Page:Beautifulpearlso00oreirich.djvu/186

 life and  examples  have  become  an  influence  of  every  day  and  moment, during  the  past  eighteen  hundred  years,  how  many  mothers have found  light  and  strength  in  the  virtues  which  shine  forth  to the  attentive  eye  within  the  lowly  abode  of  Mary  at  Nazareth?" — (Heroic  Women  of  the  Bible  and  the  Church,  pp.  235,  236.) As  to  Joseph,  the  blessed  head  of  that  holy  household  of  Nazareth, the  Gospel  makes  no  further  mention  of  him.  He  lived  to rear,  to  the  first  years  of  manhood,  that  Jesus  who  loved  to  call  him father.  He  died,  as  became  one  privileged  beyond  all  men, blessed  and  loved,  tended  and  cheered  by  the  two  beings  to  whom he  had  given  his  life.  No  Christian  man  and  woman  can  think  of the  holy  and  devoted  foster-father  of  the  Saviour,  and  of  the  virtues which  shine  forth  in  his  conduct,  without  saying  that  he  was as  "blessed  among  men"  as  Mary,  his  beloved  companion,  was "blessed  among  women."

It was  natural  that  our  Lord,  during  the  eighteen  last  years  of His  life  at  Nazareth,  should  prepare  His  Mother  for  the  trials  which awaited them  both  in  the  fulfilment  of  His  public  mission. All through these  three  years  it  is  probable  that  Mary  lived  habitually either in  her  own  home  at  Nazareth,  or  at  Capharnaum  among  her near relatives,  the  two  sisters,  mothers,  respectively,  of  the  Apostles James and  John,  the  sons  of  Zebedee,  and  of  James  the  younger and Jude,  the  sons  of  Alpheus,  As  to  her  occupation  during  this period, a  twofold  testimony,  that  of  Celsus,  an  enemy  of  the Christian name,  and  that  of  Tertullian,  throws  some  light  upon the matter. The former  says  that  Mary  was  one  who  supported herself by  manual  labor;  the  latter  affirms  substantially  the  same fact. Like her  husband,  Joseph,  like  the  Incarnate  Word,  her  Son, Mary helped  to  elevate,  in  her  own  person,  the  condition  of  the laborer, to  make  of  labor  itself  a  something  sacred  and  divine.

Her first  appearance,  in  the  public  life  of  our  Lord,  was  in  connection with  the  Marriage  Feast  in  Canna — a  town  situated  a  few miles westward  of  Nazareth. This marriage  was  the  occasion  of bringing  together  our  Lord  and  His  Mother  with  the  first  disciples, who had  openly  acknowledged  Him  as  the  Messiah:  these  were Peter and  Andrew,  two  brothers,  and  Philip  and  Nathanael — Galileans all  four  of  them — and  the  nucleus  of  that  band  of  believers, recruited chiefly  from  Galilee,  who  were  to  be,  under  God,  the founders of  Christianity  in  the  East  and  West.

The marriage  at  Cana  took  place  a  few  months  after  the  Baptism of our  Lord  by  John,  the  solemn  proclamation  of  His  Mission  by the  Precursor  to  the  crowd  near  the  Jordan,  and  the  public  miracle by which  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit  manifested  His  Sonship and Divinity. Then He  retired  into  the  wild  mountain  tracts  near the river  to  spend  forty  entire  days  and  nights  in  solitude,  prayer, and abstinence  from  all  food — setting  to  all  apostolic  men  to  the end of  time  an  example  which  they  must  follow,  if  they  would continue His  work  with  fruit. Christianity, the  divinity  of  Christian life,  the  spread  of  God-like  Christian  holiness — all  are  based upon self-denial,  self-sacrifice,  and  habitual  prayer. Prayer is  the very soul  of  holiness.

It has  been  the  sense  of  the  Church  from  the  days  of  the  apostles to our  own,  that  this  first  miracle  of  our  Lord,  performed  at  the urgent solicitation  of  His  Mother,  gave  a  new  and  solemn  sanction to the  institution  of  matrimony. The sanctity  and  happiness  of family  life,  the  unity  and  permanence  of  the  tie  which,  in  the  Christian home,  binds  to  each  other  the  father  and  the  mother,  the  parents and  the  children,  is  the  foundation  of  Christian  society,  Christian civilization. Christ, by  assisting  with  His  Mother  and  His disciples, at  this  marriage  ceremony  and  feast,  and  by  sanctioning them with  a  public  and  stupendous  miracle,  wished  us — the  Church teaches — to understand  that  He  thereby  raised  the  primitive  matrimonial ordinance  to  the  rank  of  a  Sacrament — "  a  Great  Sacrament," as  S.  Paul  calls  it — blessing  the  whole  stream  of  human existence in  its  source,  by  infusing  into  it  His  own  blood  and  the merits of  His  passion,  and  nourishing  the  souls  of  regenerated humanity with  the  spiritual  energy  divinely  connected  with  His sacraments.

It is  but  the  simple  truth  to  say,  that  Mary  by  her  presence  at this  Marriage  Feast,  and  by  her  active  part  in  obtaining  the  stupendous miracle  performed  on  the  occasion,  showed  herself  to  be  the true Mother  of  the  New  Life,  the  Second  Eve  whose  pleading  with the Second  Adam  resulted,  not  in  the  ruin,  but  in  the  elevation  and sanctification of  the  human  family.

One word  about  the  seeming  rebuke  which  our  Lord  addressed on this  occasion  to  her. The festivities,  as  usual  in  the  country  and  in that  age,  had  lasted  several  days,  and  to  them  all,  the  near  relatives, at least,  of  the  wedded  pair  and  their  families  had  been  invited. The wine — the  home-made,  wholesome  growth  of  each  farm throughout the  land — gave  out. Mary's watchful  eye  detected  this, and the  secret  prompting  of  the  Holy  Spirit  urged  her  to  say  to her  Son:  "  They  have  no  wine." It was  a  womanly  and  motherly 'act. He, however,  for  the  sake  of  His  future  fellow-workers  there present, as  well  as  for  the  instruction  of  us  all,  will  have  her  understand that  what  He  is  going  to  do,  what  she  evidently  expects  Him to do,  belongs  to  the  Divine  Order,  in  which  the  claims  or  obligations of  flesh  and  blood  must  never  influence  the  dispensers  of God's  mysteries. " And  Jesus  saith  to  her:  Woman  (lady,  rather), what  is  it  to  Me  and  to  thee?  My  hour  is  not  yet  come.  His Mother  saith  to  the  waiters:  Whatsoever  He  shall  say  to  you,  do ye." "The solemn  hour,  indeed,  for  proclaiming  from  the  cross,  at the  very consummation  of  His  mediatorial  office,  that  she  is  His Mother  and  that  He  is  her  son,  has  not  yet  come.  That  was  to  be the  hour  of  supreme  love  for  both,  of  love  united  in  the  oblation and  consummation  of  such  suffering  as  the  hearts  of  mother  and son  never  endured  before  or  since.  It  is  clear  that  she  does  not take  His  answer  for  a  rebuke  The  eloquence  of  the  miracle  accomplished at  her  suggestion  and  entreaty  should  explain  the "  What  is  it  to  Me  and  to  thee?"  and  do  away  with  the  obscurity or  apparent  harshness  of  the  idiomatic  expressions  of  a  foreign language,  or  the  style  of  address  among  a  people  so  different  in every  way  from  ourselves.

On the  other  hand,  the  petition  of  the  Blessed  Mother  has  been held up  as  a  model  of  the  confidence  and  humility  which  should ever be  found  in  prayer. She knows  to  Whom  she  pleads,  she  states in the  simplest  terms  the  need  of  her  friends,  and  leaves  the  rest  to the  Almighty  Goodness.

Such is  also  the  way  in  which  Martha  and  Mary  represent  the case of  their  brother  Lazarus:  "Lord,  he  whom  Thou  lovest  is sick. ' '  In  both  cases,  a  miracle  is  asked  for;  in  both  it  is  granted; whereas  it  would  have  been  refused,  if  the  asking  it  had  been  deemed an  unwarrantable  interference  with  the  power  of  the  Man-God.

" This  beginning  of  miracles  did  Jesus  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  and manifested  His  glory,  and  His  disciples  believed  in  Him.  After this  He  went  down  to  Capharnaum,  He  and  His  Mother,  and  His brethren,  and  His  disciples;  and  they  remained  there  not  many days.  And  the  Pasch  of  the  Jews  was  at  hand,  and  Jesus  went  up to  Jerusalem."

The miracle  just  performed  naturally  bound  His  own  kinsfolk  to the  Master. Accompanied by  these  "  His  brethren,"  and  by  His