Choice Abundance at the Divine/Human Marriage
The passage that we prayerfully reflect on during this weekend’s Eucharistic celebrations is a shift from Luke, a Gospel telling of a journey to Jerusalem, to the deep symbolism of John.
The miracle of water to wine at Cana is a story about lack to abundance during a wedding and begins with a statement that reveals the progression of a truly divine story, “On the third day.” This statement triggers the spiritual trifold unfolding of beginning, the next step, and the eternal, and obviously hints at the new life of Jesus’ Resurrection that takes place on the third day.
On the third day of this story, a human community of loved ones and friends gather to celebrate a committed union of love that hopes to give life that will give life that will give life, thus leading to the abundance of family legacy. But there is a flaw in this particular gathering, indicating that sometimes life’s circumstances deal us emptiness, lack and poverty. (Consult anyone in Los Angeles these days for details). Even in moments of peak excitement and anticipation we can abruptly run out of resources; human, spiritual, and often both.
The mother of Jesus who connects the marriage of the human and divine in her womb and her motherhood speaks to this crisis. The element that fuels the celebration has diminished to nothing.
“They have no more wine” she tells Jesus, the Divine part of the marriage union. The human part of Jesus responds, “Woman (source of life in Aramaic), how does this concern of yours involve me? My hour has not yet come.” The time, or hour of Jesus’ ultimate third day, has not yet come, but his mother reminds him that humanity needs some wine now to celebrate the Divine/Human marriage because people have forgotten how sacred the union is. Humanity is seriously lacking. (Consult our current world condition for details.)
What elevates the human condition of lack? What renews the union between God and humanity? Between us and God? The marriage of humanity with divinity not only connects, it elevates. When the divine marries the human there is not simply thirst quenching and filling, there is abundance, and there is not only a lot more wine, that wine is REALLY good choice wine.
The mother of Jesus turns her focus to a classic source of human hope – service. She says to the servants in the story (and to the sense of service in all of us) “Do whatever he tells you.” In service, they fill large containers used for religious purposes, symbolizing their religious tradition, with the most life-giving physical element – water. But Jesus has a dream for the water to become more. The divine yearns to fill the thirst of humanity to fuel the sacred partnership that he knows will give so much life. He knows that religious tradition can speak to the hearts of his human marriage partners in more fruitful ways. He knows that there is choice abundance ahead, and he knows that some humanity has forgotten, even been unfaithful to, the commitment. Religious containers can hold not only what was, but what will and can be.
I can’t think of anything more important to DO in response to what Jesus tells us to DO than, “Take this all of you and eat it … this is my body and … take this and drink from it … this is my blood.” Things he tells us to DO every time we celebrate the Eucharist. I can’t think of a better way to renew the Divine/Human marriage than to receive the gift of Christ in gathering, gratitude, story, song, bread, wine and mission that is carried out in the Eucharist. I can’t think of a better way to fill the jars of our tradition as Catholics and the sacredness that is held in those jars, particularly the jar of the Eucharist that has fed us as a church through many tough times and many times of lack. I also can’t think of a better time to let God’s transformative Holy Spirit inspire us to do what the Lord tells us and turn what is in those jars to something really good and really abundant.
We have navigated some difficult times recently in our world, our nation and our Church. We have even run out, so to speak, as we could not even gather to celebrate the Eucharist temporarily in the pandemic. But I really believe that the Choice Abundance of our experience of the Divine/Human Marriage is ahead of us here at Holy Family.
It’s time for A LOT of REALLY GOOD Eucharistic Wine with our Be More Movement of Growth.