You do pay attention
in the Mass,
don't you?
Of course you do.
You notice that
the priest first puts
wine in the chalice.
Then he blesses
the water
before he puts it
in the wine.
Indeed,
the Mass isn't valid
if he forgets
to add the water to the wine.
Why?
[PAUSE]
There are two reasons.
You might think
about the blood and water
that pours from
the wound in Christ's side.
That is the historical reason.
The link between
the sacrifice of the Crucifixion
and the sacrifice of the Mass.
The Mass is a participation
in the single perfect sacrifice
of the Cross.
Adding water to the wine
makes that participation
real, true and clear.
But there is a spiritual reason too.
And it's to do
with the water jars at Cana.
[PAUSE]
It seems odd
that we add water to wine
when wine is
mostly water anyway.
But lots of things
on this planet
are mostly water.
Indeed,
it is said that we human beings
are more than
two-thirds water.
So when we drink water,
it's like the adding
of water to wine.
And this is deliberate.
We see,
in adding water to wine
the truth that we say
in the Athanasian Creed.
When Jesus becomes Incarnate,
He doesn't convert His Divine Nature
into Human Nature
but takes our Nature into His.
He takes the water
of our Humanity
into the wine of His Divinity.
Our Human nature
sits in Christ
like the water
sits in wine.
This is how
the sacrifice of the Mass
brings us into
communion with God
because we take
the true substance of God
into our selves.
Of course,
that's a bit like
adding wine to water.
But this communion
here and now
points to our salvation
in Christ when He performs
the miracle of Cana again,
this time changing
the water of our Humanity
into the wine of His Divinity
within us.
While St Paul may be
thinking of St Timothy's
physical health
when he bids him
take a little wine for his stomach,
he is also pointing us
to the health-giving benefit of wine
as an image of the life-giving benefit
of the Blood of Christ
under the figure of wine.
The Chalice
contains
not just a taste of salvation
It is the promise
- the New Covenant -
of salvation to Eternity.
This is the same promise
that Our Lord shows
at the wedding in Cana.
He may say to His mother
that His hour has not yet come
but instead
He promises what will happen
at the hour
- the hour of Crucifixion -
by showing us our salvation
in His blood
and the taking up
of our Humanity
into God.
[PAUSE]
When you look into the chalice,
you might catch a glimpse
of your face
reflected on the surface
of the Consecrated Wine.
This is no accident
for you see yourself
looking back at you
from Eternity.
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