Last month, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door at St Peter’s Basilica, ushering in
the beginning of the Jubilee Year. There are various Jubilee churches and shrines
across the country and all over the world, and if you look at the list of churches with
Holy Doors in this diocese, two of them are Marian shrines: Our Lady of Lourdes,
Hednesford, where the diocesan shrine is located, and Our Lady of Caversham. The
apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes are more recent, in the nineteenth century, whilst
the exact reasons for the shrine at Caversham are unknown, lost in the mists of
history, but we do know there was a shrine chapel there back at the time of the
Norman Conquest in 1066. If we do further archaeological research we can find that
devotion to Our Lady has been part of the Christian faith from the earliest times.
The earliest known recorded prayer to Our Lady is a prayer called the Sub Tuum
Praesidium, and goes back to around 250 AD. But why has Our Lady had such an
important place in the hearts of so many people?
We need only look at today’s Gospel reading, the Marriage Feast at Cana. The way
it is written, at the beginning the focus seems to be on Our Lady. We are told that
“the mother of Jesus was there” at the wedding feast, and then it adds “Jesus also
was invited to the wedding with his disciples”, almost like an additional detail.
“When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him...[emphasis added]” It’s
because of Our Lady’s presence and request that Our Lord performs His first miracle
in St John’s Gospel, “the first of his signs” of who He is. Let’s just unpack, then, a
few of the details.
Firstly, we need to remember the cultural context in which all this took place.
Wedding celebrations would take quite a long time in the East; in some ways our
celebrations today in England are relatively short. A couple once told me that in
Poland, celebrations can go on until 6 am. But going back to the first century AD in
Palestine, a wedding was a large community event, and wine an important part in
helping to create a festive atmosphere. There were no drink-driving laws, and
certainly no cars. Cana was about four miles north-east of Nazareth, so only a
relatively short walk back home. Women would have looked after the catering; Our
Lady may well have lent a hand, hence how she realised that the wine was running
out.
Further cultural things to note: when Our Lord addresses His Mother as “woman”,
it’s not a term of disrespect. In St John’s Gospel, she appears only twice: here at
Cana, and later on at Calvary, where she is also addressed as “woman” and is made
mother of all humanity by her Son. She is not just any old woman; she is the
woman: mother first of Christ the Head of the Church, and later, also mother of the
Church, the mystical body of Christ.
When Jesus says to her: “what does this have to do with me?” this also isn’t about
any expression of annoyance or trying to put her down. Similar phrases like this are
used throughout the Old Testament, and it’s always important to see their wider
context. When I used to work as a hospital chaplain in my last parish, I can
remember a member of staff commenting that e-mails are a poor means of
communication, because sometimes things get misunderstood as you can’t see facial
expressions or hear tone of voice. Our Lady tells the servants “Do whatever he tells
you”, knowing that He will heed her request.
There’s also here the theme of abundance. We’ve got here these stone water jars,
and they’re not like small little samples you can take home with you as a souvenir –
they’re great big things that will hold between seventy and a hundred litres, and
there are six of them. It also makes the point here that the servants are not stingy or
lazy about filling them with water. They didn’t give up after reaching half-full –
they filled them to the brim. And talking of abundance, it’s both quality and
quantity: the new wine is better than the old. For the people of the first century,
there’s also a link here with the book of Joel (2:24. 27a), where it says:
“The threshing-floors will be full of grain,
the vats overflow with wine and oil. ...
And you will know that I am in the midst of Israel,
that I am the Lord your God, with none to equal me.”
It’s a bit like the comparison between Elisha multiplying twenty barley loaves to
feed a hundred people [see 2 Kings 4:42-44], and Our Lord taking five loaves and
two fish and feeding five thousand. Everyone, get the hint! There’s someone really
amazing here, far surpassing all the Old Testament prophets!
“This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory.
And his disciples believed in him.” All this happened at Our Lady’s tactful request.
Lastly, a few words from St Alphonsus. He asks and replies:
“Why are Mary’s prayers so effective with God? The prayers of the saints are
prayers of servants, whereas Mary’s are a Mother’s prayer ... and since Jesus has
immense love for his Mother, she cannot pray without being listened to” (St
Alphonsus, Sunday Sermons, 48).
This Jubilee Year, we profess Christ as Our Lord and our God, the source of all
blessings in our lives. We turn to Him, and also to Our Lady, whose intercession
with Him is truly powerful.
Curious about exploring things further? If you would like to ask further questions about the topics raised in these homilies (or maybe think it wasn’t explained too well!), please feel free to e-mail Fr Michael at stjoseph.thame@rcaob.org.uk