Meaning of Christian Life: Being Epiphany Agents - the Keepers of the Wedding Wine

Now the Christmas Season is gone and First portion of Ordinary Time has begun. The first Sunday in Ordinary Time is to commemorate Jesus' first miracle - Turning mere water into the best wine at a wedding party. What does it mean to those who are inducted into Christian life through the Sacrament of Baptism and have said "yes" to the Lord through the Sacrament of Confirmation?

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Though there are many ways of practicing faith, liturgies are public forms of exercising faith.  The most important form of liturgy is Mass, the celebration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which is the summit of the Catholic liturgy, preceded by the Penitential Rite and the Liturgy of the Word.  Upon Mass, the faithful are nourished, spiritually and physically, and sent out to proclaim the Word throughout the world, with these driving words: Ite, missa est….Ite ad Evangelium Domini nuntiandum (Go, Now you are sent/dismissed….God announce the Gospel of the Lord).

Ultimately, the purpose of liturgies are to formerly send the faithful on mission – the mission that Jesus initiated by sending off the Apostles upon Pentecost, after spending about three years for training them. Through our Sacrament of Baptism, we were inducted into this mission as disciples of Christ – just as Jesus recruited the Apostles on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in Capernaum. As Jesus trained them through his teaching before and after his Death and Resurrection, until his Ascension, before being sent out on mission upon the Pentecost, we also spend some years in learning about Christ and his teaching, as well as the doctrine of the Church, through the CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) education, usually from K through 8^th grade, for the Sacrament of Confirmation. During this mission preparation for Confirmation through CCD, young disciples begin receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

The faithful disciples now understand what it means to be Christian, disciples of Christ, by the time they are being sent on their personal missions for Christ – as the Jesuits motto says, Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (for the greater glory of God).  The meaning of Christian life as a disciple of Christ is summed in the words of the Concluding Rite of Mass: Ite, missa est….Ite ad Evangelium Domini nuntiandum.

What does it mean for us to be nourished by the Word of God (in the Liturgy of the Word) and by the Sacrament of the Eucharist (in the Liturgy of the Eucharist) to be sent out on mission to proclaim the Good News (Gospel) of the Lord?

It is to serve the Lord as his “epiphany agents” through our works of mercy, which include proclaiming the Gospel of the Lord to enlighten people and serving as “Good Samaritan” to those who are in need, with the kind of love that Christ has taught – agape, emphasized in his Mandatum Novum during the Last Supper, written in John 13:34 - ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους, καθὼς ἠγάπησα ὑμᾶς ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους/ Agapate allelous kathos egapesa hymas hina kai hymeis agapate alleous  - Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

Because God is agape (1 John 4:8), by practicing agape as commanded by Jesus in John 13:25 and Matthew 25:31-46, and by proclaiming the Word of God to enlighten and to bring hope, our work in faith can let agape visibly and tangibly manifest. Thus, we serve as active catalysts for epiphanies – as theophanies – letting the invisible God manifest visibly and tangibly above the surface of the invisibility.

Until the Church, which was born upon the Pentecost, out of the Apostles, on earth is fully united with Christ the King, as envisioned in Revelation 19, the darkness of our sinfulness will continue to affect the world we live. Our mission to be agents of epiphanies will remain active until this time. As the Confirmed faithful, we must constantly ask how we can serve the Lord in bringing epiphanies to the world, as the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-14), reflecting the light of Christ (John 8:12), which cannot be overcome (John 1:5).

Now, the Advent Season is in the past, and the Christmas Season is over. On the Sunday after the Christmas Season on Cycle C, we commemorate the very first miracle that Jesus performed during the wedding banquet at Cana in Galilee (John 2:1-11).  This miracle is actually one of the series of epiphanies, counting from the Nativity of the Lord.  Perhaps, we can find this epiphany as a good reference for the way we serve as epiphany agents – epiphany catalysts.

How can we direct the multifaceted – multifold gift of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:1-2, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11) to facilitate epiphanies in the world to characterize the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)?

By turning mere water into the choicest wine, Jesus ensured that the wedding celebration would not be disrupted. How about us? God has been working toward the heavenly wedding of the Son now in heaven and the Church on earth.  Satan continues to interfere this great work of God.  We have been sent on mission to make sure Satan’s efforts are nullified. Let us serve as God’s agents to keep the wine for the wedding all the time. After all, this is what we learn from the first miracle of Jesus at Cana as epiphany, as God’s epiphany agents.

The meaning of Christian life is to be the keeper of the wedding wine until the matrimonial union of Christ the King and the Church completes, as the agents of epiphanies.