ROME — Pope Francis reflected Wednesday on the importance of the intercession of the Virgin Mary, proposing that without her intervention at the wedding feast in Cana the guests would have drunk milk rather than wine.
The pontiff was referring to the gospel account of Jesus’ first miracle, where on Mary’s prodding he turned water into wine at a wedding banquet at Cana in Galilee.
Speaking before a small audience in the library of the apostolic palace in the Vatican, the pope reflected on Mary as a woman of prayer.
“Mary belongs to a great host of the humble of heart whom the official historians never include in their books, but with whom God prepared the coming of His Son,” he said.
In his address, Francis underscored Mary’s humility and docility to God’s will by which she recognized herself as the “handmaiden of the Lord.”
The most humble of heart pray for God’s will to be done “and do not get upset when problems fill their days, but they go about facing reality and knowing that in humble love, in love offered in each situation, we become instruments of God’s grace,” he said.
“If in prayer we understand that each day given by God is a call, our hearts will then widen and we will accept everything,” the pope continued.
“Mary accompanied Jesus’s entire life in prayer, right up to His death and resurrection; and in the end, she continued and she accompanied the first steps of the nascent Church,” Francis added.
“Mary did not act like a priest among them, no! She is Jesus’s Mother who prayed with them, in the community, as a member of the community. She prayed with them and prayed for them,” he said.
“The Gospels recount only one of Mary’s prayers at Cana, when she asks her Son for those poor people who are about to make a horrible impression during the banquet. So, let us imagine: there is a wedding banquet and it will end up with milk because there is no wine! What an impression!” Francis said.
“Mary is present because she is Mother, but she is also present because she is the first disciple, the one who best learned Jesus’s ways,” he continued. “Mary never says: ‘Come, I will take care of things.’ Instead she says: ‘Do whatever He will tell you,’ always pointing her finger at Jesus.”
“How beautiful it would be if we too could be a bit like our Mother!” the pope concluded. “With a heart open to God’s Word, with a silent heart, with an obedient heart, with a heart that knows how to receive God’s Word and that allows itself to grow with the seed of good for the Church.”
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