Second Ordinary Sunday Year C
Every drinker, whether a connoisseur, a social
one or just plain alcoholic, would appreciate the wisdom found in this Bible
verse taken from the Book of Ecclesiastes (9:7), “Go, eat your food with
gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favours
what you do.” Wine or alcohol can be a bringer of joy, albeit temporary. But
when the initial momentary elation wears off, the mood can descend into tears,
anger, and even violence. Before you know it the lingering effects of alcohol
leave the drinker feeling empty again, till his next fix. The celebration is literally
over when “we have run out of wine”.
The Bible treats intoxicating drinks
ambivalently, considering them both a blessing from God that brings joy and
merriment and potentially dangerous beverages that can be sinfully abused. The
wine in today’s gospel story bears the first sense. The symbol of wine used
concomitantly with the theme of the wedding feast expresses the exhilarating joy
of ‘the Hour,’ not just the hour of nuptial bliss for the couple, but the ‘Hour’
marking the decisive intervention of God and manifestation of his glory in
Christ. This is the hour of Israel’s liberation. Her Saviour has come! But just
when the celebrations were gaining momentum, it risked being turned into a
disaster. The festivities encountered an untimely snag: “they ran out of wine.”
How could they celebrate without the most important ingredient of a good party?
The
mother of Jesus announces the sobering news, “They have no wine.” For all those present, who were expecting a continuous
and even inexhaustible flow of good wine, this would have sounded like a death
sentence.
This incident is a
very fitting illustration of the failure
of all this world’s joys. As much as we hope for an inexhaustible
supply of resources, as much as we pray that the party and the honeymoon will
never end, we always end up with an empty casket after everything has been drained.
We know what it means for the wine to run out. Sooner or later in every
situation, in every relationship, in every type of human pleasure, the wine
runs out. Our family, so dear to us, one day is gone. Divorce or separation may
come, when the romance disappears and the harsh realities set in. Our friends,
with whom we've shared so many enjoyable times, slowly drift away. Our college
days, so exciting, are soon ended. Our profession, perhaps challenging and
rewarding, one day, too, comes to an end. Youthfulness slip through our fingers
as we have to contend with the trials of aging. In the parish, the exodus of
the young, and the gradual decline of the BECs seem to signal the death of a
once vibrant community. In every human achievement, pleasure, and joy — the
"wine" is bound to run out.
What do all these experiences tell us? Have
we truly run out of wine? Has the party ended? Or are these scenarios merely
pointing to the fact that we are often dictated by our subjective experiences,
especially our emotions? It is interesting to note that our assessment of any situation
is often dictated by our subjective experience. “How do I feel?” What does my
gut tell me?” This is quite natural. The problem is that we often assume that
our subjective assessment is conclusive and infallible. Emotions are lovely,
stirring, and enjoyable, but they can also be intoxicating, dangerous and
misleading. They may not be an accurate indication of reality and fact. In
fact, pleasant or agreeable urges can often endorse lies and induce sin. Our
feelings say more about ourselves than objective realities that we sometimes
distort, manipulate, and circumvent in order to achieve our favoured ends. We often
justify our sinful actions by saying that we feel God is telling us to do it. We confuse our emotional urges for the voice
of conscience. In any event, emotions are always beyond our control and they
never last. This kind of wine is inevitably doomed to run out.
Thousands of years ago, the people of
Israel also thought that the destruction of their country meant the end of
everything. They were called the “Forsaken” and “Abandoned” People. But Isaiah
in the first reading gives an entirely different picture, an objective one as
far as it is the vision of God. It is a message of hope. All is not lost
because God will return to redeem them. They will be called by a new name, they
will receive a new glory, they will be called “My Delight” and “The Wedded” for
God has taken delight in them again. God has renewed his covenant with them –
God has wedded them again. What brought about this change? They finally realised
that glory and blessings come from God alone. No human power, riches or glory
will last. Eventually all these things will run out except that which is given
by God.
.
Our most common folly is that we often realise
this important point only after our own resources have been depleted or even
exhausted. In our drunken merriment, self-absorbed in our own human
achievements, intoxicated by our urge for pleasure, enslaved by our own
unmonitored subjectivity, we often fail
to recognise that Christ is the true source of joy, an inexhaustible and irrevocable
joy, unless we choose to ignore him. He is not only the provider of the wine
that will never run out. He is the Wine, the Vine sacrificially crushed for our
redemption and liberation. He is best wine often mistakenly kept for the last.
Thus, we must guard against the deception
of subjective assessment and the proclivity to be misled into thinking that this
is the end, merely on the basis that we feel it is so. When we allow our
subjective impressions to dictate our lives, it would only lead to chaos and
confusion. Here, our Catholic understanding of the Sacraments proves illuminative.
Sacramental theology speaks of an objective reality, which is the grace we receive
in the Sacraments, that is not dependent on our subjective experience or our
emotions. The Church uses a Latin maxim to describe this objective reality: ex opera operato. Ex opere operato
literally means "by the very fact of the action's being performed."
It refers to the fact that the sacraments objectively and truly confer grace when
the sign is validly effected, that is when the proper actions, words and
objects are used - not as the result of the
personal feelings of the recipient but by the power and promise of God. The
significance of the sacramental efficacy ex opere operato is that the
bestowal of grace is not dependent upon the sanctity of the minister, nor does
the faith of the recipient put any obligation on grace. Christ remains free in
granting us his gift. Put positively, ex opere operato means that this
act is Christ's act.
Therefore, even when the parties to the
marriage no longer feel anything for the other, this does not spell the end of the
marriage. The subjective experience of the parties does not determine the end
of the objective reality proposed by the sacrament. Objectively, Christ remains
faithful; he continues to confer the necessary grace through the sacrament of
matrimony, and this ultimately defines the permanency of the marital bond. In another
instance, even if everyone in the congregation felt listless and bored during
the entire mass, or the priest was ill-prepared to celebrate the mass, the mass
is still objectively the Sacrifice of the Cross. As the fate of marriages
cannot be determined by changing sentiment, the victory of the Cross is not
undone by our fluctuating moods.
So what do we do when the wine runs out? What do we do when the thrill is gone? What do
we do when the passion fizzles? What do we do when the faith fails? What do we
do when health degenerates? Many look for substitutes, only to find themselves
disappointed once again because the wine will also run out. ‘Running away’ is
no solution too. Mary shows us the way. The
strength of Mary’s faith is when she tells the servants to follow the
instructions of her son. We run to Jesus with faith that he can do even the
impossible, even outmatching the miracle of transforming water into the wine. Mary
teaches us to come to him in humble submission, ready to listen to what he has
to tell us, even though it may go against our better judgment. So, when the wine runs out, don’t
attempt to brew some more, and don't run out. It’s
not over. The best wine has been saved for the last – it is Jesus. Jesus came to give us new life; not just a
quick fix for all our problems. Jesus came to give us himself, His Body and
Blood, new life, eternal life, overflowing ... grace
upon grace…wonder upon wonder…way, way, way more than enough to keep the party
of possibility and hope going…until that day when we can all dance and sing and
rejoice together at God’s heavenly banquet where the wine will never run out.
When we have tasted the wine of God’s providence, we will be stricken to shame
that we could have ever desired a lesser substitute.
Inspiring post, very informative and relevant.
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