It was appropriate that the gospel reading for today is about the wedding feast at Cana, because I married both of the couples presenting a child for baptism. That makes me partly responsible for today's excitement. In the Cana story, Mary is the quintessential Jewish mother who uses passive-aggression to get Jesus, the proverbial Jewish son, to do what she wants. Wedding feasts would often last a week and there were certain protocols, the main one being that wine must never run out. Discovering the unthinkable is about to happen, Mary causes Jesus to turn water into a magnificent wine. The steward is amazed and exclaims that one serves the good stuff first, not after people are already drunk. Here the best has been served last.
The tale is one of seven "sign" stories in John's gospel; these seven vignettes point to Jesus as Messiah. Our Cana pericope refers back to the prophecy in Isaiah about a future messianic meal in God's Kingdom; and one characteristic of that meal is that wine never runs out. From another angle, the Eucharist is a foretaste, a "sneak preview" of that messianic banquet. It is in the Mass that we celebrate who we are. We commune with Christ and receive Christ under the appearances of bread and wine, so that we can go out and be Christ in the world. We are what we eat.
As Catholic Christians, we acknowledge seven sacraments -- the outward and visible signs of inward, spiritual grace -- and we know that baptism is the primal or gateway sacrament. One must be baptised before one can receive communion, or be confirmed, or confessed, or ordained, or married, or receive anointing. In baptism the candidate enters a new and eternal relationship with God through Christ and in the context of a new family, the Christian community which journeys together and has each other's back in the life of grace. The candidate becomes part of the "one great fellowship of prayer and praise" extending through the ages. Now, in a moment, Moira Shackelford and Case Sinkbeil will be the two newest members of Christ's One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. So let's get on with it!
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