The Wedding at Cana

Meditation on the Second Luminous Mystery of the Rosary

It was a great festive event.
Full of music and laughter and dancing.
The wine was full bodied
and generously poured.
Joy was overflowing for all of us,
as we came together to celebrate
love and marriage.

The wine — the symbol of joy,
summing up all the traditions and
the expectations of the guests
and new family being created.
Joined together, in our midst.
All their hopes for new life were
about to be dashed.
Their celebration of love
about to be cut short in shame.

Your mother begged You to have mercy
on the bride and her family,
as she does on behalf of Your bride,
the church, today and throughout time,
and to help us sustain the joy of the gathering.

You resisted at first,
saying it wasn’t yet time for You
to reveal Yourself;
the people not yet prepared
to learn of Your gifts.
Yet, she pressed on, ignoring Your hesitations,
maybe even Your misgivings.
Confident in God’s will and call for You,
Your mother instructed the wine steward,

She encouraged You to act,
even knowing Your actions
would expose Your divinity.
She pushed gently,
as only mothers can do,
disregarding all the details
in favor of Your purpose.

“Do whatever He tells you.”
(NSRV John 2:5)

And thus, You took Your first public steps,
as the Son of Our Father.

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In obedience and with love,
Your Son and the wine steward did
as you told them to do, sweet Mother.

Pray for us too, oh Mary,
for our obedience.
Urge us forward in our faith,
to take up God’s mission for us,
as Our Lord did.

When it is our time to act,
to bear Our Lord into our world,
to speak publicly,
to listen with His compassion,
to identify ourselves as His sheep and
to proclaim Him as our shepherd,
pray, Holy Mother, that He strengthens
our faith and our gifts,
that others might see the good work
He’s done in us, through us.

Pray, we cooperate with Jesus
as He sustains our joy.
Fill us with gratitude
for being one of His Chosen—
members of the Bride of Christ,
filled with a holy purpose, by His Grace—
prepared for Our Lord by the Father
for the holy sacrament of marriage.

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