Today the liturgy brings us to Cana in Galilee. Once again we participate in the wedding which is being celebrated there, and to which Jesus was invited together with his mother and the disciples. This detail makes us think that the wedding banquet took place in the home of his acquaintances, because Jesus too grew up in Galilee. Humanly speaking, who would ever have thought that such an occasion would, in a certain sense, have represented the beginning of his messianic activity? And yet this was the case. It was in fact there, at Cana, that Jesus, at his mother's request, worked his first miracle by transforming water into wine.
...The miracle worked at Cana in Galilee, like Jesus' other miracles, is a sign: it shows the action of God in human life. It is necessary to meditate on this action to discover the deepest meaning of what took place there.
The wedding banquet at Cana leads us to think about marriage, whose mystery includes the presence of Christ. May it not be legitimate to see the presence of the Son of God at that wedding feast as an indication that marriage should be an effective sign of his presence?
...As we read in the Book of Genesis, a man leaves his father and mother, and is joined to his wife in order, in a certain sense, to become one with her (cf. Gn 2:24). Christ drew on these Old Testament words in speaking to the Pharisees, who had asked him questions about the indissolubility of marriage. They were referring in fact to the prescriptions in the law of Moses which permitted, in certain cases, the separation of the spouses, that is to say, divorce. Christ replied to them: "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so" (Mt 19:8). And he quoted the words of the Book of Genesis: "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one' So they are no longer two, but one. What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder" (Mt 19:4-6).
Therefore at the basis of all social order we find this principle of the unity and indissolubility of marriage - the principle on which the institution of the family and of all family life is founded. This principle receives confirmation and new force from the elevation of marriage to the dignity of a sacrament.
And what great dignity, dear brothers and sisters! It is a participation in God's life, that is, sanctifying grace and the countless graces that correspond to the vocation of marriage, to being parents and to the vocation of the family.
The event at Cana in Galilee seems to lead us to this as well: that wonderful transformation of water into wine. So water, our most common drink, acquires a new character through Christ's action: it becomes wine, therefore a drink that is in a certain sense more valuable. The meaning of this symbol�the water and wine�finds its expression in Holy Mass. During the offertory, by adding a little water to the wine, we ask God, through Christ, to share in his life in the Eucharistic sacrifice. Marriage, parenthood, motherhood, fatherhood, the family, all this belongs to the order of nature, since God created man and woman; and all this through Christ's action is raised to the supernatural order. The sacrament of marriage becomes the way to participate in God's life. The man and woman who believe in Christ, who are joined together as husband and wife, can, for their part, confess: our bodies are redeemed�the marital union is redeemed. Parenthood, motherhood, fatherhood are redeemed, and all that bears with it the mark of holiness.
...This is why the Church never ceases to present the doctrine of Christ on marriage in its entirety, with regard to its unity and indissolubility.
Mary, most holy, Hope of Christians, gives us the strength and confidence necessary for our journey on earth. For this reason we ask her: Be our guide, because you, O Blessed Mother, know the ways and paths that, through your love, lead to the love and glory of God.
Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ!
