By Deborah Castellano Lubov
When we lack something, the Lord is ready to come to our aid and exceed our expectations.
Pope Francis made this observation to the faithful during his weekly Angelus address on Sunday at noon, as he reflected on the day’s Gospel according to St. John, which recounts Jesus’ first “sign” of turning water into wine at the Wedding at Cana, responding to his mother’s request.
Read Pope Francis’ full Angelus address here
The Holy Father observed that the episode anticipates and summarizes the entire mission of Jesus, as he recalled how the Prophets Isaiah and Amos foresaw that on the day of the Messiah’s coming, the Lord would prepare “a banquet of choice wines.” Jesus, the Pope recalled, is the bridegroom who brings “the new wine.”
‘They have no wine’
In this Gospel, the Pope said, we observe the two elements of lack and superabundance.
“On one hand, the wine runs out, and Mary says to her Son: ‘They have no wine’,” he recalled. “On the other hand, Jesus intervenes, having six large jars filled, resulting in such an abundance of exquisite wine that the banquet master praises the bridegroom for keeping it until the end.”
Thus, Pope Francis reminded, “the sign of God is abundance.”
When humanity is faced with need, he emphasized, God always responds, and never meagerly.
God responds with abundance
The Holy Father went on to suggest that even at the “banquet” of our own lives, we sometimes realize that the wine is missing, especially when worries trouble us, fears that assail us, or destructive forces of evil rob us of the taste for life, the exhilaration of joy, and the flavour of hope.
“Yet, in the face of this lack,” he said, “the Lord abundantly pours out His love, bringing into our lives the wine of the Holy Spirit, which is the wine of joy and hope,” and “gives it to us in abundance.”
The Holy Father observed how it seems contradictory to think that the more we lack, the more superabundantly, the Lord responds, but, Pope Francis explained, it is because “the Lord wants to celebrate with us.”
Pope Francis concluded by urging the faithful to pray that the Virgin Mary might intercede for us and, in this Jubilee Year, to help us rediscover the joy of encountering the Lord Jesus. – Vatican News
