We cannot even begin to conceive of the limitlessness of
God’s love for us, yet it is love that God has been expressing for humankind
throughout salvation history, a love that finds its consummate expression in our union in the Eucharist.
In this Sunday’s reading from Isaiah, the post-exilic
prophetic voice references a new name
conferred by the Lord on the people of Israel, a name through which God creates
the people anew. No longer are they
forsakened or abandoned: As a young man marries a virgin, your
Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so shall
your God rejoice in you. Israel’s
role as bride of God is to be the very glory of God, and to manifest that glory
to the world – a sign of union.
Our text from John’s Gospel offers us the first of Jesus’
seven signs: the changing of water into
wine at the marriage feast in Cana: you have kept the good wine until now, the headwaiter marvels to the bridegroom. In
revealing Jesus as the Messiah – a revelation that only a few can begin to
grasp – this miracle is representative of the overabundance that is heaven, God’s
infinite love, revealed in the image of a banquet that unites: again, a wedding banquet.
The Eucharist is our celebration of the Messianic banquet to
come, a prefiguration of our “wedding” with God promised by the death and rising of Jesus. Our celebration of Eucharist is our access to
the love of God; graced by our experience of God’s love in our lives, the gift
we take forth from Mass is our capacity to reach out to one another, to open
our hearts, to meet the needs of those around us, each with our own gifts (1 Corinthians). This is the proclamation of the glory of God: when we use our gifts to become vehicles of justice, giving life
to one another, as we simultaneously give
to the Lord glory and praise (psalm 96).
This reflection is based on Fr. Pat's Thursday Scripture class.
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