God’s Great Giveaway

The January sales are in full swing. The prospect of bargains galore prolongs the pre Christmas spend as we indulge in retail therapy or shop till we drop to escape those January blues. January also brings that other annual event that is the commercial world’s effort to ease our winter weariness: the wedding fayre. Couples, impending and otherwise, are encouraged to coordinate every last detail of their big day. The wedding fayre of course appeals to a broader spectrum touching into some deeply human yearning for all that is good and true and beautiful.  It is a place of dreams, where ideas still shine and step out bravely whether on the catwalk of fashion or along an aisle of faith and fervour.

For all its poor planning and lack of coordination, the wedding at Cana was a place of dreams where the deepest yearning for the good and true and beautiful filled the hearts of a bride and groom on their big day:  a place of dreams come true and yearnings satisfied in the first of Jesus’ signs.  A sign, from water into wine, a sign that would speak of God’s great give-away, the rich wine of God poured into the weak water of our humanity.  A sign to show us in our own winter wearinesses that God is doing a new thing still:  a sign seen by servants to signal a Servant Saviour; a sign that mystified a steward and still surprises all who are stewards of God’s mysteries; a sign prompted by Mary, mother and mediatrix who still intervenes on behalf of those who dare to dream and strive for those God-given ideals of beauty, truth and goodness.

Fr. Eamon Devlin, C.M.

14th January, 2007