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CHAPTER XI
The Second Sunday after the Ephiphany,
Sources of the liturgy : Introit, Ps. LXV, 4. Epistle, Romans, xn,
6-16. Gradual, Ps. cvi, 20-21. Alleluia, Ps. CXLVIII 2.
Gospel, St. John, n, 1-12. Offertory, Ps. LXV, 12 and 16.
Communion, St. John, n, 7 and 10.
On this Sunday the Church devotes her whole atten
tion to the miracle wrought by Jesus at the marriage
feast of Cana. It was, the Gospel tells us, the first
miracle by which our Lord manifested His power. In
the preceding manifestations, our Lord was shown
to us as the true Messias through the intermediary of
external agents or by the voice of His eternal Father.
Here, our Lord Himself, by His own power, shows
that He is truly sent by God. In this miracle, our
divine Lord manifests His power by teaching the
world that He is the absolute Master of all the
elements, that at His pleasure and in an instant, He
changes all substances. The changing
of the water into
wine, says Saint Augustine, is a prodigy equal
to the
production of the harvests and crops by the intermediary
action of rain and sun. From this prodigy, the dis
ciples drew the conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth was
truly God, that all that He was teaching was the Truth
itself, and they believed in Him. This is the conclusion
which we should draw, whenever we hear or read the