The Wedding at Cana

The Wedding at Cana is the second of the Luminous Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. It commemorates the first public miracle of Christ, recorded in the Gospel of Saint John (2:1-12), at a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. The miracle was prompted by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who said simply to her Son: "They have no wine."

The mystery

The narrative is found only in the Gospel of Saint John, on the third day after the calling of the first disciples and the journey from the Jordan into Galilee. Christ, his mother Mary, and his newly called disciples are at a wedding feast at Cana when the wine runs out. Mary, observing this, addresses Christ with the simple statement of fact: "They have no wine."

Christ's reply, "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come," has been the subject of considerable Catholic theological reflection. The address "Woman" (rather than "Mother") is the same form of address Christ uses to Mary from the Cross (John 19:26: "Woman, behold your son"). The two scenes form a deliberate Johannine pair: Mary at the inauguration of the public ministry, prompting the first sign; Mary at the climax of the public ministry, given as Mother to the Beloved Disciple.¹

Mary then turns to the servants with the only directive she gives in the entire New Testament: "Do whatever he tells you." Christ instructs the servants to fill the six stone jars used for Jewish ritual washing with water, draws some out, and the water has become wine. The headwaiter, tasting it, observes that this is the best wine of the feast, contrary to the usual custom of saving the best for first.

Saint John interprets the sign for the reader: "Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him."

Meditation on trust in Mary's intercession

The traditional spiritual fruit of the Wedding at Cana is trust in Mary's intercession. The mystery presents Mary as the prompt for the first miracle of Christ: she sees the need of the bride and groom, brings it to her Son in a single phrase, and turns the servants over to him with "Do whatever he tells you." This is the model of Marian intercession: she does not herself perform the miracle, she does not insist on the act, she simply notices the need and entrusts it to her Son.

The Catholic prayers of intercession to Mary, including the Hail Mary and the Memorare, draw on the assurance that Mary continues this maternal noticing in heaven. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that Mary's intercession at Cana is the foundation of her ongoing intercessory role for the Church.²

The miracle of Cana is also Eucharistically suggestive: the transformation of water into the best wine prefigures the transformation of wine into the Blood of Christ at the Institution of the Eucharist, the fifth Luminous Mystery.

Praying the Wedding at Cana

To pray the second Luminous Mystery: announce "The second Luminous Mystery, the Wedding at Cana," pray an Our Father, ten Hail Marys while meditating on the first miracle and on Mary's intercession, and conclude with a Glory Be and the Fatima Prayer.

For the previous mystery, see the Baptism of Jesus. For the next mystery, see the Proclamation of the Kingdom.

Sources

Footnotes

1. Pope Saint John Paul II, encyclical Redemptoris Mater (1987), on the parallel between Cana and Calvary. See also Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2618 and 2674. ↩

2. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2674 to 2679, on Mary's role in Christian prayer. ↩