Cana
One
Why do we pray to the saints?
The public ministry of Jesus was launched at the Wedding at Cana. This event helps us understand why we pray to saints.
One thing the Catholic Church is known for is encouraging devotion to the saints. We have long litanies, asking the saints to pray for us. We have novenas and special devotions, St. Anthony for finding things, St. Joseph for buying or selling a house, and St. Jude for impossible causes. But why? Why don’t we just go straight to Jesus?
Do we think Jesus can’t hear us? Or do we think we need to get a group of committed lobbyists up in Heaven so that even if the Lord doesn’t want to answer our prayers, He’ll get so tired of being accosted by all these folks hassling Him on our behalf that He’ll break down and give us what we want?
That doesn’t sound right, does it?
But then why do we invoke the saints?
Two
Respecting the structure of salvation
Praying to the saints isn’t about twisting God’s arm, or leading a popular revolt till He says, “Okay, fine.” It’s about respecting the social structure of salvation that God has established. God comes to us through other people, and primarily through holy people.
Think how effectively and widely God came to people through the lives of John Paul II or Mother Teresa. So it makes sense that we should go to God through other people, and primarily through holy people. And the primary saint through whom Jesus comes to us is Mary. He actually literally came to us through Mary.
As St. Pius X says, “God could have given us the Redeemer of the human race and the Founder of the Faith in another way than through the Virgin, but since Divine Providence has been pleased that we should have the God-man through Mary, who conceived Him by the Holy Spirit and bore Him in her womb, it remains for us to receive Christ only through the hands of Mary.”
St. Louis De Montfort wrote, “It is through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus Christ came into the world, and it is also through her that he must reign in the world.”
So it makes sense that we would go to Him through Mary. And the wedding at Cana is where Jesus showed us, once and for all, that He will be generous to us if Mary asks Him.
Three
Cana
It is amazing when you really think about what happened at the Wedding of Cana.
John chapter 2 tells us, “There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited.”
St. John Paul II says, “At the beginning of the account the evangelist tells us that ‘the Mother of Jesus was there.’ As if to suggest that her presence was the reason for the couple’s invitation to Jesus and the disciples.” He adds, ‘Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples.’”
Because the couple was wise enough to invite Mary, they encountered Jesus and the Apostles.
Notice, Jesus has no intention of doing anything to help. In fact, he says, “Why turn to me? My hour has not come yet.”
Jesus waited until Mary asked Him before performing this miracle. And then Jesus gives an excessive response!
He makes 180 gallons of the best wine, that’s 900 bottles of wine! And Mary will wait until we ask Her before asking Her son.
So, do you want to have the joy of the Gospel? Do you want to have life, and have it more abundantly? Then don’t wait. Ask Mary to intercede for you now.
Four
The Queen Mother
Have you ever noticed something about the Rosary, namely, that all the events in the mysteries of the Rosary describe historical events that happened on earth? Except one. Just one. The very last one.
When Mary was crowned as Queen of Heaven and Earth, that didn’t take place on earth at all. And yet, after we’ve considered all these mysteries about Our Lord’s life and Our Lady’s life, we end by something that happened beyond this life altogether. Why? Because the Queen is always the great intercessor with the King.
Whether you’re talking about Queen Esther or Queen Bathsheba, they are the ones to go to if you’re looking for an advocate who is always welcomed with honor before the Throne of the King. So the culmination of the twenty mysteries of the Rosary is this – go to Mary. Entrust yourself and your cause to Her. Ask her to be your advocate before the Throne of the Eternal King.
Five
Devotion to Mary, the Constant Practice of the Church
Asking Mary to be our advocate isn’t something brand new in the Church!
An early form of the Memorare goes back to 250 AD!
The prayer, called the sub tuum praesidium goes like this, “We fly to your patronage, O Holy Mother of God, despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all danger, O ever glorious and blessed Virgin.”
The couple at Cana ran out of wine and needed a miracle to help them. We may need a miracle in our own lives: a son or daughter who has fallen away from the Church, a loved one who is terminally ill, addictions, lost jobs, overwhelming anxieties – we probably all need a miracle in one way or another.
So just do what the couple of Cana did. Invite Mary into your life and then ask her to intercede and gain the miracle you need.
The Flying Novena is a great way, it’s only ten Memorares, “Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.”
When you or someone you know needs a miracle pray the flying novena of memorare’s because never was it known that anyone was left unaided!