Devotion to Mary is not spiritual etiquette; it is a requirement of the Christian life.Looking toward the end of the first week of the new year I noticed a feast day that made me take pause. It falls on January 6 and is dedicated to Our Lady of Cana. We all know about the Wedding Feast at Cana and how Jesus, at the request of His mom, performed His first public miracle. I didn’t realize there was a feast day in commemoration of Mary as she manifested her role in salvation history at this event.
There are only four instances in the Bible where Mary speaks: first, at the Annunciation; second, at the Visitation; third, when she and Joseph find their 12-year-old son teaching in the temple; and finally, at the Wedding Feast at Cana, the only time in the entire New Testament when Mary speaks to her son as an adult.
In the Gospel according to John 2:3-5: When the wine ran short the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever He tells you.”
I had never really thought about the significance of the Wedding Feast at Cana. Learning about this day suddenly made me realize I had never fully understood the magnitude and importance of this particular interaction between the Blessed Virgin Mary and her only Son, the God-Man. This was an incredible moment in the Salvation story.
Christ, the Redeemer and King of the Universe, defers to His mom. She did not even have to discuss with Him what she had asked Him. She simply told Him what the situation was and then, without responding to His question, told the stewards to do whatever He told them.
He acquiesced to her request and they followed His orders. Imagine that: the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, honors, without question, a simple peasant woman, who had been given the ultimate tribute of giving Him human life.
The Wedding Feast at Cana and the Feast of Our Lady of Cana are completely intertwined. They show us how closely linked together are the Son of God and His earthly Mom. Without her, we would’t have Jesus. Without Him there is no Salvation. The pathway to Jesus is through Mary. No one who ever existed was ever as close to Jesus as was Mary. Mary is the way for us to get to know Jesus.
January 6 is the celebration of Epiphany or “Little Christmas.” In 2010 , January 6 was also shared with the newly canonized St. Andre Bessette. But lurking behind these feasts we have the meek and reflective Mother, and the feast of Our Lady of Cana.
Just this week, Pope Francis had this to say about Our Lady:
Devotion to Mary is not spiritual etiquette; it is a requirement of the Christian life. Looking to the Mother, we are asked to leave behind all sorts of useless baggage and to rediscover what really matters.
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