When He gives, He gives a lot: Pope on Cana and what we lack

The Gospel of today’s liturgy (Jn 2:1-11) tells us about Jesus’ first sign, when He turns water into wine during a wedding feast in Cana, in Galilee. It is an account that foreshadows and encapsulates the whole of Jesus’ mission: on the day of the coming of the Messiah – so said the prophets – the Lord will prepare “a feast of … choice wines” (Is 25:6) and “the mountains shall drip with the juice of grapes” (Am 9:13); Jesus is the Bridegroom who brings the “good wine.”

In this Gospel we can find two things: lack and superabundance. On the one hand, there is a shortage of wine and Mary tells Her Son: “They have no wine” (v.3); on the other hand, Jesus intervenes, filling six large jars and, in the end, the wine is so abundant and exquisite that the master of the banquet asks the groom why He has kept it until the end (v. 10). Thus, our sign is always lack, but “the sign of God is superabundance,” and the superabundance of Cana is its sign (cf. Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, vol. I, 294).

How does God respond to man’s lack? With superabundance (cf. Rom 5:20). God is not mean! When He gives, He gives a lot. He does not give you a little bit, He gives you a lot. The Lord responds to our shortcomings with His superabundance.

In the banquet of our life – we might say – at times we realize that the wine is missing: that we lack strength and many things. It happens when the worries that plague us, the fears that assail us, or the overwhelming forces of evil rob us of the taste for life, the exhilaration of joy and the flavor of hope. Take note: in the face of this lack, when the Lord gives, He gives in superabundance. It seems to be a contradiction: the more that is lacking in us, the greater the Lord’s superabundance. Because the Lord wants to celebrate with us, in a feast without end.

Let us pray, then, to the Virgin Mary. May She, who is the “woman of the new wine” (cf. A. Bello, Maria, donna dei nostri giorni), intercede for us and, in this Jubilee year, help us to rediscover the joy of the encounter with Jesus.