John 2:1-11John 2:1-11
With voice of firm command
She bade the servants stand
And do His bidding; then, without a word
They knew their Master and His power adored.
Then, without word or sign,
The water turned to wine;
The wine blushed red within the circling cup,
While mortals with their God were called to sup.
- J Oliver Smith, in "The Christ"
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. And the wine failing, the Mother of Jesus saith to Him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is it to Me and to thee? My hour is not yet come. His Mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye. Now, there were set there six water-pots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece. Jesus saith to them: Fill the water-pots with water. And they rilled 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. 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, and 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. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee; and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
In silent thought He sat beside the Mother; and around The revellers were merry, thinking nought Of Him; and high the sound Of mirth and happiness and festal glee Rose from the village hall of humble Galilee. She gazed on Him; And knew that, underneath that fragile frame, The God who sits between the cherubim, Girded about with flame, Restrained his swelling Godhead, in the hem Of that weak fleshly garb revealed at Bethlehem. She watched His eye, And saw it kindle when the wine ran low, As oft times at her breast in infancy, In still and steady glow, Her God had gazed on her from that calm face, And eye to eye her soul refreshed its stores of grace. "'Tis not yet come, Woman, Mine hour, when I must tread alone The wine-press of My vintage. Though My home I leave to seek mine own, The Woman's Seed, ere ripened, must abide The resurrection Sun of God's warm Easter-tide." "Fill full the cup," And the thin water blushes into wine, To find its meaner substance brimming up Round the creative Vine; And the low whisper steals around the board: "Our Guest is God; tis our Creator; tis the Lord."
- Gerard Moultrie"We know not the details of that sweet, hidden life at Nazareth, but we do know that Mary's must have been a happy home. Everything in and about it was made holy and serene by her presence. She left nothing undone for the comfort of the strong, chaste spouse who held out to her the shield of his protecting arm. There was naught in the whole range of household duties the household duties, be it remembered, of a poor man's wife to which she did not put her blessed hands, and which she did not accomplish in a cheerful spirit and in the best manner possible. She anticipated his material wants and personal comforts; she soothed his spirit under trial and trouble; she brought him balm for soul and body amid the weariness and fatigue of the labors; she shed through his home the sunshine that comes of holiness of life, and cheerfulness of disposition, complete abandonment to the will of her Heavenly Father. And in the pursuance of her daily round of duties she sanctified herself more and more, and rendered herself less unworthy of being the special creation of God for the specially great work for which He had chosen her."
For thirty years Christ lived with Mary and Joseph and thus formed a shadow of the Heavenly Trinity on earth. O! the perfection of that sympathy which existed between the three! Not a look of one but the other two understood as expressed in a thousand words; nay, more than understood; accepted, echoed, corroborated. It was like three instruments absolutely in tune which all vibrate when one vibrates, and vibrate either one and the same note or in perfect harmony.
- Saint John Henry Newman
- text taken from Heaven's Bright Queen, by William James Walsh