In his instructions on prayer in the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius Loyola introduces a practice of having a colloquy after meditating on the content of the Scripture text or exercise.  The colloquy is a “conversation” with one of the Persons of the Holy Trinity or Mary or one of the saints.  In the practice of colloquy Ignatius calls us to imagine the person we want to converse with, and see him/her close to us, listening to or question or statements and then responding in some fashion.  Sometimes, in the colloquy the one who is praying asks for understanding of the wisdom of the Scripture passage or the way of following Jesus more closely.  Ignatius was convinced that he was not merely imagining the person he was talking to, but that person, in God’s grace, was actually engaging with me in the dialogue.

Today’s Gospel passage is one that invites colloquy with Jesus or with Mary.  What was happening between them that caused Jesus to act as he did to transform the water into wine?  Was it just an act of kindness for the young couple who were presumably friends of his family?  I turned to Mary as to an intimate friend, to try to understand why this incident occurred and what its meaning is for us who are believers in Jesus twenty centuries later.  Why has the Church placed this Gospel passage in the “triptych” of three celebrations of Epiphany: Presentation to the Kings, Baptism of the Lord and The Wedding Feast?

Only John’s Gospel describes this event, so we can look to John’s intentions in telling the “Good News” as he did. I turned to Mary in my colloquy, after meditating on the text, I turned to Mary and reflected with her on the event of the wedding and what it might mean for my spiritual journey.

E.  Mary, you were a woman of Israel and knew the traditions of faith that your Jewish background gave you.  Why does this event occur at a wedding?

M. Yes, the love covenant of marriage was often spoken in the Scriptures as the paradigm of God’s love for the people he had chosen.  God claimed Israel as His bride and the prophets warned us that Israel must not abandon that relationship as an adulteress might. 

E.  So, the setting of an ordinary wedding becomes the place where God discloses the Divine plan of uniting all creation within Him?

M. Of course.  Over and over again my Son revealed the plan of God in ordinary human events because God chose to reveal His Divine self in Jesus my human son.  As his mother, I find it hard to think of him as ordinary in any sense, but he was fully human – which meant he had to learn and do the ordinary things.  After his Baptism, and being filled with the Spirit, he was filled with the gifts for discernment – just as he shared those gifts with you in your Baptism.  He chose to exercise them constantly so that he could see God’s desire more fully. The rest of humanity all to often compromises those gifts with selfish choices and sin.

E.  In the wedding John describes here you told Jesus that  this young couple was running out of wine, Jesus saw two meanings to your request – or rather the writer of John is pulling together several meanings.  When Jesus asked “what did your request have to do with him, his time hadn’t come” was he referring to His death and resurrection? 

M.  Yes, of course, but God is not bound by time, so Jesus’ conception in my womb began the process of his self-donation in death, which I began to understand from God’s consolation of grace at that time.  I asked him to help out his young couple and to reveal God’s plan through his compassion at the wedding.  The wedding is the “scene” of our human reunion with God – The Church is born in Jesus’ mission – we are united to that mission by Baptism.  As the human expression of the Church (you did know that is my major role in the plan, did you not?) I spoke to him as the Church saying we need to be transformed into Divine life through becoming one flesh with him in the Father. 

E.  So, the author of John is clearly referencing the plan of God to make all humans One in Christ through becoming one flesh as the married couple who love one another become one in desire, one in intention and one in life choices.

M.  Yes, and further, the author of John (who is very clever, by the way,) throughout the Gospel uses water to signify human life and wine to signify Divine life. 

E.  The transformation of the water into wine – a kind act at that wedding – is really about transforming US, those who drink the wine, into God’s own being through a union of love even more complete and full than the best human marriage.  The two become one flesh – so as Jesus became human,   WE ARE invited to be DIVINIZED:  become one “flesh” with God?

M.  Yes, and for that reason the wedding feast at Cana became the perfect place for disclosing God’s plan in Jesus or EPIPHANY.  Will you join Jesus to become the Christ in the Church and bring him forth to the world through your life?  That is your invitation today on this great feast?

E. Mary, I am overwhelmed by this deepened sense of knowing God’s plan.  Thank you for accepting to be Jesus’ Mother and the perfect voice of our Church that tries to tell the world of God’s plan – when we don’t get in the way!  Pray for us now and at the hour of our deaths, to be faithful to the Church for whom you speak.