Second Sunday after Epiphany
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| Sanctuary of the Church in Cana |
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is no accident that our Lord’s first miracle–or sign, as St. John calls it–is at a wedding. When we talk about vocations, we often think of the call to priesthood or religious life, and those are certainly beautiful vocations that show forth for us the beauty of the heavenly life, even while here on earth. But holy matrimony is also a beautiful vocation, and our Lord not only blessed a wedding with His presence, but also made sure that the bride and the groom were not embarrassed by running out of wine.
The idea of a marriage permeates the Old Testament. We start salvation history with Adam and Eve, the first husband and wife. The prophets use the image of a husband and wife to describe God and His relationship with Israel. The prophet Ezekiel in particular talks about choosing Israel, though she was left to die on the side of the road, and making her His own. But, Ezekiel points out, Israel was unfaithful, and sought other lovers who had not cared for her. Hosea, too, is called to take a wife, but his wife is a harlot, which God uses to show Israel’s infidelity to Him. But, God takes Israel back, despite her infidelity, and continues to love her. The Song of Songs, Jewish romantic poetry, also talks about the love between a woman and a man, and the Church Fathers see in this book the love between God and His People.
I preached at Christmas of how, in Christ, divinity was wedded to humanity, never to be divorced, and eternity was wedded to time. So as we continue to unpack the mystery of Christmas and Epiphany, it is fitting that we look to the wedding at Cana.
And what we see is that Christ makes every wedding better. Symbolically, we see this in the water that becomes wine. Christ takes what is natural (water) and raises it to the level of the supernatural (wine). This is certainly true of marriage. Marriage is a natural institution. Many people who are not Catholic, or not even baptized, get married, and as long as there are no impediments to marriage, the Church sees these marriages as valid. But marriages between the baptized are raised to a supernatural level and become sacraments–efficacious signs of God’s grace, based in the Paschal Mystery, which call for and cause grace. And because of the supernatural dignity of marriages between the baptized, they need to happen in a church building, as the place where God dwells in a particular way with us. In fact, when a Catholic does not get married in a church, according to the rites of the Church (unless the bishop gives permission), that marriage does not take place, and a couple would be living in the state of fornication, until they remedied their situation in the Church.
Most of you are married or will become married at some point. Yours is not a second-rate vocation, but a beautiful, sacramental call to witness the love that Christ has for His Church. You not only receive God’s grace to live in a marriage that is faithful, lifelong, for each other’s good, and open to children, but by living in such a way, actually become a conduit of God’s grace to the world, in a similar way as water that communicates God’s grace in the sacrament of baptism. By living as husband and wife according to God’s plan, God’s grace can flow through you. This is the beauty of marriage, the wine that was transformed from the water of natural marriage.
Living the vocation of marriage is not always easy. And that is why the presence of Christ, not only at the wedding but throughout the entire marriage, is so necessary. It’s not enough to invite Jesus, his Blessed Mother, and disciples to the wedding. They want to be a part of your entire married life. So each day, invite them by prayer to be a part of your married life. Whenever possible, pray together as a couple. I know a priest who told a story about his mom and his dad. This priest said that, when the door to mom and dad’s bedroom was closed at night, no one was to enter, and, as one of many children, he later could guess why this rule existed. But when he was a young child, he broke the rule once, and peeked in to see mom and dad after he was supposed to be in bed. When he looked in through the crack in the door, he saw his parents, kneeling together at the side of the bed, praying the rosary together. What a beautiful witness of inviting our Lord and Lady to the marriage! But whatever the prayer, whether a full rosary, or a decade, or maybe simply some brief prayers from memory or from the heart, it is a way to help you be the vehicle of God’s grace that marriage is meant to be.
But both for married and non-married people, Christ wants to make life better for all, and does so through those who are united to Christ in baptism. When we are living to the call of our baptism, we fulfill what St. Paul talked about in the epistle. When we are living as Christians, we are called to hate that which is evil, and cling to that which is good. We are called to love each other with mutual affection, and honor each other. We serve the Lord through rejoicing in hope, being patient in trials, and persevering in prayer. When we follow the Lord, we are able to increase the natural joys with the supernatural joy of Christ. When we follow the Lord, we are able to weep with those who are sad, but help them to see that God’s plan, even if not clear, and even when it includes the allowance of suffering, leads to a glory that cannot be compared with any earthly happiness. We, too, are called to continue that presence of Christ, and help change the natural into the supernatural. Maybe we won’t change water into wine (a gift that many of us would like to have, I’m sure), but will do greater signs than changing the substance of a liquid, by convincing sinners to be saints, and storming heaven with those who want the salvation that Christ offers.
Christ is not satisfied with the natural good that we experience. He draws us through passing things to the things that endure forever. He lifts up, perfects, and transforms what is naturally good to make it supernaturally good. And that is no truer than in the Eucharist, the bread that becomes the Body of Christ and the wine that becomes the Blood of Christ. Through our worthy reception, may we be drawn into that to which marriage points, the eternal union of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
