Jesus replied, “Woman, how does this
concern of yours involve me? My hour has
not yet come.”
His mother instructed those waiting on
table, “Do whatever he tells you.”
As prescribed for Jewish ceremonial
washing, there were at hand six stone water jars, each one holding fifteen to
twenty-five gallons.
Jesus ordered, “Fill those jars with
water,” And they were filled to the brim.
“Now, draw some out and take it to the
waiter in charge.”
The waiter in charge tasted the water
made wine, without knowing where it came from; only the waiters knew, since
they had drawn the water. Then the
waiter in charge called the groom over and remarked to him, “People usually
serve the choice wine first; then when the guests have been drinking awhile, a
lesser vintage. What you have done is
keep the choice wine until now!”
Thus did Jesus reveal his glory, and his
disciples believed in him. John 2:1-11
Today, we celebrate Jesus who
became incarnate by uniting his divinity to our flesh. The
Intent of the Father says, “From
all eternity, by virtue of a plan born of His mysterious and utterly gratuitous
love for us, God wishes to call us to live in communion with Him, to give us
His Spirit of love so that He might constantly live with us and in us... called together to become the Body of
Christ.”
Tomorrow, Carmelite Sr. Mary
Theresa celebrates her 50th anniversary of profession. A couple of weeks ago Sr. Hildegard's son Matthew and Heidi we
married. Four months ago we came to
share this Monastery of the Incarnation when we were at the point we feeling
our ‘wine had run out.’ But we have been filled to the brim with new wine, new
life as we have seen Jesus’ glory revealed in the warm welcome of our Carmelite
sisters.
In each case Jesus is
revealed and the loving dynamic of the Incarnation is manifested: Sr. Theresa vowed to live in communion with
Him. Matthew and Heidi silently
exchanged rings when no words could express their mysterious and gratuitous
love for each other. And we are called
to live in communion with Him and become the Body of Christ. And now together with the Carmelites, the
Incarnation is broadened through divine charity filling our beings with
overflowing wine: grace.
Who knows what our future holds. “We are called to…transformation in a more radical way in our life as Redemptoristines in order to become, both personally and as a community, a living Memorial of the Paschal Mystery of Christ the Redeemer.” C&S 14 as we seek together the Father’s intent for the whole community. C&S 65
Celeste spoke of the union of
our souls with the Incarnate Jesus in Eucharistic fashion. Once, she began speaking of bread then
switched to wine in her metaphor. It
made me think of our two communities coming together. I
paraphrase, “From all the wheat grains, as it were, of faithful souls you knead
together a single Bread baked by the fire of your divine charity into your Humanity.
You make us the bread of God and we, through union of love, live the life of
God. In this instance, these souls are
brought by the Lord into the cellar of this excellent wine of union and grace
and, carried away by this most exhilarating drink, live in the strength of the
love of the Holy Spirit, and so together we cry out, ‘Eat, drink and be
inebriated: be transformed into the
living God.’” Flor. 32, 76
Who knows what our future holds. “We are called to…transformation in a more radical way in our life as Redemptoristines in order to become, both personally and as a community, a living Memorial of the Paschal Mystery of Christ the Redeemer.” C&S 14 as we seek together the Father’s intent for the whole community. C&S 65
Mary, Jesus’ Mother and our
Mother, was a wise woman attentive to the Spirit. In the Cana story we heard how she nudged
Jesus to transform his way of thinking and trusted something radical would
happen when she told those waiting on table to “Do whatever he tells you.” In the end the waiter remarked about the
‘choice wine.’ I wonder what ‘choice
wine’ awaits us as we strive to remain open to the movements of the
Spirit. What glory will be revealed as
we believe in him who “is the light of our faith, the strength of our
charity and the source of our hope.” And
be “Like Mary… attentive to the action of the Spirit whose aim is to realize in
us the very works of the Redeemer.” C&S16
