The Miracle at Cana

I've often contemplated what is the mystery of the miracle of the wedding feast at Cana (John 2:1-11).  This morning, while meditating on this mystery in the Rosary, the Lord revealed to me a new aspect of this teaching.

We are both Priest and Prophet on the earth.  The Priest has the authority to call on the Lord and the Prophet the responsibility to carry it out.  Mary is the figure from which the church is modeled; Mary is to God as the Church is to Christ.  The servants are the messengers delivering the result.  Mary tells them "do whatever He tells you."  In this scene, Mary is directing the ministry of Jesus and the servants are carrying it out.  Mary has authority to call on Jesus, the servants the responsibility to do what he tells them and deliver the results to the others.

Remember, this is on the other side of the Cross where priest and prophet were separate.  Moses and Aaron, David and Nathaniel, the Law and Elijah and Elisha. This side of the Cross, we are both priest and prophet.  We have the authority to call on the Lord and also the responsibility to carry out what He tells us.  Practice listening.

1's and 0's

This has been a very interesting and learning week for me summed up in the reading from the Magnificat for today by Father Simon Tugwell, O.P. in his Day by Day message "Where Our Heart Is." He begins with, "Our identity is 'I' and "Not-I'" which for me translated to "I" and "naught" or 1 and 0, in digital language. My work involves studying to understand the effect of the digital domain on people, what it means and why, how we use it, where it changes us or how we adapt to it. The digital domain gives visibility and manifestation to the domain of "thought." The effects of "thought" on the human race reduced to 1's and 0's yet expanded to affect every person on the Earth in some aspect. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin described this domain as the noosphere, or the "sphere of thought" in his book The Phenomenon of Man. The noosphere as analogous to the geosphere and the biosphere. (More on this later.)

Each person's true identity comes down to "mine" and "not mine." It is displayed in what we take as our own revealed in our actions precipitated by our words. Fr. Tugwell writes that "it is a part of man's dignity, according to Saint Thomas, that he is the source of his own actions, just as God is the source of his own actions. Our freedom is the created image of God's freedom." We are the source of our actions because we choose. Not choosing is also a choice. So, the essential source of our identity is "God" or "not God." We choose. It is written, "... I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life ..."

Fr. Tugwell writes, "In Thomistic language, we cannot apprehend the essence of our own souls. To have a pure heart is to have a heart that is known to be rooted in the mystery of God and which must therefore systematically elude our grasp." ... "To have a pure heart is to have a life which wells up in us from a source too deep for us to plumb. To have a pure heart is to have a heart that is not just created by God and then abandoned to us for us to make the most of it; it is to have a heart which is constantly being created and sustained by the newness of the life of God."

I say that the mystery of God is not too deep to plumb. Our lives consist in our choice of either the action of plumbing the depths or not. We have only to ask or ignore. It is written, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

I choose life. It is where my heart is, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" and therefore I guard my heart. It is written, "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are (flow) the issues of life."