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Holy Church, knowing that we need more than one day to reflect manifestations of Christ’s divine nature, teased three miraculous events out into a chain of related holy days. This was not wholly obliterated in the post-Conciliar calendar, but it is greatly obscured by the juggling of Epiphany onto this or that Sunday, the ending of the season of Christmas and the abrupt introduction of “Ordinary Time” in place of the Season of Epiphany, reading about the Wedding at Cana only in “Year C” of the new-fangled Lectionary. There is a sterile, clinical feel to the Novus Ordo. As Joseph Ratzinger wrote in The Feast of Faith about the reform and liturgical time:
One of the weaknesses of the post-Conciliar liturgical reform can doubtless be traced to the armchair strategy of academics, drawing up things on paper which, in fact, would presuppose years of organic growth. The most blatant example of this is the reform of the Calendar: those responsible simply did not realize how much the various annual feasts had influenced Christian people’s relation to time […] they ignored a fundamental law of religious life.
We’ve moved into Epiphanytide, the few weeks before pre-Lent’s Septuagesima Sunday. On this 2nd Sunday after the feast there is a strong magnetic attraction back to Epiphany. Epiphany (6 January), had its own Octave, regrettably abolished in 1955. The former Octave Day, 13 January, in the Vetus Ordo is now the Commemoration of the Baptism of the Lord, when the Holy Spirit descended to the water of the Jordan in the form of a dove and voice of the Father declared that Jesus was His Son. Therefore, the Baptism is a manifestation of Christ’s divinity, just as the symbolic gifts of the Magi, especially the frankincense, identified the infant Jesus as divine.
On this 2nd Sunday after Epiphany, we read the Gospel passage about the Wedding at Cana where Christ worked His first public miracle and changed water into wine, thus revealing His godhead. Hence, Epiphany and the Octave/Baptism and this 2nd Sunday are powerfully oriented to each other like strong loadstones.
The Gospel account of the Wedding at Cana says it took place on “the third day”. After what? If we trace the days, carefully marked out by John with the phrase, “the next day”, we find ourselves back at the Lord’s Baptism. Hence the Wedding at Cana was on the “octave” of the Baptism. It is a nuptial celebration, which hearkens back to the seven days of Creation which began with the Holy Spirit over the water. After the days of Creation, there was the day of rest, which looks forward to the eternal sabbath banquet of Heaven.
Moreover, ancient Jewish weddings could be seven day affairs. Anyone planning a wedding would have known that they would need a great deal of wine. However, at this wedding the wine ran out, thus prompting the Blessed Virgin to intercede with her Son. She did not say, “work a miracle”. She made a pointed observation. Christ responds in a way that strikes us today as odd. The Greek says “What to you and to me?” They are, after all, guests, not the hosts. He adds: “My hour has not yet come.” “Hour” language leaps us forward in time all the way to His Passion and Death. Mary seems to used a subtle Old Testament reference, like shorthand, to urge the Lord to reveal Himself as the Messiah and as God. Isaiah 25 says that when salvation will come there will be a great banquet with wine and all the nations will also be there and death will be defeated and there will be super abundant wine. Thus, the Lord says, it is not my hour for that, for the culmination of the nuptial moment of the Passion. Nevertheless, he solves the problem by changing about 180 gallons of water into wine. In doing, Jesus reveals something about Himself. The Jewish custom was that the bridegroom – who isn’t even named in the Gospel – was to provide the wine for the banquet. Hence, Jesus is THE bridegroom. The prophets talk about the divine Bridegroom who is going to inaugurate the messianic feast with the super abundant wine. The Lord is anticipating the supper of the Lamb, heralding our salvation.
St. Augustine of Hippo (+430) says in his commentary on John that the congregation at the Mass is the bride and the Mass is their nuptial banquet:
Every celebration [of the Eucharist] is a celebration of Marriage; the Church’s nuptials are celebrated. The King’s Son is about to marry a wife, and the King’s Son [is] himself a King; and the guests frequenting the marriage are themselves the Bride…
Imagine that the wine which ran out at the Wedding is an analogy for Mass which you desire for your Eucharistic banquet together. Perhaps your wine jar is almost empty. Maybe your bishop has in his openness and commitment to diversity and pastoral care for you restricted the number of Sundays it can be celebrated. Perhaps he has in his zeal for the care of souls shut down such Masses and left only one place which is far away and at a bad time. Perhaps you cannot have this Mass as often as you desire. Or at all.
In the Epistle reading for this Sunday, Paul gives the Romans (12:6-16) practical pointers about Christian comportment and attitudes. Included in his exhortation is:
Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
In the not very distant future, Roman Christians would have great need for these words. In fact, wherever the Christian faith is held and the Christian life is lived, there will be persecution. Persecution is also leveled within the Church and not just from without. It is not unfair to say that the treatment of Catholics who desire the traditional form of the Roman Rite, the Vetus Ordo, are intentionally targeted with persecution. It is hard to see it otherwise. All the fine talk about accompaniment, listening, dialogue and diversity are little better than weasel words, since these proposed ideals are specifically denied to those who desire the traditional liturgical worship rooted in more than a millennium. All manner of ludicrous antics and even idolatry and blasphemy can be perpetrated by the “in” side. People who desire to kneel in adoration, pray in the Church’s official language which the Council Father’s commanded to be retained, and apply decorum in vesture and gesture, are publicly dressed down by their pastors, accused of being – despite their youthful age – self-centered retrograde nostalgics who are probably mentally ill.
In Matthew 23:2, Jesus refers to the “seat of Moses” to condemn the religious leaders of Israel. He tells His followers to listen to them but not to follow their example.
Paul understood the challenges of early Christians in Rome. There were very few Christians. What Christians did and believed seemed strange to the majority, the Romans. Their practices brought persecution. However, the joy and charity of the early Christians of Rome brought many converts to the Faith. We see this in many traditionally minded communities right now. Reports abound of many young converts who are especially looking for clear doctrine and reverent worship. Faith, hope and charity, together with trial and hardship, are like the two beams of the Cross which intersect. Joy can open hearts and the Cross always triumphs in the end.
We must not lose hope or good cheer. When we experience a trial or a lack of something beneficial, like the wine at the banquet, like the Traditional Latin Mass, we must be – as Paul teaches – patient and hopeful.
Ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to intercede with Our Lord. Mary loves you. Ask Mary to ask Our Lord to provide for you. Do whatever the Lord tells you. In the meantime, “Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer”, as Paul told the Romans.