THE ELOQUENT PERIOD OF CANA

 

Not too long ago I stopped by our first grade classroom as the teacher was presenting the idea of putting a period at the end of each sentence. She asked, "-- Once again, what is a period used for?" "-- It means the sentence is finished?" "-- Good! It shows that the person has given us a complete idea."  

Some students find it hard to remember to put a period at the end of a written thought. Needless to say, we teachers find it equally hard to read a paragraph where there's no punctuation.

MARY'S PUNCTUATION

In the story of the miracle at Cana, when Jesus changes water into wine (John 2:1-11), there is an eloquent punctuation mark that has had me reflecting seriously about my way of praying. We all remember how the drama begins:

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” (Jn.2:1-2)

We remember that this is the last thing she says to her son about the wine situation. She puts a big fat period at the end of her statement. She's said all she's going to say on the topic: she has presented a simple fact, and left the rest to Jesus (who, by the way, has not performed any miracles as yet).

Think about it. She likely has no idea of how to help spare the poor newlyweds from a terribly embarrassing situation. What she does is to go to her son and lay the predicament at his feet. That's all she says. Period.

Her prayer points out to me how I usually go to Jesus not to present a problem, but rather to ask him to bless some solution I've already decided on: "Lord, please grant that our plan to reassign classrooms by grade levels will work. Especially the relocating of the Art Department and moving the Junior High Division onto the third floor." The Cana version of this kind of prayer would have Mary approaching her son with some urgent request such as "They're running out of wine, so you'll have to send some of your men down to Home Liquors right away for six cases of cabernet!" 

What a difference between this second prayer and the Blessed Mother's first approach! I'm coming to see that I need to learn her approach to prayer: Go to the Lord in a spirit of total trust, confident that he will indeed help me in my situation. Let him surprise me.

Picture Mary, who has been watching her son out of the corner of her eye, as she realizes what he has just done to resolve the problem of the wine. She never asked him to do that. (Remember, John tells us that "This was the first of his signs." I wonder if she realized that her request had left her Son the room to create his first and most beautiful miracle?

ON THE OTHER HAND …

On the other hand, it's important to balance this bare bones approach to prayer with the childlike kind of prayer that's very specific: "Lord, please let aunt Rose come through her surgery successfully so that she can continue to love us and do all the beautiful things she does for so many people!" But don't forget do use Mary's kind of period on that sentence. Some of are tempted to add a rider to this sort of prayer: "But, on the other hand, Lord, if it is your will, let her die on the operating table." No! That addendum is a cowardly way of hedging your bet: If Rose gets better, then God answered your request, but if she dies, well, you've already told God ahead of time that that's all right by you.

In whatever kind of prayer situation, we have to show up with a completely open and trusting spirit, the way Mary did as early as the Annunciation, when she told Gabriel, "Let it be done unto me according to thy word." 

Whatever our prayer, we must approach the Lord in a spirit of vulnerability, aware that we may wind up  disappointed in the end. This is what is meant by intimacy: leaving myself open and vulnerable to the other, with no attempt to control them.

Mary at Cana had it right when she put that period where she did. Let us ask her to teach us the way that teacher was teaching her little pupils!

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