(Adults, you could begin by reading the first paragraph of the reflection to the child, then read the Gospel, and then continue with the reflection.)
We know that when two people love each other very much, they get married. There is a feast called a wedding. Family and friends come together to celebrate the love of these two people. They eat and drink and dance. Everyone is so full of joy; they are pleased that these people who love each other so very much are married. They are together. In the Gospel for this Sunday, we hear about Jesus and his mother and disciples at just such a wedding, but at this feast of love and joy, there is a problem.
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
Uh oh. The wine is for the feast. The wine is a sign of the love and the joy. If there is no more wine, what will the sign be?
The mother of Jesus knows what to do. She goes to the people who are serving at the wedding feast and she tells them. What does she say?
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Whatever Jesus says, that is what they should do. The mother of Jesus is saying, listen to his voice.
Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.”
When Jesus says, fill the jars with water, do the people listen to his voice?
And they filled them up to the brim.
Yes!
He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.”
When Jesus says, take some of the water to the person in charge, do the people listen to his voice?
So they took it.
Yes! These people are good at listening to his voice.
When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew)
Wait, wait, wait. Read that again.
the steward tasted the water that had become wine
When the people listen to Jesus' voice, the water becomes something more. The water has become wine.
Just a little bit of wine? No. Six full jugs. Each jug is bigger than a three-year-old, bigger than a four-year-old, bigger than a five-year-old, bigger than a six-year-old! That is a lot of wine! It is an abundance of wine.
When the chief steward tastes the wine, what does he think about it?
the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first...But you have kept the good wine until now.”
Now, with Jesus there is an abundance of good wine. When the people listen to his voice, there is only the best.
Remember what the wine at the wedding feast is a sign of? Love and Joy. When the people listen to Jesus, there is the most Love and the best Joy.
Can we listen to Jesus, too? How can we hear his voice? We start by sitting very, very still. We make sure our hands are not moving. We check that our feet are not moving. We close our eyes. We listen, not just with our ears, but with our whole self. What does that look like? With our whole self, we know the most Love and the best Joy.