Catechism Links [1]
CCC 528: At Cana, Christ shows himself to be Messiah, Son of God, Savior
CCC 796: The Church as Bride of Christ
CCC 1612-1617: Marriage in the Lord
CCC 2618: Mary’s intercession at Cana
CCC 799-801, 951, 2003: Charisms at the service of the Church
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“Wedding at Cana”
by Mattia Preti, c. 1655 |
Readings for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time [2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [3]
Readings and Commentary: [4]
Reading I: Isaiah 62:1-5
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.
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Commentary on Is 62:1-5
“Since the sixth century, Christian tradition has used this poem in the liturgy of Christmas Day. The birth of Jesus has brought about the joyful union of God and mankind in a way that surpasses that described in terms of spousal union. A monk of the Middle Ages made this beautiful comment: ‘Like the bridegroom who comes out of his chamber the Lord came down from heaven to dwell on earth and to become one with the Church through his incarnation. The Church was gathered together from among the Gentiles, to whom he gave his dowry and his blessings -- his dowry, when God was made man; his blessings, when he was sacrificed for their salvation’" (Fausto de Riez, "Sermo 5 in Epiphania"). [5]
The restored “new Jerusalem” is formally called Zion, and Isaiah, using poetic language, prophesies the coming of the Christ [Messiah] with several references and images. Christ is identified as the vindication of Israel. Once the Lord has delivered his salvation, the land will be called the Lord’s delight. Finally, the image of the bridegroom and the bride are used as a common metaphor for the Messiah and the people of God (see also Hosea 2:11-15).
CCC: Is 62 1611; Is 62:4-5 219
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 96:1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10
R. (3) Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless his name.
R. Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Announce his salvation, day after day.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
R. Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Give to the LORD, you families of nations,
give to the LORD glory and praise;
give to the LORD the glory due his name!
R. Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Worship the LORD in holy attire.
Tremble before him, all the earth;
Say among the nations: The LORD is king.
He governs the peoples with equity.
R. Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations.
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Commentary on Ps 96:1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10
Psalm 96 is a hymn of praise. The psalm selection is one of praise and worship. It begins with songs of proclamation, then moves to imploring praise and honor, and finally an instruction on attire and demeanor during acts of worship.
CCC: Ps 96:2 2143
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Reading II: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Brothers and sisters:
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;
there are different forms of service but the same Lord;
there are different workings but the same God
who produces all of them in everyone.
To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit
is given for some benefit.
To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom;
to another, the expression of knowledge according to the
same Spirit;
to another, faith by the same Spirit;
to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit;
to another, mighty deeds;
to another, prophecy;
to another, discernment of spirits;
to another, varieties of tongues;
to another, interpretation of tongues.
But one and the same Spirit produces all of these,
distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.
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Commentary on 1 Cor 12:4-11
St. Paul associates different gifts (charisms from the Greek: charismata) within the community to the same Holy Spirit. He thus calls out the beauty of diversity and the need for it within the community of faith. All gifts serve the same purpose, the greater glory of God. All gifts are needed within the body of Christ which is his Church.
"Charisms are given as personal gifts but not merely for private benefit (1 Corinthians 12:11 [above]). They unite us with the Spirit's mission to build up all members of the Church and bring them to salvation (1 Peter 4:10-11). Catholic teaching distinguishes between sanctifying grace, which imparts the gift of divine sonship, and charismatic or ministerial grace, which equips the saints for service to others (CCC 2003)." [6]
CCC: 1 Cor 12 1988, 2003; 1 Cor 12:3 152, 449, 455, 683, 2670, 2681; 1 Cor 12:4-6 249; 1 Cor 12:6 308; 1 Cor 12:7 801, 951; 1 Cor 12:9 1508
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Gospel: John 2:1-11
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.
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Commentary on Jn 2:1-11
St. John gives us the story of Jesus' first revelatory action following his baptism by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan. He and his disciples are invited to a wedding and the wine runs out. Jesus’ mother lets her son know that the time has come for his revelation, even though Jesus does not think so.
Ironically the stone water jars were there for the ceremonial cleansing, the very Hebrew custom John the Baptist used in his call to repentance. The Hebrew custom was symbolic (as was St. John's invitation to be baptized in the Jordan); the Lord would later make baptism efficacious as sins were forgiven. We also note the Hebrew numerology applied to this scene. The number six represents one less than the perfect number seven. It was not yet Jesus’ time. The water became wine, not his blood which was yet to be poured out for the salvation of mankind.
The final statement in this story: “his disciples began to believe in him,” is the only time in the Gospel of St. John where there was any doubt about the Lord’s true identity on their part.
CCC: Jn 2:1-12 2618; Jn 2:1-11 1613; Jn 2:1 495; Jn 2:11 486, 1335
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Reflection:
In this Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, it is good for us to think about what this season brings to our own lives of faith. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops posts this definition of Ordinary Time on their web site:
Christmas Time and Easter Time highlight the central mysteries of the Paschal Mystery, namely, the incarnation, death on the cross, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The Sundays and weeks of Ordinary Time, on the other hand, take us through the life of Christ. This is the time of conversion. This is living the life of Christ.
Ordinary Time is a time for growth and maturation, a time in which the mystery of Christ is called to penetrate ever more deeply into history until all things are finally caught up in Christ. The goal, toward which all of history is directed, is represented by the final Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.
The Lord came, in addition to providing us with our path to salvation, to fulfill the Law of Moses – to bring into focus what our Heavenly Father wanted for us as a consequence of providing those rules governing our behavior as we live our lives on this earthly plain. Jesus also came as the one predicted by the prophets. He is the answer to all those riddles and inferences posed by Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah and all the others, heroes of the stories in the Hebrew Scriptures.
We hear one of these predictions in the first reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah: “For the Lord delights in you and makes your land his spouse.” His use of the image of God being the bridegroom is fulfilled in Christ and prefigures the image reinforced at the Wedding Feast at Cana.
Today we celebrate the great wedding feast of the Church. We have heard in St. John’s Gospel the story of the Wedding at Cana, which has been called one of the “Wow” miracles of the Lord because it is so spectacular. The Lord, with his disciples, goes to Cana to a wedding. While he is there, the host runs out of wine. It would be very embarrassing for the couple to have this happen so Jesus’ mother brings it to the Lord’s attention.
We see the Lord struggle with this. He tells his mother: “My hour has not yet come.” But she tells the servants: “Do whatever he tells you.” She knows, somehow, that something remarkable is about to take place. The Lord then tells the servants to fill six large stone jars with water. Ironically, these jars were to be used in a Jewish ritual of repentance, which was the one John the Baptist took and expanded into what became Baptism. Miraculously, that water becomes wine.
It is almost difficult for us to look past the miracle to see all that this event says to us. We see the image of Jesus stepping out of time.
-He at once is the wine, his blood poured out for us.
-He is the groom who takes the church as his bride.
-He stands with our Priest, as once more water and wine become our salvation.
-And we have a part too. We stand as the servants who hear Mary say: “Do whatever he tells you.”
-We stand as the servants who know where that “best” wine came from and how it came to be in those stone jars.
-We know there were only six jars and not seven because it was not yet His time.
Is this just an ordinary sequence of events in the life of Jesus? What a wondrous gift he has given. And all he asks in return is our acceptance of that gift, accepting our role as the children of that marriage of the Lord and His Church.
Our own journey of conversion or spiritual growth requires that we once more look upon the miracle of Cana and ask ourselves: “Do I believe that Jesus, with an act of his will, transformed the water to wine as an act of compassion?” This question begs another. “Do I believe that Jesus, by stating that his body is real food and his blood real drink (John 6:55), provides us with our Eucharist, his real body and blood?”
If we have faith that the Lord did indeed change water to wine and does, in our present time, changes the essence of what we perceive as simple wine and bread into his real flesh and blood, what does that mean for the way we are to live our lives? What are we being asked to change in ourselves? This is the ongoing challenge of our Christian lives. Many promises have already been made for this New Year; can’t we include one more (hopefully to be kept) to deepen our faith and to more accurately become the image of what we eat?
Pax
[1] Catechism links are taken from the
Homiletic Directory, Published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014
[2] The picture is “Wedding at Cana” by Mattia Preti, c. 1655.
[3] S.S. Commemoratio[4] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[5] The Navarre Bible: “Major Prophets,” Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002, pp. 267-68.
[6] Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, © 2010, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA. pp. 302-03.
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