Here and Now with Francis 6/9/16 (Christ, Mary, Cana, trust, nuptials, faith, mercy, obedience)

To serve the Lord means to listen and to put His Word into practice. It is the simple, but essential recommendation of Jesus’ Mother and it is the Christian’s program of life. To draw from the jar is equivalent for each one of us to entrust ourselves to the Word of God to experience its efficacy in life.

From the audience

What is at the foundation of our faith? — An act of mercy with which Jesus has united us to Himself. And the Christian life is the answer to this love. It is like the story of two who are in love. God and man meet one another, seek one another, find one another, celebrate and love one another: precisely like the loved and beloved in the Canticle of Canticles. All the rest comes as consequence of this relationship. The Church is Jesus’ family in which His love is poured out; it is this love that the Church cherishes and wishes to give to all.... Mary’s words to the servants crown the nuptial picture: “Do whatever He tells you” (v. 5). It’s interesting: they are her last words reported by the Gospels: they are her legacy that she gives to all of us. Today, also, Our Lady says to us all: “Whatever He says to you – Jesus says to you –, do it.” It is the legacy she has left us: it’s beautiful! It is an expression that recalls the formula of faith used by the people of Israel at Sinai in answer to the promises of the Covenant: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do!” (Exodus 19:8). And indeed at Cana the servants obey. “Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. Again, He said to them, ‘Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.’ So they took it” (vv. 7-8). [full text]