2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, January 15, 2012
Gospel - John 2: 1-11
There are three mysteries associated with the Epiphany. The first is the Star of Bethlehem that led the three Gentile Kings to the Christ Child. The Second is the Baptism of Jesus by John. The third is the Marriage Feast at Cana and our Lord’s first public miracle.
St. Matthew announced to us the mystery of faith by the star on the Feast of the Epiphany, where the gifts of the Magi expressed the Divinity of the Christ Child. (Matthew 2: 1-12) St. Luke instructed us in the mystery of the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, where God the Father announced that Jesus is His Son. This was last Sunday. (Luke 2: 42-52) Today is the Second Sunday after the Epiphany and St. John suggests the explanation of the mystery of the Marriage Feast at Cana. At Cana Jesus acts as God in changing water into the finest wine. (John 2: 1-11) This begins His public ministry as the Messiah.
Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, have no meaning if we do not understand that Christ is in all the Scriptures. Our Lord said as much when, just before He ascended to Heaven, he told His Apostles in Luke 24:44, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms concerning me.”
The Law begins to speak at the beginning of the world. And God’s Law continues to speak from the beginning to the sixth age of creation, which is the period we are in today. The first age is reckoned from Adam to Noah, and the great destruction of the flood. The second age is from Noah to Abraham, our Patriarch. The third is from Abraham to David, king and prophet. The fourth from David to the transmigration into Babylon, into slavery. The fifth is from then until John the Baptist, the herald of the Messiah. The sixth age is from the Baptist and Jesus until the end of the world. The six water jars at the wedding feast in Cana, therefore, signify the six ages of the world. In each age there were prophesies of the Christ. All the prophesies have now been fulfilled, and so today’s Gospel tells us the water jars are “filled to the brim.” So we can easily understand now that Christ has kept the good wine, that is, the Gospel, until the last, which He reserved until the sixth age of the world.
St. Gaudentius (d. 410 A.D.) has a different insight into today’s Gospel, to help us understand what happened at Cana and why it happened. The Gospel beings: “And on the third day, there was a marriage in Cana . . .” What is this “third day?” St. Gaudentius asks. It was the day of light he tells us, fittingly prepared for the teaching of the Lord, Who is the True Light. The first day he reckons from Adam until Moses. The second day were the many years subject to the Law of Moses, and the third day is the time in which the Grace of the Redeemer prevails.
On this “third day” the Lord joined to Himself the Church as His Spouse because this day began His public ministry. This Spouse was joined to Him from among the Gentiles and this we know because this wedding took place not in Judea, but in Cana of Galilee. Isaias 9: 1,2 speaks of this: “At the last [time] the way of the sea beyond the Jordan of the Galilee of the Gentiles was heavily loaded. The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to them that dwelt in this region of the shadow of death, light is risen.”
This Light is Jesus Christ, the Light of the world.
Today’s Gospel continues: “And Jesus also was invited, and His disciples. “ In the religious sense we are speaking of today. Jesus is the Bridegroom, the Church is His Bride and Jesus is invited by the prophets: “Lord, bow down thy heavens and descend.” (Psalm143: 5) And again, “Stir up thy might, and come to save us.” (Psalm 79: 3)
The Gospel continues: “And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine.” The wine provided at the wedding was all consumed. The wine referred to by Mary was the nuptial wine of the Holy Spirit, Who inspired the Prophets, because the prophets had now ceased to speak and to minister to the people of Israel. Their role was brought to fruition by the appearance of Jesus. The Gentiles also had no one to give them spiritual drink, but Jesus was there that day to fill the new bottles with new wine. “For the old things,” St. Paul tells us, “have passed away: behold all things are made new.” (2 Corinthians 5: 17)
Each year God makes wine from water and grapes on the vine, but this miracle of nature loses its wonder through its yearly repetition. So at Cana God used an unaccustomed means to rouse men to the worship of Himself, and this is the reason St. John added the words “and manifested his glory” at the end of today’s Gospel. Following this he wrote: “and his disciples believed in him,” because after seeing what Jesus did at Cana, they were obliged to believe in Him and to pay more attention to everything He said and did. +++
We Celebrate the Tridentine Latin Mass
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