Salesian Literature

9.  The Wedding Feast of Cana

Sermon for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, January 17, 1621, concerning Our Lard's miracle at the wedding feast of Cana as the first sign He performed to manifest His glory, mystical correspondences between the works of Our Lord, His changing of water into wine at the beginning of His ministry and of wine into Blood at its end, the attendance of Our Lord and His Mother at the wedding feast of Cana, Our Lady's way of addressing her Son regarding the shortage of wine, how we should make the proper intentions in our prayers, the error of praying for the feelings of the virtues rather than for the virtues themselves, the true meaning of Our Lord's seemingly harsh response to His Mother, Our Lady's confidence that He would grant a favourable response, the way in which Our Lord advanced His "hour" in response to Our Lady's prayer, the Holy Eucharist, and how we should follow Our Lady's advice to do whatever her Son tells us—by faithfully fulfilling the duties of today so that He may change the tepid water of our repentance into the wine of divine love.

 

There are two Gospels today: one for confessors,[1] the other which relates Our Lord's first miracle, worked at the wedding feast of Cana in Galilee. [Jn. 2:1-11]. I will speak on the latter; we will not speak on St. Antony, because in the cathedral sermon today he was suitably and exhaustively extolled. I will deal with the first miracle or, as St. John calls it, the first sign that Our Lord performed to manifest His glory. First we shall discuss how the miracle was accomplished, and secondly, by whom it was accomplished and who took part in it. The Evangelist declares that this was the first sign that Jesus performed to manifest His glory. I am well aware that some doctors argue that this miracle was not Our Lord's first. But since not only St. John attests to it, but even St. Ambrose, and since the vast majority of ancient Fathers agree, we accept it too. In order better to develop the views of St. Ambrose and other Fathers on this miracle, difficulties with their view need to be dealt with first, after which we will give a reflection which will be a consolation that our faith gives us.

 

Let us begin by saying that this miracle was the first sign that the Saviour Himself gave to manifest His glory. Many prodigies, it is true, were wrought before this one: some by Our Lord, others in Our Lord, and others for the coming of Our Lord—as the Incarnation, the greatest of all and the miracle of miracles. But the Incarnation was invisible, secret and unknown. So exalted is it that it infinitely surpasses the comprehension of the angels and archangels. Consequently it did not serve as a sign to manifest the glory of God as did that performed at the wedding feast of Cana. The Incarnation is so preeminent and profound a mystery that it was never anticipated—nor could it be—by the ancient pagans and philosophers. Even those skilled in the Law of Moses were unable to comprehend it, it being invisible and of such profundity that it far exceeds all human and angelic capacity to grasp. In this mortal life we believe it because faith teaches it to us, but in Heaven we will see it, and this will constitute part of our eternal felicity. Other miracles clustered around the Incarnation; one of the greatest is that the divine Word was conceived and born of a woman who was at once both Mother and Virgin. Many marvels accompanied the birth of the Saviour, as the appearance of the star which brought the Magi from the East. [Matt. 2:1-2]. But although these signs were done to manifest Our Lord's glory, it was not He who wrought them, but the Father and the Holy Spirit. Certainly, as God, He wrought them also, for what the Father docs, so do the Son and the Holy Spirit as well. But as to the miracle of Cana, it is properly the Son who wrought it.

 

Here is a second difficulty. Many ancient Fathers assert the probable truth that our divine Lord performed many miracles while He lived in Egypt and in His parents' house. But these, too, were very secret and invisible, because Our Lord was not known at that time. Thus, the sign of Cana in Galilee, of which the Evangelist speaks, was truly the first which He performed to manifest His glory.

 

But what reflection shall we make as a consolation which our faith gives? Note that this first miracle was wrought by changing water into wine, just as the last wrought by Jesus Christ in His mortal sojourn was the changing of wine into His Blood in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. We preachers of God's word are obliged to speak of each mystery as it is celebrated and to draw consolations from our faith. Today I will treat of the consolation which comes to us from our faith in the Eucharist. I am not going to teach you, for you believe it and are well established and confirmed in your belief, even willing to die upholding this truth. Rather than teach you, I am going to fill your heart with joy and consolation derived from speaking of these great mysteries.

 

Our Lord is the First, the Alpha and the Omega [Apoc. (Rev.) 1:8; 22:13], the Beginning and the End of all things. To represent this truth about Divinity and to make it better understood, the Egyptians painted a serpent biting its tail. This made the serpent appear to be round, with neither beginning nor end; his head, which was the beginning, was touching the end, which was his tail. So Our Lord, who from all eternity is the Beginning of all things, will be the End of them for all eternity. He has always made the beginning like the end, a marvelous correspondence between the two. When God created Adam, the first sign of that creation was changing mud into a human body. Likewise, when Jesus Christ recreated, the first sign of this re-creation was the transformation of one substance into another, the changing of water into wine. Yes, the Saviour came to re-create what was lost. "I will come," He said, "to make a new man." Man was so destroyed by sin that he no longer appeared to be what he had been originally. That is why, to renew him, Our Lord began his re-creation as He had done his creation. What a marvelous correspondence! In the creation of man, God changed earth into human flesh, an amazing transformation. After saying: Let Us make man to Our image and likeness, He took some clay and shaped it into a body which was still only a mass of earth. Then He breathed into this body, and the mass was changed into flesh and blood; He made of it a living man. [Gen. 1:26-27; 2:7]. Something similar occurs in the re-creation. Our Lord begins by transforming water into wine, giving this sign to reveal His glory.

 

He always manifests this correspondence in all His works. Look at Him at the moment of His entrance into the world. He was born quite naked from His Mother's womb. According to the revelations of St. Bridget, the most holy Virgin found Him naked before her eyes, having given birth to this most blessed Fruit without labour and without prejudice to her virginity. She being absorbed in a gentle, loving and comforting contemplation, the Saviour came forth unnoticed from her womb. Coming out of her rapture, she saw Him there quite naked. She took Him and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and little woolens. He chose to leave this world as He had entered it, dying quite naked on the tree of the Cross. After His death He was taken down, allowing Himself to be shrouded in swathing bands as He had done at His Nativity. He was born crying, just as all other infants. All are born crying; the only exception, according to Pliny, was Zoroaster, a very wicked man who and was "born laughing"! But Our Lord was born crying and wailing, as the Book of Wisdom testifies: Although a great and wonderful king, I was born, like all children, crying and wailing. [Wis. 7:3]. Though it really refers to Solomon, the passage may readily be applied to Our Lord. Thus our true Solomon, though born sovereign King of the earth, yet willed to be born weeping, and accordingly to die weeping.

 

He chose to begin the Gospel by this first sign of the changing of water into wine. He chose to end His ministry of preaching by changing wine into Blood. He performed the first miracle at a banquet, and the last, the Eucharist, at another banquet. He changed water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana, and at the Last Supper, which was as the wedding feast of this Sacred Spouse, He transformed bread into His Flesh and wine into His Blood; with this transubstantiation He began to solemnize those nuptials which He consummated on the tree of the Cross. For the day of the Saviour's death was the day of His marriage. [Cf. Cant. 3:11].

 

In brief, in His first miracle He changed water into wine; and in the last one which He performed before His death He instituted the Eucharist, the Sacrament of His true presence. We believe this truth and this mystery which, along with the Incarnation, is the greatest and most hidden of all. Because faith teaches it, we believe that Jesus Christ is in this Most Holy Sacrament, body and soul. The Apostle says that the Christian is nourished with the living Flesh and Blood of the living God [1 Cor. 10:16; 11:24-27], and this is true. This truth may contradict our senses, which perceive nothing of its reality. Yet we believe it—and even believe it with greater delight the more our senses fail us here. Because of the hidden nature of the sacred mystery of the Eucharist, Divine Providence has provided us with thousands of proofs of this truth in hundreds of places, both in the Gospel and in the Old Testament. Our Lord Himself has so enlightened the understanding of some who have written on this subject that it is sheer delight to hear about and read what they have written so clearly and intelligently. Certainly we ought to make a thousand adorations each day to this divine Sacrament in thanksgiving for the love with which God dwells among us. These reflections ought to be a great consolation derived from this mystery of our faith.

 

Let us now turn to the question of how this miracle was wrought. For this I shall relate the whole of the Gospel story.

 

There was, says St. John, a wedding at Cana in Galilee. This was a small town near Nazareth where the relatives of the Virgin and Our Lord lived. They had a wedding, to which the Saviour and His Mother had been invited. Some Doctors delight in discussing whether the Apostles were there as invited guests or not. It is amazing how many different opin­ions there are on this subject. Let us bypass these arguments and follow what the Evangelist says. Besides, many of the ancient Fathers think that since Our Lord and His most holy Mother were invited, for their sake the Apostles were invited as well. St. John says quite clearly: and His disciples. We must follow that view. It is questioned whether this wedding feast was that of St. John or of another; but let us pass over that, it matters little. In any event, our dear Master and Our Lady were invited. They went; but when? Oh, certainly, it is likely that the holy Virgin arrived the evening before. For the women and relatives arrived on the eve of a wedding feast, not only to be received but also to assist in receiving the other guests, and in this way to pay honor to the bride. This holy Lady, who was extremely humble, certainly must have gone the evening before to render this kind service to the bride and bridegroom.

 

The Apostles went to this wedding feast, and Our Lord did not refuse the invitation either. For, you see, He had come to buy back, to re-form and to re-create man. He did not choose to do this with a demeanor that was grave, austere and rigid, but one that was most kind, polite and altogether courteous. Thus, being invited, He did not excuse Himself, but went, and His presence lessened some of the excessive frivolity and revelry usually found on such occasions. Certainly the weddings at which Our Lord and Our Lady are present are well-ordered and display great moderation.[2] The contrary is true with many of ours today. They are often full of frivolity and even deceptions. When one plans a daughter's marriage, how many falsehoods are spoken! She is this, she is that, she has so much inheritance; this young man has such and such rank and qualities. And on this basis they conclude the marriage, only to discover that much that was said is not the case at all. Then regrets and reproaches come, and on both sides. But it is too late for that, for the marriage is made. The marriage of Cana was not like this at all, for there is no deceit where Our Lord is. How modest this feast must have been, with the Saviour's presence causing great restraint.

 

Now I cannot imagine how it happened, but the wine began to fail. The servants grew a bit anxious in seeing the bottles emptying and made note of it among themselves while pouring the wine. Perhaps in this way it reached the ears of the women, who then began to make plans to address the problem. The all-holy Virgin, who was wise, prudent and full of charity, conceived an admirable expedient to relieve the embarrassment. But what will this holy Lady do, for she carries no money with which to buy wine? Her Son has none. How does she expect to help these people in their need? Oh, indeed, she knows she has with her the One who is all-powerful and whose great charity and kindness are very familiar to her. His all-powerful kindness will unfailingly provide for these poor people in their need.

 

It is very likely that it was a marriage of poor people. For this reason Our Lord was invited. In truth, He delighted in dealing with the poor and being with them. He always favored them. More often than not He was found among them; He loved poverty everywhere, even in kings' palaces, and particularly delighted in being in the midst of poverty. If our dear Saviour so delights in finding poverty in the houses of the great and at wedding feasts, what will be His delight to find it in religious houses where a vow is made to observe it![3] His delight will be to find frugality there in the midst of sufficiency, not the absence of necessities, but the absence of superfluities. Let this little instruction be said in passing.

 

The Virgin approaches her Son who alone, without money, can meet this need. Notice what this most holy Lady does and says: My Lord, they have no more wine. It is as if she meant to say: "My Lord and my Son, these people here are poor, and although poverty is extremely lovable and greatly pleasing to You, yet it is often a shameful experience, reducing one to the world's scorn and derision. These good peo­ple, Your hosts, will experience great shame if You do not help them. I know that You are all-powerful and will provide for their necessity and keep them from shame and humiliation. I never doubt Your charity and kindness. Keep in mind the hospitality they have extended to us—inviting us to their banquet. Please provide them with what they need."

 

The holy Virgin did not need to make a long case to her Son of this couple's needs. Skilled in the art of praying, she used the shortest but most excellent way of praying, saying only these words: My Son and my Lord, they have no more wine. By these words this sacred Virgin says "You are so kind and charitable, Your Heart is so merciful and full of pity; please grant me what I ask You for these poor people." A most excellent prayer, certainly, one in which this holy Lady speaks to Our Lord with the greatest reverence and humility imaginable. She goes to her Son not with assurance, nor with presumption, as some dare to do, but with a most profound humility, with which she presents to Him this couple's needs, convinced that He will provide for them.

 

Thus, it is a very good prayer simply to present one's needs to Our Lord, place them before the eyes of His goodness, and leave it to Him to act as He sees fit, convinced that He will answer us according to our needs. When, for example, we find ourselves dry, desolate and disheartened, let us follow the Virgin's example and say to Him, "Lord, look on me here, poor daughter that I am, desolate, afflicted, full of dryness and aridities." "See me here, Lord, poor man that I am, the poorest of all men and full of sins." "But what do you want?" "Oh, what do I want? You know well what I need; it is enough for me to present myself to You as I am. You will provide for my miseries and necessities as You see fit."

 

Certainly one can pray not only for spiritual, but for temporal things as well. That can and ought to be done, since Our Lord Himself taught us to do so. In the Lord's Prayer we ask daily that God's Kingdom come (it being the beginning and end for which we live), and then that His will be done, that will being the sole means to that beatitude. But besides that, we make another request, namely, that He give us our daily bread. [Matt. 6:9-13; Lk. 11:2-4]. Holy Church even has special prayers by which we ask God for temporal favours, such as prayers for peace in time of war, for rain in time of drought, and for fair weather in time of too much rain. Indeed, there are even special Masses for times of plagues. The point is absolutely clear: we can and ought to ask God for both our spiritual and temporal needs.

 

To understand this better, remember the example of Rebecca and Isaac, who both desired to have children. Unfortunately, Rebecca was sterile and, according to the laws of nature, could not have any. Yet from all eternity God had foreseen and ordained that Rebecca would conceive and have children—but on the condition that she be granted them by her prayers. Thus if she had not prayed for them with her husband Isaac, she would not have conceived. Realizing that they were childless because of her sterility, she and her husband shut themselves up in a room and prayed so fervently that God heard them, granted their prayer, and Rebecca became pregnant with the twins Esau and Jacob [Gen. 25:21].

 

In just this way, the loving sighs of Our Lady advanced the Incarnation of Our Lord, according to the ancient Doctors. It is not that He became incarnate before the time that He had foreordained. No. But in His eternity He had foreseen that the holy Virgin would implore Him to hasten the moment of His coming into the world, and that He would hearken to her prayer and become incarnate sooner than He would have if she had not prayed.

 

It is quite the same with this first miracle that Our Lord worked today at the wedding feast of Cana. "My hour is not yet come," He said to His holy Mother, "but since I can refuse you nothing, I will advance this hour to do what you ask." From all eternity He had foreseen that He would anticipate it in favor of Our Lady's prayers. Oh, how blessed is the hour of Divine Providence in which God has willed to bestow on us so many graces and blessings. Oh, how blessed is the soul who will await that hour with patience and who will prepare herself to respond with fidelity to it when it comes. Certainly that was the hour of Divine Providence in which the Samaritan woman was converted. Likewise, on this hour of Divine Providence our conversion and reformation depend; and we ought to take diligent care to be well-disposed for it, so that when Our Lord comes, we will be ready to respond wholeheartedly to His grace.

 

The Saviour commanded the attendants to fill six stone water jars that were set there for the purifying of the Jews, since they always washed when they had touched something forbidden by the Law. They had rigid exterior ceremonies to which they were extremely exact, but according to Scripture they took scarcely any care to purify their interior. [Matt. 23:25-26; Mk. 7:3-6]. (I have seen one of these jars in Paris in a house of the religious of the Cistercian Order. It was very large, as is the Hebrew style, but I did not measure it because I saw it only from a distance.) These attendants were very careful to do as the sacred Virgin directed them, for as soon as the command was given they filled these jars so full that, according to the sacred text, the water overflowed.

 

Then Our Lord said an interior word which no one heard, and immediately all the water was changed into very good wine. This word was doubtless similar to that which He used when He created all things from nothing and gave life and being to man, and which He used in that last banquet with His disciples when He changed the wine into His Blood in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. And what an exceptionally excellent wine! By it we are nourished, in that it is by the reception of the Body and Blood of the Saviour that the merits of His Passion and Death are applied to us. Ordinarily kings and great princes always carry with them powder from the horns of the unicorn, which serves as a protection against poison. When they have some indisposition they take some of this powder in wine to preserve their health. The human spirit is amazing! Many question the existence of unicorns and whether the powder from their horns has this efficacy. To go seeking for reasons for such arguments is not to our point. For the present, let us follow those who say that there are unicorns and that their powder has the property of counteracting poison.[4] All can have this powder, not only princes. Nevertheless these latter have this advantage over others: their goblets, in which they put the powder from the unicorn, are made from the unicorn's horn. The Precious Blood of Our Lord is like the unicorn, expelling the venom of sin, which is poisonous to our souls. By the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the fruit of our Redemption is applied to us, as we have just said. This Sacrament was prefigured by miracles wrought in the Old Law. For instance, Moses had a rod by which he wrought marvellous and frightening things, for it was changed into a serpent and adder; and then, when he desired, it became a rod again. He used it to make water flow out of the rock [Ex.  17:5-6] and to change the waters into blood.  [Ex.  7:19-20]. In short, he worked prodigies which were figures of those which were to happen in the law of grace. [Cf. 1 Cor.  10:4,  11].

 

Let us conclude by saying a word about Our Lady's power to present our needs before her Son. We must invite her to our banquet too, since where the Son and Mother arc the wine will not fail. She will infallibly say: "My Lord, this daughter of mine has no more wine." But, my dear souls, for what wine do you ask? "Oh, certainly, that of consolation. It is all that we desire." A simple example will make this clear. A good woman has a sick son who is also her only child. She cries out to God: "He is the fruit of my womb; in him I have put all my hope." And when human remedies can do no more, she has recourse to vows made to the saints.[5] All this is of course good: it is right to invoke the saints. But, my dear daughter, why do you so beg for your son's health? When he is well, what will you do with him? "I will put him on the altar of my heart and burn incense before him." Now do you not see? If the Virgin had asked for wine so that those at the wedding could become inebriated, Our Lord would not have changed the water into wine.[6]

 

If we want Our Lady to ask her Son to change the water of Our tepidity into the wine of His love, we must do what­ever He tells us. This is a good point. Those attendants were extremely prompt in accomplishing all that He commanded them, as our divine Mistress had counselled them. Let us do well what the Saviour tells us: let us fill our hearts with the water of penitence, and this tepid water will be changed into the wine of fervent love. Do carefully what is at hand today, and tomorrow you will be ordered to do something else.

 

do we wish to have a long and fervent prayer? Let us nourish ourselves with good thoughts during the day, making frequent ejaculatory prayers. Do you wish to be recollected in prayer? Outside of prayer keep yourself as if you were there, and do not waste time in useless reflections, either on yourself or on what happens around you. Do not amuse yourself with trifles. You would wish to have some light of faith to understand the mystery of the Incarnation? Nourish yourself the whole day long with pious thoughts on the in­finite goodness of our God.

 

Finally, my dear Sisters, practice well what you have been taught until now, and rest in the providence of God; for He will never fail to supply what is necessary to you. [Ps. 54(55): 23; 1 Ptr. 5:7]. Praise Him in this life, and you will glorify Him with all the blessed in Heaven. May the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit lead us there! Amen.

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[1] Luke 12:35-40, for the Feast of St. Antony, Abbot

[2] Cf. Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, chap. 38.

[3] Cf. Sermons for Lent, "God's Spiritual Providence," March 6, 1622.

[4] Always keep in mind that St. Francis will use any suitable example to convey his spiritual point—even, as here, the mythical unicorn.

[5] Cf. Treatise on the Love of God, end of Preface; Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, chapter 23.

[6] The point seems a bit obscure at first. The mother in the example wants her son's health returned so she can, in a sense, "worship" him. Since this is against God's will, her prayer is unworthy. It would be like Our Lady asking for the miracle at Cana so that people could get drunk. St. Francis' point is this: pray, yes, but only for what is good.

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