Rom. 12:6-16; Jn. 2:1-11
During the Christmas Season, we recall that what has existed before all time, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, the Son of God, has now been revealed in time. What has been revealed comes up over and over again.
In the Epiphany Season, something similar happens. Epiphany comes from the Greek word meaning “manifestation.” The Magi come to our Lord with gifts which manifest His nature as God and His death. Last Sunday, in the Gospel of the finding of the Lord in the temple, He says, “I must be about my Father’s business.” He is manifesting His true nature as God. And in today’s Gospel of the wedding at Cana, again, our Lord is manifesting His nature.
He does a miracle, which only God can do. The water in the stone jars represent the Old Testament, and by His transformation of it into wine that He has fulfilled and completed the Old Testament, the Old Covenant. The wine steward says to the bridegroom, “You have saved the best wine until now.” The Gospel has been deferred until the present time.
In another place, St. Paul speaks of the spiritual gifts and charisms which God has given to us, and says that these are for service to the community. As many needs as there are, God has given the corresponding gifts to fulfill them. He speaks of them again in today’s Epistle, but in light of the Gospel of the Lord’s manifestation, it would make us think that the gifts are also given for us to manifest God, their Giver, by their use. Or better, that God is manifesting Himself through us, as He gives us His gifts and we use them. They are signs of God and of His Providential care.
In the Gospel, the Lord does not make something out of nothing. He does not create the wine out of nothing, but He builds upon what has already been created. He transforms the water. He transforms everything He touches. He has touched our lives, and He has transformed us. The Gospel says, “He manifested His glory.” And so we glorify God as we use the gifts He has given us. He manifests Himself through us. Later, in the Gospel of John, the Lord says to His disciples, “The Holy Ghost will bear witness, and you will bear witness.” It is the same witness.
In the sacraments, the Lord manifests Himself by His transforming power. In this holy Mass, bread and wine are brought to the altar, and by His Word, He transforms them into His Body and Blood. He manifests His true nature as God, in His power to transform, and in the Eucharist, His real presence.
Traditional Latin Mass Community of Saint Mary Magdalen
