Each year, my dear Friends, we are blessed to have two commemorations of Our Lady of Cana. The first one is today, within the octave of Epiphany. The second one is the second Sunday after Epiphany, on which day the Roman liturgy from ancient times commemorates the event.
There are so many lessons we can learn from this mystery for the good of our souls and in particular in the current battle we are waging. I will just say a few words today about one of them, and it is this.
Divine Providence is in charge, and that Providence has entrusted the care of our souls to Mary Immaculate. She it is, the Mother of Divine Providence, who becomes aware of the painfully humiliating circumstances for the newly weds at Cana. She does not remain inactive, but she does exactly the one thing that we must all do when in need: she turns to her Son and prays. She does so with humility, but also with utter confidence. She knows His Heart, that it is not a heart to be insensitive to suffering. She knows He will listen. She is so confident that, even faced with apparent refusal, she does all as if the reply had been positive. “Do whatever He tells you”.
That word summarises our spiritual lives. It summarises our monastic lives. And that is why it is good for us to be under the patronage of Our Lady of Cana. Do whatever Jesus tells you. Do not argue. Do not doubt. Just do it. There was no sense, none at all, in filling the jars of purification wth water. It was non-sensical, and had no relationship at all with the request. The servants obeyed Mary, and they did everything Jesus said, without arguing, without doubting, without hesitating. And the day is saved.
More than that. The miracle is also a prophecy. It prefigures the hour of the passion of her Son. It also prefigures the Eucharist. The Passion was also non-sensical from our limited, human perspective. But it is what saved us. It is what made the Eucharist possible.
Let us then go to Mary, on this First Saturday of the month and of the year. Let us not hesitate. She knows what we need. She loves us. Nothing else do we need to know.
Like the babe in Mother’s arms. Nothing does it need to know. Mum is there. Nothing can go wrong. If it does, She will fix it. Amen.
