In our times of need, we frequently turn to a favourite saint or to our guardian angel, to ask their assistance. We can do this because we live, even now, in a family bond or communion with the saints and with one another. This communion is the work of the Holy Spirit. But how often to we pray for the guidance and assistance of the Holy Spirit? Are we able to recognize the promptings of the Spirit in our lives? It is the work of the Holy Spirit to gather everyone into what Pope St John Paul II called a ‘communio personarum’, a communion of persons. This unity is a mirror image of the unity of the Holy Trinity and especially exemplified in the unity of the marriage bond.
At the wedding feast of Cana, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was present. Jesus also was present, along with His disciples. When the wine had run out, a conversation takes place between Jesus and Mary that is both intimate and mysterious. ‘They have no wine’, Mary tells Him. Jesus’ reply seems rather sharp to our ears: ‘O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’ He calls her ‘woman’, which seems harsh, disrespectful to us. But it is in fact a title indicating the highest respect in their time. He uses the same title at the moment of His death on the cross, addressing her and St John: ‘Woman, behold your son!’ And to St John, ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. The expression here has a much deeper meaning than simply he gave her a place to stay with him. No, he took her into his own heart, in a mother-son relationship, forming the beginning of the ‘communio personarum’ of the New Life Jesus came to bring about. In this light the intimate conversation at Cana takes on a deeper meaning. We do not hear the nuances, the tone of voices. We do not see the looks, the smiles perhaps. We only have the bare words. But the fact that Jesus speaks of His hour not yet come, is indicating that He has in mind the plan of the Father. All must take place according to the Divine Plan. The beginning of His signs is a part of this plan. Yet, Mary reads the Heart of her son, more intimately than any mother can do with her children. There is no plea. She gives Him no reply. With complete trust and confidence, she tells the servants, even sounds like a command: ‘Do whatever He tells you’. She knew well He was not going to ignore the situation. Her trust points to the ‘communio personarum’ that already existed between her and her Son, ultimately between her and God. We already can see this from St Luke when he reports the greeting of the Angel Gabriel to Mary: ‘The Lord is with you’. Given that these words are spoken by the Archangel, who beholds the Face of God, they are God’s own words to her. As St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, she is reverenced by the Angel and no greater praise could be addressed to her. She dwells in a profound and mysterious ‘communio personarum’ with God, with her Son, with the Blessed Trinity. It is into this ‘communio’ we are also called and must grow in. Jesus’ hour has not yet come. Yet the result of Mary’s intercession brings about the miracle, the first of His signs which point to His mission as the Messiah. The humility of Mary and her abandonment to God’s Will have obtained that which at first seemed denied to her.
There are six large stone jars nearby, intended for the rites of purification, not for wine! If they can contain 20 gallons or more, that is a lot of water when filled to the brim. The servants obey Jesus’ command, and the water is miraculously turned to wine. Not just any wine, but the best wine. When we realize in John’s Gospel that this sign is pointing to the Sacred Blood of Our Lord poured out for our salvation, the salvation of the world through His death on the cross, we come to glimpse at the fullness of the Holy Eucharist which has no boundaries. God’s Love is limitless. God’s Mercy is infinite. In the prayer of the Divine Mercy given to St Faustina we have: ‘O Blood and Water which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a Fountain of Mercy for us, Jesus I trust in You”. The jars filled with water therefore point to the Infinite Mercy of God. The Fountain can never be exhausted. But we must place all our trust in Him, no matter the state we are in and no matter how much it costs us to do so.
Jesus continually turned to His Father in prayer, frequently spending a whole night in union with Him in this way. St Luke tells us that after the return of the seventy disciples He had sent out to preach, “in that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit saying, “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will.” In order to rejoice in the Holy Spirit, we too must be aware of His movements within our souls. Pray much to the Holy Spirit for His guidance. He leads us together as pilgrims of hope into unity. During this Octave of prayer for Christian Unity especially we pray that the prayer of Jesus may be fulfilled even in our day, that we may all be one. May the seeds of the intimacy of the bond between Mary and her Son grow in our hearts also.
All things pass that sense perceives,
This ‘your truth’, ‘my truth’ only deceives.
Seek the One above all these,
That pure heart only can receive.
He is within, you can believe,
Pilgrims of hope one goal to achieve,
The Spirit of unity sows the seeds.