The Power of Love
Julián Carrón - The liturgy has shown us how God has manifested himself from Christmas until today. He was born a child (at Christmas), revealed himself to the Gentiles (in the Epiphany), and revealed his identity as Son in Baptism. What is the ultimate purpose of this continuous approach of God through his Son made flesh? We find out in today's liturgy.
God created man because he desires to share with him the fullness of life that overflows from the bosom of the Trinity, entering into a free relationship with man. What mode could God have used to make man understand the extent to which he desired to share his intimacy? No other way would have been closer to the human experience than the affective, spousal relationship, a love so great that it makes itself desired by us.
In the first reading, God's fondness for his people is movingly described, responding to the feeling that man often has of feeling abandoned by him. He promises, "No one shall call you Forsaken anymore, nor shall your land be called Devastated, but you shall be called My Joy and your land Married, for the Lord will find delight in you and your land shall have a bridegroom. [...]
As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." God's promise to his people, through the prophet Isaiah, is to establish such an intense and caring relationship with them that they will attain the fullness that man's heart desires, for which he was made.
But even more shocking is that God also desires to share in this joy, even to the point of saying, "As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you. [He will rejoice in seeing you shining with that fullness that He can share with you]." Jesus chooses the context of a wedding invitation to show the fulfillment of that promise of which Isaiah spoke.
The lack of wine allows Him to show the superabundance that He brings within an event already full of meaning, such as the wedding day. Wine is often associated with joy and celebration. In the Old Testament, the abundance of wine is a sign of the Messianic age of divine blessing. (cf. Am 9:13-14; Is 25:6). With the miracle at Cana, Jesus symbolically ushers in the messianic time: the new wine represents the joy and fullness that the Messiah brings.
Jesus does not want to enter our lives to interfere in our affairs as an obstacle but to bring us what, without Him, we cannot achieve in our own strength. Jesus accepts the invitation to the wedding of our lives to give us the superabundance of life, as we see in this story.
So much so that the end of this miracle account concludes thus, "This [sign happens] in Cana of Galilee, and it was the beginning of the signs performed by Jesus; he manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him." Through the sign of turning water into wine, a sign that everyone could understand without the need for any unique ability or intelligence, Jesus manifested his glory. What is glory? Glory is the beauty of God.
Its attractiveness is so powerful because it is not something superficial but is the revelation of a deeper reality: the love of God who gives himself ultimately, which is seen in the gesture he makes for those two newlyweds and for all who see him. The glory is manifested above all in the person of Christ, who reveals, to the point of being understood by men, the face of God.
Therefore, the glory of God is not just something to contemplate but something that attracts and transforms man, inviting him to enter into an intimate relationship with God. This is the purpose of all that we have celebrated in these times: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we have contemplated his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (Jn. 1:14).
We can see that the glory has achieved its purpose- to attract, transform man, and invite him into a relationship- from the fact that [the Gospel ends], "The disciples believed in Him. They recognized that presence, that beauty that attracted them. The disciples who had begun to follow Him, impressed by His exceptionalism, found in the miracle of Cana the confirmation of their initial intuition, which had prompted them to follow Him.
The purpose of the signs, such as the one at Cana, like all the others recounted in the Gospels, has only one purpose. John says so at the end of his Gospel: "These [signs] were written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and so that, believing [recognizing His exceptionalism and adhering], you might have life in His name" (Jn. 20:31).
The only thing that can convince us, yesterday as today, to believe in Christ is the correspondence, fullness, and life we all desire. Just as the only thing that can convince the groom to marry the bride is its beauty, its attractiveness, the fullness it brings to his life! This is also the only adequate reason to marry Christ and follow Him: His attractiveness, the fullness of life that He makes possible.
Only this attractiveness will be able to win over those who meet Him. Less than this attractiveness will fall short of a man's heart. The charisms of the second reading speak of the reoccurrence and renewal of this attractiveness. In the face of decay, which is always lurking over time, God constantly takes the initiative to make his glory shine again in every moment of history so that this attractiveness of Christ will never decay.
(First Reading: Is 62:1-5; Psalm 95 (96); Second Reading: 1 Cor 12:4-11; Gospel: Jn 2:1-11)
The author has not reviewed the text and its translations.
