Wedding Feast of Cana - Catena Aurea Commentary

If you attend the Novus Ordo Missae (The Ordinary Form of the Mass) this Sunday, you will hear the "Wedding Feast at Cana" Gospel as it is the 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time. The commentary of the Catena Aurea is below and my comments in red:

Gospel: John 2:1-11

1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there,
2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited.3 And they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the feast had all been used, and the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.'
4 Jesus said, 'Woman, what do you want from me? My hour has not come yet.'
5 His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you.'
6 There were six stone water jars standing there, meant for the ablutions that are customary among the Jews: each could hold twenty or thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, 'Fill the jars with water,' and they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he said to them, 'Draw some out now and take it to the president of the feast.'
9 They did this; the president tasted the water, and it had turned into wine. Having no idea where it came from -- though the servants who had drawn the water knew -- the president of the feast called the bridegroom
10 and said, 'Everyone serves good wine first and the worse wine when the guests are well wined; but you have kept the best wine till now.'
11 This was the first of Jesus' signs: it was at Cana in Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

Catena Aurea Verses 1-4:

Aug.:  Let the proud man blush to see the humility of God. Lo, among other things, the Son of the Virgin comes to a marriage; He who, when He was with the Father, instituted marriage.

BEDE. His condescension in coming to the marriage, and the miracle He wrought there, are, even considering them in the letter only, a strong confirmation of the a faith. Therein too are condemned the errors of Tatian, Marcion, and others who detract from the honor of marriage. For if the undefiled bed, and the marriage celebrated with due chastity, partook at all of sin, our Lord would never have come to one. Whereas now, conjugal chastity being good, the continence of widows better, the perfection of the virgin state best, to sanction all these degrees, but distinguish the merit of each, He deigned to be born of the pure womb of the Virgin; was blessed after birth by the prophetic voice of the widow Anna; and now invited in manhood to attend the celebration of a marriage, honors that also by the presence of His goodness.

CHRYS. But how came it into the mother's mind to expect so great a thing from her Son? for he had done no miracle as yet: as we read afterwards This beginning of miracles did Jesus. His real nature, however, was beginning now to be revealed by John, and His own conversations with His disciples; besides that His conception, and the circumstances of His birth, had from the first given rise to high expectations in her mind: as Luke tells us, His mother kept all these sayings in her heart. Why then did she never ask Him to work a miracle before? Because the time had now come that He should be made known. Before He had lived so much like an ordinary person, that she had not had the confidence to ask Him. But now that she heard that John had borne witness to Him, and that He had disciples, she asks Him confidently.

Verses 5-11:

CHRYS. Although He had said, Mine hour is not yet come, He afterwards did what His mother told Him, in order to show plainly, that He was not under subjection to the hour. For if He was, how could He have done this miracle before the hour appointed for it? In the next place, He wished to show honor to His mother, and make it appear that He did not go counter to her eventually. He would not put her to shame in the presence of so many; especially as she had sent the servants to Him, that the petition might come from a number, and not from herself only; His mother said to the servants, Whatsoever He says to you, do it.

AUG. But see the mysteries which lie hid in that miracle of our Lord. It was necessary that all things should be fulfilled in Christ which were written of Him: those Scriptures were the water. He made the water wine when He opened to them the meaning of these things, and expounded the Scriptures; for thus that came to have a taste which before had none, and that inebriated, which did not inebriate before.

BEDE; As if she said, Though He appear to refuse, He will do it nevertheless. She knew His pity and mercifulness. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Hydriae are vessels to hold water: hydor being the Greek for water. 

This is one of my favorite Gospel readings because there is soooo much that it conveys and teaches. Volumes of books could be written about this passage alone. The symbolism of Mary, her understanding and guidance of Jesus. Not that He needed it, but instead allowed it and submitted to it. The wedding and its importance to Jesus, and the symbolism of what He did here at Cana as compared to His eternal wedding with the Church. The miracle that He performed, and the various miracles and how this appears to be the first that was written about. One could go on and on explaining it. Just read the Catena Aurea.


-Posted by: Joe