JOHN 2:1-11 THE WEDDING AT CANA
There was a wedding in 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.” 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 in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.
COMMENTARY
at Cana, at some period of the entertainment the wine suddenly ran out. This was very embarrassing because of the passionate devotion of the Eastern people to hospitality.
It is very likely that the host laid in an abundant supply. The explanation for the deficiency is probably the fact that Our Blessed Lord did not come alone. He brought with Him His disciples, and this apparently threw a heavy burden upon the store of wine. Wine was a symbol of mirth and health to the people, it was important that their need be filled in the spirit of hospitality and charity.
REFLECTION:
When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”
Jesus told his Mother “His hour was not yet come…. If Jesus revealed His Divinity now, He would begin the royal road to the cross. Mary may not have understood the full extant of what she was asking but she did know enough to tell the servants, Do whatever He tells you.
Mary knows Jesus will attend to our needs when the time is right…Mary’s faith is remarkable as it was from her first fiat at the Annunciation, “Be it done to me according to your word!”…
Mary is the model of faith…pray to Mary to keep our Faith strong..…As Our Lord mediates between us and the Heavenly Father, so the Blessed Mother mediates between us and Our Divine Lord
Jesus performed this first of His signs… and the disciples began to believe in Him…what are the signs of Jesus’ intervention in my life…look closely…
What was my life like while drinking the “inferior wine” of this world before Jesus served up the “superior wine,” …. How has the “superior wine changed my life?
.POSTSCRIPT
THE GOODS OF MARRIAGE
“Have you not read that in the beginning God ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:3-12
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1643), there are three goods of marriage. They are: unity, fidelity, and openness to children
This unity is beyond mere unity of the flesh; it demands permanence (indissolubility) for the entire life of the married couple. The union is so profound and total that only death can dissolve it.
The very nature of conjugal love, total union for life of a married couple, demands fidelity and prohibits any disorder such as adultery.
The good of “openness to children” is the fruit of total self-giving love. Accepting children and nurturing them leads the married couple to a deeper union and exclusive commitment to one another.
The Church does not demand married couples have enough children to field a baseball team. The Church simply says that parents should exhibit generosity appropriate to responsible parenthood and not use any immoral means such as contraception or abortion as a means to demean their intimacy and frustrate God’s plan.
Using Natural Family Planning a couple can use fertility tracking technology so if a couple wants another baby, they can choose to be intimate on a woman’s identifiable fertile days. On the other hand, if they don’t feel ready for another baby, they would simply choose to be intimate on an infertile day instead.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for hert
Ephesians 5:25
Marriage is not merely a legal contract. A Catholic marriage is a covenant, or a sacred pledge of loyalty with God as our witness between persons, a man and woman. This covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament.