Gospel : John 2 : 1 – 11
Year C
There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee …..
You begin Your Ministry in Palestine by taking part in a wedding feast! ”A strange way to announce the Word of God!”. You will one day be challenged about Your behaviour; You will remark: The Son of man came; He eats and drinks and they say: He is a glutton and a drunkard! (Matt. 11:19).
So what do You want to say to us by this sharing in the wedding feast? You refer us back to the Bible. Often the image of wedding expresses the love of God for His people. Your action tells us that the New Covenant announced by the Prophets has come. You explain it in Your parables: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a wedding feast which a King prepared for his son (Mt.22). You have come to espouse our sinful humanity. You invite each one to live a covenant of love with You.
The wine ran out …
In the Bible, wine is the symbol of joy, the sign of divine blessing. Wine which has run out expresses the distress of people far from God. You have seen this distress and You descended among us so that we would have the fullness of joy (Jn.17:15). You will say it to Your disciples on the last evening of Your life. But from the start of Your apostolate, You illustrate it at Cana during this wedding. And You don’t stint on the means:
– six jars, around six hundred litres! It must be enough for all the people on earth! –
– and it’s not any ordinary wine, but a really “superior” wine, like they had never before tasted!
The good wine kept until now, that of Your love for us.
Thank You Lord, for the covenant of my Baptism, which makes me a child of God, which makes me share Your divine life. Thank You for the good wine of Your love which You give us to drink at the Eucharistic celebration, and which is Your Blood, Your risen life….
