“They have no more wine.” These are the last words spoken in holy scripture from our Lady to her Son. They are eternally significant and one can spend an entire life time meditating upon them. In this reflection we desire to focus upon three aspects of this statement. First, the meaning of wine in the context of the wedding feast at “Cana in Galilee.” Second, how the wine unites with the hour that belongs to Jesus. Third, the abundance that comes from the hand of our Lord and continues the marriage feast.
Cana means zeal while Galilee is the land of transition. The church is going from the law to the era of grace and it is all under cover of the marriage feast. Nuptials mark the presence of God. It takes three to get married as the good Bishop Sheen wrote concerning the marital union. This covenant union is marked by the sacrifice of the lamb. With its blood poured out the guests eat and drink with one greater than themselves. The wine is the fruit of the vine and it indicates the union of a multitude of souls. This specific marriage feast is the divinely chosen moment to introduce the new era approaching this world of ours. The law no longer satisfied; the wine is the spirit of divine life flooding the individual’s heart and drawing it into an intimate marital union.
Here we are in the midst of a transmigration from the old dispensation to the new order of the Spirit. Everyone of us must realize that the old is powerless and the new is waiting to be born. We are at the end of an age of rebellion and chastisement and entering the era of Marian devotion and love. Our lady calls for this new experience with her last words to her son: “They have no more wine.” This expression is then tied to the “hour” of Jesus which all the scholars recognize as His Sacrificial Death upon the Cross. The Blood of the Lamb, the wine of divine life, is poured out in the hour that purchased our redemption. Hence the wine is clearly abundant. It will reach from Calvary right down to this present moment when a simple humble priest will re-enact and re-present that eternal mysterious love affair.
It is said that a “drop” of divine blood is sufficient for our salvation but not sufficient to indicate the Love of God for each of us. He poured out His Blood to the last drop. Six jars of water were standing there and the Lord said to fill those jars “to the brim.” Once this is done then the water transubstantiated is taken to the waiter in charge, who recognizes that a tradition has been changed. Most people serve the best wine first and save the lesser vintage for the end after the people have become a little cheery. But this groom, Christ, has kept the best wine for the last. How beautiful to realize that we have the most precious of God’s gifts, the Precious Blood of our Salvation. By it we are purchased for God our Father. In it we are purified of all our sins. With it we find the path that leads us to true joy.
Come to the wedding feast of the lamb. Come, Lord Jesus, come.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Fr. Richard Voigt
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