What can be learnt from last Sunday’s Gospel of the Marriage at Cana in Galilee where Jesus changed water into wine after it had run out?

It was Mary mother of Jesus who first noticed.
This was the first miracle of Jesus. Mary requested Jesus do something to help and Jesus replied, “My hour has not come yet.” Mary takes no notice and says to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5)

Jesus was part of the community or he would not have been present and was enjoying himself along with the other guests.

Jesus tells the servants to fill six water jars, draw some out and take it to the steward. The bridegroom is then complimented for saving the best wine until last – all 880 litres!

We might think Jesus was always serious but here he is at a party, smiling, chatting and having a good time. But this is not any party – it is a wedding. Later in his teaching Jesus talks about the importance of marriage.  

When asked by the Pharisees whether divorce is permissible Jesus relied quoting Genesis 1:27; 2:24

“But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. This is why a man must leave his father and mother, and the two become one body. They are no longer two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united, man must not divide. (Mark 10. 6 – 10).

What does this story mean for us? Yes the sacredness of marriage and family life. But also Jesus liked to have a good time and Mary his mother is always ready to go to Jesus on our behalf as our mother too. Sometimes it feels easier to go to mother.

The rosary is an ideal prayer for this.

This Sunday was Peace Sunday when the Church worldwide prays for peace.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be children of God. (Matthew 5:9)  

Families can provide the nurture and love which promotes holistic well being and launches us into life.

It is to our detriment as individuals and to the world when family living is dysfunctional according to the loving plan of God.

Families can be the building blocks of a caring, well ordered and peaceful world where the needs of all are met. But what should good family life look like? Or to put it another way, what is God’s plan for family living?

In Genesis we read

“God created man in the image of himself,

in the image of God he created him,

Male and female he created them.” Gen. 1:27

And again, “This is why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife, and they become one body.” Gen: 2 24

Jesus refers to these verses when questioned about divorce in Matthew’s Gospel. Matt: 19. 4-6 and concludes, “They are no longer two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united man must not divide.”

 And so we see marriage in God’s plan is between one man and one woman in a lifelong and exclusive loving union which welcomes children.

In a loving stable family children grow and start out in life to become all they can be with a good sense of their personal self worth.

In the Gospel this Sunday after the baptism of Jesus we catch a glimpse of the Trinity.

 “While Jesus after his own baptism was at prayer, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily shape, like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, You are my Son, the Beloved: my favour rests on you.” (Luke 3:15-16, 21 -22)

Christians become members of God’s family through baptism with the pouring of the water and the words, “I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

When we receive the Holy Spirit at Baptism and are made adopted sons and daughters of God.

Baptised members of families are animated by the Holy Spirit, fully functioning and life transforming – and world transforming.  

The sense and reality of belonging to the divine family is shown by Christians in making the sign of the cross. The most powerful sign of love there is. The cross makes authentic family life and marriage possible and is a pathway to the heavenly family to which all who profess the name of Jesus are bound.