St. Benedict’s, Los Osos CA
The Rev. Brian H. O. A. McHugh +
These are words from the 14th century Islamic Persian poet Hafiz of Shariz:
From the large jug, drink the wine of Unity,
So that from your heart, you can wash away
the futility of Life’s grief.
But like this large jug, still keep the heart expansive.
Why would you want to keep the heart captive,
like an unopened bottle of wine?
Uncorking the heart. Being an enthusiastic winebibber myself – perhaps too much so, as one can see from my girth, and the fact that my cross which used to hang parallel to my body now falls at a 30 degree angle! - I find this a perfect image for why we gather here week after week as “church”, around a feasting table of bread and wine holding the abundance of Divine Life. We come to get uncorked! We and God know how easy it is for the “heart” to be captive and imprisoned. We know how it’s capacity for Life – for love and compassion and kindness and generosity - can get “bottled up”. Jesus also knows, as we see in the Gospel reading for this Second Sunday in Epiphanytide – the liturgical season which spotlights Jesus’ manifestation in the World’s consciousness.
We come together in worship in order to set our captive hearts free, to “keep the heart expansive”. One of the antiphons for the Feast of St. Agnes says, "I have drawn milk and honey from his lips, and his blood hath given fair color to my cheeks." Romano Guardini has written:
“...Wine possess a sparkle, a perfume, a vigour, that expands and clears the imagination.
Under the form of wine Christ gives us his divine blood …… For our sakes Christ
became bread and wine, food and drink. We make bold to eat him and to drink him.
This bread gives us solid and substantial strength. This wine bestows courage, joy
out of all earthly measure, sweetness, beauty, limitless enlargement and
perception. It brings life in intoxicating excess, both to possess and to impart.”
Jesus knew the words of the prophet Isaiah, words we often use as we celebrate the life of one who has died:
Christians who have feasted at the Supper of the Lamb for any length of time – on Word and Sacrament and Community - know with a deep inner knowing that all people have been invited to the “marriage supper of the lamb” – not only beyond this earthly life but within it as well. We also know that God has invited us to be heralds of this invitation, by our words, our deeds, by our lives both individual and as the living Body of Christ in the World.
The authors of the Gospel called John produce right near the beginning a story of a marriage in Cana. It is deliberate; they want to create the context in which the Gospel message and the meaning of Jesus’ Life is set. The wedding is obviously a local community affair since Jesus is invited along other residents, many of whom are his disciples. It focuses our attention, as it would have that of His contemporaries, to God’s abundant nurturing of the People. In our minds and theirs arise images: manna and quail in the wilderness; a land flowing with milk and honey; Isaiah’s feast of rich food; the countless psalms like today’s that speak in various ways of eating our fill at the banquet God spreads and filling our tankards with Eden spring water.
The story of the marriage reminds us of the intimacy of the relationship of God and God’s People. The huge amount of wine – 180 gallons! – reminds us that God’s gifts are boundless. The fact that the wine wasn’t cheap rotgut but the finest reminds us that when we feed on the things of God, it is the best, always. God doesn’t hold back at any time in our Life or no matter how much we’ve had or need. We’re talking here not only of things to keep us physically alive – though Haiti reminds us that it is the responsibility of the human community to see that all have the basic material requirements met. We are talking of identity, of love, of inner peace, of resilience, of self-respect. Martin Luther King Jr. – whose feast day we keep this week - would, I think, have accomplished far less than he did were he not firmly grounded in God and Her gifts.
It is an important part of the story that the wine gave out. People hearing the story would have raised an audible gasp. This would be a serious thing to happen at such a gathering. They and we would certainly find ourselves thinking: “Am I prepared in mind, heart and spirit to meet the demands of Life? Is my community prepared to meet the demands of our common Life?” I’m not at all sure that I understand what the business is about Jesus saying to his mother, “"Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn't my time. Don't push me." You might have some thoughts about that. But Mary, as the mother-figure, represents those very necessary people in our lives who care about us, those who support us and rally support at difficult times, sometimes without our knowing it. We all need help in our Journey. The story reminds us of our need for a relationship with God and all that “God” means, and with fellow human beings.
This story clearly sets the solid foundation on which the Gospel of John tells the story of Jesus: When your Life is intimately woven into the Divine Life, not even Death can defeat you. Death did not defeat Martin Luther King Jr. A new Life was given to the whole American people by his prophetic ministry and death and, like Jesus, he continues to live powerfully among us now.
Bruno Barnhart has written:
"When the wine gave out..." These words bear a weight of feeling. One imagines
the pain attending such an embarrassment at the great event in the lives of these
two poor people. The words resonate on other levels, too. They express
something of the profound and manifold sorrow of the human condition. The
wine is always giving out. And as the day wears on, we are more and more aware
that we cannot replenish it from our own resources.”
Every time we uncork the heart, Love rushes in to enliven it. Good worship and liturgy always aids this process. The lovely Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Community, so wisely speaks to what that means for us as followers of Jesus:
“True love is delicate and kind, full of gentle perception and understanding, full of
beauty and grace, full of joy unutterable. There should be some flavor of this in
all our love for others. We are all one. We are one flesh in the Mystical Body as man
and woman are said to be one flesh in marriage. With such a love one would see all
things new; we would begin to see people as they really are, as God sees them."
Coming here, to the “marriage supper of the Lamb”, we affirm that what may be standing in the way of love flowing out of our hearts is pried, popped out, uncorked. We “draw milk and honey from [Christ’s] lips”, and His mystical Blood “hath given colour to [our] cheeks”. Then we can do what Hafiz of Shiraz, in his forthright words, says:
“Get up and make an effort. Don't lie around like a bum. He who throws
himself at the Beloved's feet is like a workhorse and will be rewarded ..”
Or, as the Collect says: we may “shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory”.
These are words from the 14th century Islamic Persian poet Hafiz of Shariz:
From the large jug, drink the wine of Unity,
So that from your heart, you can wash away
the futility of Life’s grief.
But like this large jug, still keep the heart expansive.
Why would you want to keep the heart captive,
like an unopened bottle of wine?
Uncorking the heart. Being an enthusiastic winebibber myself – perhaps too much so, as one can see from my girth, and the fact that my cross which used to hang parallel to my body now falls at a 30 degree angle! - I find this a perfect image for why we gather here week after week as “church”, around a feasting table of bread and wine holding the abundance of Divine Life. We come to get uncorked! We and God know how easy it is for the “heart” to be captive and imprisoned. We know how it’s capacity for Life – for love and compassion and kindness and generosity - can get “bottled up”. Jesus also knows, as we see in the Gospel reading for this Second Sunday in Epiphanytide – the liturgical season which spotlights Jesus’ manifestation in the World’s consciousness.
We come together in worship in order to set our captive hearts free, to “keep the heart expansive”. One of the antiphons for the Feast of St. Agnes says, "I have drawn milk and honey from his lips, and his blood hath given fair color to my cheeks." Romano Guardini has written:
“...Wine possess a sparkle, a perfume, a vigour, that expands and clears the imagination.
Under the form of wine Christ gives us his divine blood …… For our sakes Christ
became bread and wine, food and drink. We make bold to eat him and to drink him.
This bread gives us solid and substantial strength. This wine bestows courage, joy
out of all earthly measure, sweetness, beauty, limitless enlargement and
perception. It brings life in intoxicating excess, both to possess and to impart.”
Jesus knew the words of the prophet Isaiah, words we often use as we celebrate the life of one who has died:
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food
filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.
Christians who have feasted at the Supper of the Lamb for any length of time – on Word and Sacrament and Community - know with a deep inner knowing that all people have been invited to the “marriage supper of the lamb” – not only beyond this earthly life but within it as well. We also know that God has invited us to be heralds of this invitation, by our words, our deeds, by our lives both individual and as the living Body of Christ in the World.
The authors of the Gospel called John produce right near the beginning a story of a marriage in Cana. It is deliberate; they want to create the context in which the Gospel message and the meaning of Jesus’ Life is set. The wedding is obviously a local community affair since Jesus is invited along other residents, many of whom are his disciples. It focuses our attention, as it would have that of His contemporaries, to God’s abundant nurturing of the People. In our minds and theirs arise images: manna and quail in the wilderness; a land flowing with milk and honey; Isaiah’s feast of rich food; the countless psalms like today’s that speak in various ways of eating our fill at the banquet God spreads and filling our tankards with Eden spring water.
The story of the marriage reminds us of the intimacy of the relationship of God and God’s People. The huge amount of wine – 180 gallons! – reminds us that God’s gifts are boundless. The fact that the wine wasn’t cheap rotgut but the finest reminds us that when we feed on the things of God, it is the best, always. God doesn’t hold back at any time in our Life or no matter how much we’ve had or need. We’re talking here not only of things to keep us physically alive – though Haiti reminds us that it is the responsibility of the human community to see that all have the basic material requirements met. We are talking of identity, of love, of inner peace, of resilience, of self-respect. Martin Luther King Jr. – whose feast day we keep this week - would, I think, have accomplished far less than he did were he not firmly grounded in God and Her gifts.
It is an important part of the story that the wine gave out. People hearing the story would have raised an audible gasp. This would be a serious thing to happen at such a gathering. They and we would certainly find ourselves thinking: “Am I prepared in mind, heart and spirit to meet the demands of Life? Is my community prepared to meet the demands of our common Life?” I’m not at all sure that I understand what the business is about Jesus saying to his mother, “"Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn't my time. Don't push me." You might have some thoughts about that. But Mary, as the mother-figure, represents those very necessary people in our lives who care about us, those who support us and rally support at difficult times, sometimes without our knowing it. We all need help in our Journey. The story reminds us of our need for a relationship with God and all that “God” means, and with fellow human beings.
This story clearly sets the solid foundation on which the Gospel of John tells the story of Jesus: When your Life is intimately woven into the Divine Life, not even Death can defeat you. Death did not defeat Martin Luther King Jr. A new Life was given to the whole American people by his prophetic ministry and death and, like Jesus, he continues to live powerfully among us now.
Bruno Barnhart has written:
"When the wine gave out..." These words bear a weight of feeling. One imagines
the pain attending such an embarrassment at the great event in the lives of these
two poor people. The words resonate on other levels, too. They express
something of the profound and manifold sorrow of the human condition. The
wine is always giving out. And as the day wears on, we are more and more aware
that we cannot replenish it from our own resources.”
Every time we uncork the heart, Love rushes in to enliven it. Good worship and liturgy always aids this process. The lovely Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Community, so wisely speaks to what that means for us as followers of Jesus:
“True love is delicate and kind, full of gentle perception and understanding, full of
beauty and grace, full of joy unutterable. There should be some flavor of this in
all our love for others. We are all one. We are one flesh in the Mystical Body as man
and woman are said to be one flesh in marriage. With such a love one would see all
things new; we would begin to see people as they really are, as God sees them."
Coming here, to the “marriage supper of the Lamb”, we affirm that what may be standing in the way of love flowing out of our hearts is pried, popped out, uncorked. We “draw milk and honey from [Christ’s] lips”, and His mystical Blood “hath given colour to [our] cheeks”. Then we can do what Hafiz of Shiraz, in his forthright words, says:
“Get up and make an effort. Don't lie around like a bum. He who throws
himself at the Beloved's feet is like a workhorse and will be rewarded ..”
Or, as the Collect says: we may “shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory”.
