From the responsorial psalm: “Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all you lands. Sing to the LORD; bless his name. Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (John 2:1-11)
And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from—although the servers who had drawn the water knew —, the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.”
John relates the account of the wedding at Cana, where Jesus performs his first miracle in his public ministry by turning water into wine. The transformation of water into wine immediately reveals the divine nature and authority of Jesus as the Son of God. In the midst of the wedding feast, wine running out would quickly bring the celebration to an end and the guests to a state of desolation. Jesus not only changes water into inferior wine but instead makes it the choicest wine, symbolizing the surpassing joy God takes in his people, as we hear in Isaiah: “No more shall people call you ‘Forsaken,’ or your land ‘Desolate,’ but you shall be called ‘My Delight,’ and your land ‘Espoused.'” In comprehending what the first of Jesus’ miraculous signs means for us in the midst of the day, what Mary says to the servants, she also says to us: “Do whatever he tells you.”
God, you are in my midst today, continually pouring out your gifts through the sacraments and in the people you place before me. Help me see your superabundant grace in the different spiritual gifts given by the same Spirit. Through Jesus Christ your Son at the Wedding of Cana, you delighted in your people and rejoiced as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride. In perfectly accomplishing your will, Jesus is truly present every day at every Mass as bread and wine is changed into the Body and Blood of your Son. Help me be attentive to his will; in hearing him, help me follow Mary’s example of obedience to your Son and to the Son of Mary: “Do whatever he tells you.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.