Spoiler alert!  As we begin the Cycle of Ordinary Time and before we even enter into the Gospel of Luke which will be our guide during this Liturgical Year, we have the Gospel of the Wedding Feast of Cana, a mystery of light, that will be our transition from the season of Epiphany to the season of Ordinary Time.  The Wedding Feast of Cana is the first sign that points to the revelation of the glory of Jesus the Christ in the Gospel of John.  It is a manifestation, an epiphany, a showing, a revelation of the glory of Jesus.  In that way it is a mystery of light.  One of the deepest desires of the heart of Jesus is that his beloved disciples will see him in his glory.  In his final prayer to the Father, Jesus says, “Father, they are your gift to me.  I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (Jn 17,24)  The Gospel is a love story.  It is the story of an ancient love that began before the foundation of the world.  It is the story of a love that is shared with humanity, a love that is a love unto the end.  The love of the Holy Trinity overflows into creation and begins a love story between God and the world.  Beginning with the Wedding Feast of Cana is a bit of a spoiler because it reveals how this love story will eventually end – with a wedding!  God so loves the world that he sends his only Son, Jesus, into the world as the Bridegroom, arrayed in splendor and clothed in glory, to wed his Bride, the Church.  At the end of his time with us, Jesus leaves us the Eucharist as the final mystery of light and the eternal and perpetual wedding feast of the Lamb of God.  Jesus begins his ministry with the sign of turning water into wine and the final sign or sacrament that he will leave us with is the turning of wine into his Precious Blood, the blood of new life and salvation in a new covenant of love.

     The story begins with Mary, the mother of Jesus, who has been invited to the wedding.  She notices something significant about this wedding celebration:  “They have no wine.” (Jn 2,3)  Wine gladdens the heart (Ps 104,15) and is a sign of God’s blessing and of joy in life.  There is an abundance of water for ceremonial washing and purification but this does not bring life and joy.  It is, in a sense, without grace.  Years of ceremonial washing has not cleansed the heart of Israel and it has not brought them joy.  The water needs to be changed into something new.  Mary, who is full of grace, recognizes the need for God’s grace.  Something is missing at this wedding feast.  To have no wine is like having no bridegroom.  Like a good mother, Mary points to her Son.  He can provide what is missing in our lives:  “Do whatever he tells you.” (Jn 2,5)  If we follow that simple instruction then the water of our life will become a fine wine.  Our life will be full of grace.  Our spoiler alert lets us know that in the end Jesus is the consummate bridegroom who will bring us joy.  Just as wine is a gift from God, so is our new life in Jesus a grace and a sign of love.

     We are blessed to live in the time of the New Covenant of Christ and to be invited every day to the wedding feast of the Lamb that is the Eucharist.  God has certainly “kept the good wine until now.” (Jn 2,10)  He wants us to enter deeply into the new life that he has prepared for us in Christ.  This life is a love story that ends with our intimate communion with Jesus the bridegroom.  All we have to do is be obedient to his command of love.  The obedience of faith will lead us to everlasting joy and eternal love.  

     Are you looking for a great love in your life?  Are you yearning for something finer and more sublime?  Mary points us to Jesus and helps us to understand that he has been sent into the world as an emissary of God the Father’s love.  If we follow him, if we are faithful to his command to love as he has loved us, then our lives will be prepared for joy.  We will know the joy of intimate communion with Jesus, the bridegroom and we will come to see our own beauty as the bride of Christ, adorned in glory.  We usually settle for the ordinary wine of very ordinary lives but Jesus has prepared the finest wine for us in love as he transforms our lives in and through his love.