He'll turn water into wine,
but He won't turn stone into bread.
We can compare
Our Lord’s miracle at Cana
with His temptation in the wilderness.
If we look carefully,
we might think that it is
only because the Devil wants
Our Lord to be selfish
that He does not change stones into bread.
On the other hand
to allow people to enjoy a wedding
is not selfish
and so turning water into wine seems perfectly loving.
But is there more to it than that?
[PAUSE]
Our Lord refuses to turn
stones into bread
on the grounds that
“Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God.”
That's His reason
and it is nothing to do with selfishness,
or assuaging his hunger
or for showing off
– it is about what people need.
Our Lord uses miracles as signs
because we need them.
Notice how He will not
perform a miracle on demand
but rather use miracles
only to show
us little human beings
some wonderful truth
that lies beyond
our understanding
of existence.
Turning stones into bread
doesn't show anyone anything.
It's just between our Lord and the Devil.
There is nothing that reveals any truth
to anyone by turning stones into bread.
What needs to be shown is
that human beings need
the Word of God before their bellies are filled
What is the message, then,
of the miracle of water made wine?
What significance does this have for us?
[PAUSE]
We see a wedding feast;
we see a man and a woman
joined together,
but the wedding is deficient,
it lacks something.
That something is wine.
What does Our Lord do?
He could easily have filled
those jars with water Himself
miraculously.
He could have filled them with wine miraculously!
But he doesn't.
The water is already there
but it lacks that something
to make it a vehicle of rejoicing.
Wine makes the heart merry
and our Lord does not condemn
anyone for drinking wine.
On the contrary,
he himself supplies it and it is very good.
What does this show us?
[PAUSE]
The first thing it shows us is that
the water is deficient
because it is not capable
of bringing forth rejoicing.
Our Lord supplies what is lacking
to make it a drink
of rejoicing,
of happiness,
of sheer delight!
Our Lord supplies merriment
to an occasion where there is
concern and worry
that people won't be happy.
This miracle shows us that
the human institution of marriage
is not just blessed by Our Lord
it is completed by Our Lord.
He perfects the wedding
by supplying what is lacking.
At every stage,
Our Lord is supplying what is not there
in order that it might be perfected.
[PAUSE]
We see the same miracle in every Mass.
Look very carefully
when the priest
fills the chalice
first with wine,
then with water.
In normal Masses
the water is blessed:
in Requiem Masses
it is not blessed.
The wine reminds us
of Our Lord’s divine nature.
It is the water that
receives something more
just like Our Lord’s humanity
is received into His Divine Nature
in order to be Our Incarnate Lord.
And He takes into himself
our humanity –
He takes us,
His Church,
into himself.
Just as the wine in the chalice
receives the water
which is blessed,
so does Our Lord
receive us into himself.
Why is the water blessed?
Because we are
a work in progress
and we need to work
at our perfection in Christ.
Why is the water
not blessed
in Requiem Masses?
Because the water reflects
the humanity of those
who have died,
whose work has ended.
Either way,
whatever happens
at our Mass,
the water and wine
become the same real
Blood of Christ
shed for our salvation.
[PAUSE]
At every stage of his life with us,
Our Lord supplies what is lacking.
He never takes away.
Stones don't need
to become bread,
for God created stones
which are not bread.
Our Lord created wheat
to become flour
to become bread:
that is the way that
His creation works.
But human beings have
introduced into Creation
that which is evil
and that evil runs
throughout creation
like cracks in ice.
We lack wholeness.
We lack integrity.
And we cannot fill those cracks,
because we are cracked throughout.
It is Our Lord Jesus Christ
Who fills those cracks
with His very self.
This is salvation,
salvation not in terms
of crime and punishment,
but in healing and wholeness.
Our Lord’s salvation gives us
our true selves back again.
It wipes clean
the image of God
that we bear.
This is the salvation that He offers us.
The wicked are
their own punishers,
for they remain broken
in their refusal to love
and be loved
and it is Love Himself
who supplies whatever is lacking.
[PAUSE
At our Mass,
we see wine transformed into blood,
the blood of Christ Himself.
It is a cup of
healing and wholeness
and,
if we let it,
we can find that salvation
for ourselves
and for the whole world.
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