,

LSP