Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, Jan. 14th, 2024 – O.L.’s first miracle
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, Jan. 14th, 2024 – O.L.’s first miracle
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
My dearly beloved in Our Lord,
Today Holy Church proposes to our contemplation the episode where Our Lord works his first public miracle at the beginning of his public life and ministry. He changed water into wine at a wedding in Cana.
The Son of God made man has led a hidden life for 30 years. By this he gives us the example of multiple virtues. In his public ministry, which will last for about three years, he continues to do so, but in a different manner and in different circumstances. Thus all walks of life can and must imitate Christ.
Today’s miracle where he changes water into excellent wine, marks the transition between these two periods of the Redeemer’s life. It is full of quintessential teachings for our Christian life and our quest of eternal beatitude.
“At that time, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage.”
St John mentions that it was the third day after Our Lord had first called several disciples. They were some of St John the Baptist’s disciples to whom the holy Prophet had pointed out Our Lord with the words: “Behold the Lamb of God.” (Jn 1:36) Then he came into Galilee where he was to operate the first miracle.
Our Lady was there, certainly helping with the preparations and the organizing of the wedding. A wedding celebration went on for several days, normally a week. So there was a lot to do.
Some bad tongues say that they ran out of wine because, together with Mary’s son, the future Apostles had shown up…
“And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come.”
Here Our Lady will speak for the last time in the Gospel. She speaks twice. First she addresses herself with a problem to her divine Son. She puts her observation very plainly, with the implicit demand or invitation to Jesus to resolve the problematic situation. The newlywed would have been the laughter of their village for the rest of their life, and probably even their descendants, if the fact that they had run out of wine during their marriage celebration had become obvious. Therefore Our Lady, certainly the first to discover the imminent catastrophe – she is the Virgin most prudent, as we call her in the Litany of Loreto – put the problem to God made man, her son. She knew he could cut the knot, she believed and she had entire confidence.
Our Lord’s answer has left many perplexed, but without any good reason. God’s Providence works in the most wonderful and often wondrous ways. Our Lord states that it is not part of his mission to make wine; and that the hour for him to operate his first public miracle had not yet come. He was there to fulfill the will of the Father, His good pleasure. So, as some theologians explain, Mary as a wise mother, having seen her request declined, goes to the father. She speaks with God, she prays – and lo and behold! her request is immediately heard. After having prayed to God in her heart, she addresses herself to the waiters.
“His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye.”
Our Lady’s very last words related in the Gospel! They are obviously not only addressed to the servants present in Cana, but to all of us. Do whatever my divine Son, whom I know and in whom I believe, and whom you will now get to know and in whom you shall believe if you want to be saved, shall tell you! She has nothing else to add to this admonition, and throughout the centuries, as often as she has visited the earth in order to speak to humans in one of her frequent apparitions, she has said nothing else: Whatsoever he has told you, do it!
This episode clearly instructs and teaches us about the omnipotence of Our Lady’s prayers and intercession. This is why it is so important to develop and to maintain a sound, profound and filial devotion to Our Lady. Her children, her clients, as the Fathers, Doctors, theologians and writers unanimously have said, will not lose their soul if only they keep asking her – or rather asking God’s favors through her all-powerful intercession.
“Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece. Jesus saith to them: Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And Jesus saith to them: Draw out now, and carry to the chief steward of the feast. And they carried it.”
Our Lord submits to the will of the Father who has now decreed that the hour has come for him to manifest himself to the world as the Son of God. He tells the servants to fill up six large jars with water. They do it with generosity, certainly remembering the preceding injunction by Our Lady. This water – several hundred liters – he then changes into the most excellent wine, as the following verses indicate. God’s works are always perfect!
“And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water; the chief steward calleth the bridegroom, snd saith to him: Every man at first setteth forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse. But thou hast kept the good wine until now.”
The chief steward is not informed of the miraculous origin of the wine, at least not at first. Thus he tells off the bridegroom for having held back the good wine. Surely the misunderstanding has soon been cleared up. Meanwhile we see how God has, humanly speaking, a strong sense of innocent humor.
“This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee; and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”
The miracles done by Our Lord – and there is a great number of them – are proofs of his divine origin and nature. He will declare this later to be one of the reasons why all those who have witnessed his life and actions, are inexcusable if they do not believe in the true Son of God.
All of Our Lord’s deeds have a spiritual meaning, besides being historical facts. Marriage, the only institution which has remained unchanged even by the great flood, as the Church says (Missale Romanum, nuptial blessing), had been very much degraded among the Hebrews. Moses had to allow them, by God’s permission, that a man could repudiate his wife. The reason for this, Our Lord states, was the hardness of their hearts. Soon Christ would restore the original order intended by the Creator when he united Adam and Eve with a sacred bond (Mt 19:3-9). - Marriage had thus lost much of its natural and supernatural flavor, it had become like wine of low quality. The best wine was kept for the last times which began with God’s Incarnation.Our Lord elevated marriage to the rank of a Sacrament. It is a holy thing which must be used in a holy manner by Catholics. Rhis is the only remedy to the evils of society, as today’s woes prove by the contrary…
St Augustine comments that Our Lord chose to do his first miracle at a wedding in order to show unequivocally that marriage is not bad, as many perverted minds of heretics would pretend. He knew what he was talking about since he himself had been a Manichean. Manicheism rejects the physical, bodily world as bad and recognizes only the spiritual world as good. It pretends that the material creation has been made by an evil principle or god, and the spiritual creation has been made by a good principle or god. It is an inadequate explanation for the fact why there is evil in this world.
Marriage is good and willed by God as an institution. In the New and everlasting Covenant, though, by the words of Our Lord himself (Mt 19:10-12) and the Apostle’s teaching (in particular 1Cor 7), it is better and more perfect to remain unmarried for the sake of God and His kingdom.
Marriage signifies as an image, the heavenly reality of the profound and indissoluble union between Christ and his Church.
Celibacy signifies and anticipates the definitive and permanent state. “For when they shall rise again from the dead, they shall neither marry, nor be married, but are as the angels in heaven.” (Mk 12:25) After his Resurrection Our Lord says to St Peter about St John who was unmarried: “So I will have him to remain till I come, what is it to thee?” (Jn 21:22) as we have heard on the feast of the beloved Apostle (Dec. 27).
Let us strengthen our faith and our reliance on God’s Providence so that each of us may accomplish his destiny according to His holy will. Let us pray with our whole mind and heart with Holy Church today (Collect): “Almighty, everlasting God, Who governs both the heavens and the earth, graciously hear the humble prayers of Thy people and grant us Thy peace all the days of our life.“
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
My dearly beloved in Our Lord,
Today Holy Church proposes to our contemplation the episode where Our Lord works his first public miracle at the beginning of his public life and ministry. He changed water into wine at a wedding in Cana.
The Son of God made man has led a hidden life for 30 years. By this he gives us the example of multiple virtues. In his public ministry, which will last for about three years, he continues to do so, but in a different manner and in different circumstances. Thus all walks of life can and must imitate Christ.
Today’s miracle where he changes water into excellent wine, marks the transition between these two periods of the Redeemer’s life. It is full of quintessential teachings for our Christian life and our quest of eternal beatitude.
“At that time, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage.”
St John mentions that it was the third day after Our Lord had first called several disciples. They were some of St John the Baptist’s disciples to whom the holy Prophet had pointed out Our Lord with the words: “Behold the Lamb of God.” (Jn 1:36) Then he came into Galilee where he was to operate the first miracle.
Our Lady was there, certainly helping with the preparations and the organizing of the wedding. A wedding celebration went on for several days, normally a week. So there was a lot to do.
Some bad tongues say that they ran out of wine because, together with Mary’s son, the future Apostles had shown up…
“And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come.”
Here Our Lady will speak for the last time in the Gospel. She speaks twice. First she addresses herself with a problem to her divine Son. She puts her observation very plainly, with the implicit demand or invitation to Jesus to resolve the problematic situation. The newlywed would have been the laughter of their village for the rest of their life, and probably even their descendants, if the fact that they had run out of wine during their marriage celebration had become obvious. Therefore Our Lady, certainly the first to discover the imminent catastrophe – she is the Virgin most prudent, as we call her in the Litany of Loreto – put the problem to God made man, her son. She knew he could cut the knot, she believed and she had entire confidence.
Our Lord’s answer has left many perplexed, but without any good reason. God’s Providence works in the most wonderful and often wondrous ways. Our Lord states that it is not part of his mission to make wine; and that the hour for him to operate his first public miracle had not yet come. He was there to fulfill the will of the Father, His good pleasure. So, as some theologians explain, Mary as a wise mother, having seen her request declined, goes to the father. She speaks with God, she prays – and lo and behold! her request is immediately heard. After having prayed to God in her heart, she addresses herself to the waiters.
“His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye.”
Our Lady’s very last words related in the Gospel! They are obviously not only addressed to the servants present in Cana, but to all of us. Do whatever my divine Son, whom I know and in whom I believe, and whom you will now get to know and in whom you shall believe if you want to be saved, shall tell you! She has nothing else to add to this admonition, and throughout the centuries, as often as she has visited the earth in order to speak to humans in one of her frequent apparitions, she has said nothing else: Whatsoever he has told you, do it!
This episode clearly instructs and teaches us about the omnipotence of Our Lady’s prayers and intercession. This is why it is so important to develop and to maintain a sound, profound and filial devotion to Our Lady. Her children, her clients, as the Fathers, Doctors, theologians and writers unanimously have said, will not lose their soul if only they keep asking her – or rather asking God’s favors through her all-powerful intercession.
“Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece. Jesus saith to them: Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And Jesus saith to them: Draw out now, and carry to the chief steward of the feast. And they carried it.”
Our Lord submits to the will of the Father who has now decreed that the hour has come for him to manifest himself to the world as the Son of God. He tells the servants to fill up six large jars with water. They do it with generosity, certainly remembering the preceding injunction by Our Lady. This water – several hundred liters – he then changes into the most excellent wine, as the following verses indicate. God’s works are always perfect!
“And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water; the chief steward calleth the bridegroom, snd saith to him: Every man at first setteth forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse. But thou hast kept the good wine until now.”
The chief steward is not informed of the miraculous origin of the wine, at least not at first. Thus he tells off the bridegroom for having held back the good wine. Surely the misunderstanding has soon been cleared up. Meanwhile we see how God has, humanly speaking, a strong sense of innocent humor.
“This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee; and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”
The miracles done by Our Lord – and there is a great number of them – are proofs of his divine origin and nature. He will declare this later to be one of the reasons why all those who have witnessed his life and actions, are inexcusable if they do not believe in the true Son of God.
All of Our Lord’s deeds have a spiritual meaning, besides being historical facts. Marriage, the only institution which has remained unchanged even by the great flood, as the Church says (Missale Romanum, nuptial blessing), had been very much degraded among the Hebrews. Moses had to allow them, by God’s permission, that a man could repudiate his wife. The reason for this, Our Lord states, was the hardness of their hearts. Soon Christ would restore the original order intended by the Creator when he united Adam and Eve with a sacred bond (Mt 19:3-9). - Marriage had thus lost much of its natural and supernatural flavor, it had become like wine of low quality. The best wine was kept for the last times which began with God’s Incarnation.Our Lord elevated marriage to the rank of a Sacrament. It is a holy thing which must be used in a holy manner by Catholics. Rhis is the only remedy to the evils of society, as today’s woes prove by the contrary…
St Augustine comments that Our Lord chose to do his first miracle at a wedding in order to show unequivocally that marriage is not bad, as many perverted minds of heretics would pretend. He knew what he was talking about since he himself had been a Manichean. Manicheism rejects the physical, bodily world as bad and recognizes only the spiritual world as good. It pretends that the material creation has been made by an evil principle or god, and the spiritual creation has been made by a good principle or god. It is an inadequate explanation for the fact why there is evil in this world.
Marriage is good and willed by God as an institution. In the New and everlasting Covenant, though, by the words of Our Lord himself (Mt 19:10-12) and the Apostle’s teaching (in particular 1Cor 7), it is better and more perfect to remain unmarried for the sake of God and His kingdom.
Marriage signifies as an image, the heavenly reality of the profound and indissoluble union between Christ and his Church.
Celibacy signifies and anticipates the definitive and permanent state. “For when they shall rise again from the dead, they shall neither marry, nor be married, but are as the angels in heaven.” (Mk 12:25) After his Resurrection Our Lord says to St Peter about St John who was unmarried: “So I will have him to remain till I come, what is it to thee?” (Jn 21:22) as we have heard on the feast of the beloved Apostle (Dec. 27).
Let us strengthen our faith and our reliance on God’s Providence so that each of us may accomplish his destiny according to His holy will. Let us pray with our whole mind and heart with Holy Church today (Collect): “Almighty, everlasting God, Who governs both the heavens and the earth, graciously hear the humble prayers of Thy people and grant us Thy peace all the days of our life.“
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.