Who is getting married today? According to St. Thomas Aquinas, it might be you. As
Biblical scholars would agree, Thomas’ depiction of the wedding at Cana (Jn 2:1-11)
has as much to say about the present as the past.
In addition to the man and woman whose wedding was celebrated on that day, Thomas
proposes three different but connected interpretations of the marriage. To start, he asks,
why the mother of Jesus is at the wedding?
The mother is mentioned because of her role in the greater marriage, the marriage of
the Son of God with human nature: “And this marriage was begun in the womb of the
Virgin, when God the Father united a human nature to his Son in a unity of person.…”
Thomas realizes that the parable of the wedding banquet of the King’s Son indicated
Jesus’ union with us: “Of this marriage it is said: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a king
who married his son’ (Mt 22:2), that is, when God the Father joined a human nature to
his Word in the womb of the Virgin.”
Related to the union of the Son of God with our nature is His union with those who
receive Him. The Letter to the Ephesians speaks of the Church as the Bride of Christ.
Thomas notes: “In the mystical sense, marriage signifies the union of Christ with his
Church, because as the Apostle says: ‘This is a great mystery: I am speaking of Christ
and his Church’” (Eph 5:32).
In the Old Testament, Hosea had compared the relationship of God and His people with
that of a husband and wife: “I will bind you to myself in faithfulness” (Hos 2:20). Christ
speaks of Himself as the “bridegroom” (Mk 2:19; Jn 3:29). Paul tells the Corinthians, “I
betrothed you to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ”(2 Cor 11:2).
The Letter to the Ephesians offers the example of Christ to husbands: “Husbands, love
your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed Himself over for her, to
sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word that He might present to
Himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might
be holy and without blemish” (Eph 5:25-27) The Book of Revelation depicts heaven as
an eternal wedding feast: “Blessed are they who are called to the marriage supper of
the Lamb” (Rv 19:9).
The marriage of Christ with His Church has been individualized to represent the union
of the soul with Christ. This theme has been present in the mystical tradition, for
instance in the homilies of St. Bernard and in the Spiritual Canticle of St. John of the
Cross.
When Thomas considers the marriage of Christ with the soul, he proposes a reason
why Mary should be present at the wedding: “In its mystical meaning, the mother of
Jesus, the Blessed Virgin, is present in spiritual marriages as the one who arranges the

marriage, because it is through her intercession that one is joined to Christ through
grace.”
Thomas’ Mariology is very Christ-centered. Christ’s grace joins us to Christ. Mary’s
intercession is directed above all to our union with her Son.
Thomas applies a reference to the personification of Wisdom found in the Book of
Sirach to Mary, “In me is every hope of life and of strength” (Sir 24:25). The Second
Vatican Council speaks of Mary’s “maternal charity,” which is exercised through her
“manifold intercession” (Lumen Gentium, 62). Mary intercedes that we may find “every
hope of life and strength” in Christ.
Thomas explains: “Christ is present as the true groom of the soul, as is said, ‘It is the
groom who has the bride’ (John 3:29). The disciples are the groomsmen uniting the
Church to Christ, the one of whom it is said: “I betrothed you to one husband, to present
you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor 11:2).
Thomas tells us: “The role of Christ’s mother was to superintend the miracle; the role of
Christ to perform it; and the disciples were to bear witness to it. As to the first, Christ’s
mother assumed the role of an intercessor. Hence she does two things. First, she
intercedes with her Son. In the second place, she instructs the servants.”
Thomas calls attention to the characteristics of Mary’s intercession in a beautiful way:
“In Mary’s intercession, note first her kindness and mercy. For it is a quality of mercy to
regard another’s distress as one’s own, because to be merciful is to have a heart
distressed at the distress of another: ‘Who is weak, and I am not weak?’ (2 Cor 11:29).
And so because the Blessed Virgin was full of mercy, she desired to relieve the distress
of others.”
Thomas also tells us to “Note her reverence for Christ: for because of the reverence we
have for God it is sufficient for us merely to express our needs: ‘Lord, all my desires are
known by you’ (Ps 37:10). But it is not our business to wonder about the way in which
God will help us, for as it is said: ‘We do not know what we should pray for as we ought’
(Rom 8:26). And so his mother merely told him of their need, saying, ‘They have no
more wine.’”
Thomas points out Mary’s attention to the needs of the newlyweds: “Note the Virgin’s
concern and care. For she did not wait until they were in extreme need, but ‘when the
wine ran out,’ that is, immediately. This is similar to what is said of God: “A helper in
times of trouble” (Ps 9:10). She trustingly prompted Christ to perform miracles.”
Thomas considers that the “wine” that had run out was that of “charity or grace”: “The
wine of charity was also running out, because they had received a spirit of serving only
in fear. But Christ converted the water of fear into the wine of charity when He gave ‘the
spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry: ‘Abba, Father’ (Rom 8:15), and when ‘the
charity of God was poured out into our hearts’” (Rom 5:5).

Thomas sees in the close relationship between Jesus and Mary which is depicted in this
Gospel an answer to those early heretics who claimed that Jesus was only spiritually
born of Mary, like water passing through a pipe. Thomas reminds us of the words of the
Letter to the Galatians: “God sent his Son, made from a woman” (Gal 4:4): “Now Christ
could not be said to have been made from her, unless he had taken something from
her.”
Thomas wonders why the presence of the “mother of Jesus” is mentioned before the
presence of Jesus. He considers whether she was better known or that the hosts didn’t
expect Jesus to take part in a social gathering, although contemporary exegetes agree
that Jesus’ meals with others were characteristic of His ministry.
Thomas concludes that Jesus went to the wedding because He was invited “to give us
an example of humility.” Thomas remembers that Augustine has commented: “Let man
blush to be proud, for God became humble.”
Thomas relates Jesus’ humility in His humanity with His divinity: “For among his other
acts of humility, the Son of the Virgin came to a marriage, which he had already
instituted in paradise when he was with his Father. Of this example it is said: ‘Learn
from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart’” (Mt 11:29).
Thomas adds that Jesus’ presence refutes negativity regarding marriage, “to reject the
error of those who condemn marriage.”
Thomas also addresses those who thought that “all things happen by fate, and that the
actions of men, including those of Christ, are subject to predetermined times.” And that
is why, Christ said, “My time has not yet come.”
Thomas explains: “For since man has free choice, and this is because he has reason
and will, both of which are spiritual, then obviously, as far as choice is concerned, man,
so far from being subject to bodies [the stars], is really their master. For spiritual things
are superior to material things, so much so that the Philosopher says that the wise man
is master of the stars.”
This was especially true of Christ, whom Thomas asserts is “the Lord and Creator of the
stars.” Thomas explains that Jesus is speaking of the time of His Passion, “which was
fixed for him, not by necessity, according to divine providence.
Thomas refers to the question raised in Sirach (33:7): “Why is one day better than
another?” To which Sirach answers, “It is due to the Lord’s wisdom that they differ”
(Sirach 33:8). Thomas interprets this to means, “They have been differentiated from one
another not by chance, but by God’s providence.”
According to Thomas, Jesus does not respond to His mother’s request because
Miracles are not from Hs human nature but His divine: “Now to perform miracles is

appropriate to him according to his divine nature, which he received from the Father;
while to suffer is according to his human nature, which he received from His mother…”
Thomas affirms that Jesus might have said to His mother: “I did not receive from you
that in me which enables me to perform miracles, but that which enables me to suffer,
i.e., that which makes it appropriate for me to suffer, i.e., I have received a human
nature from you. And so I will recognize you when this weakness hangs on the cross.
And so he continues with, My time has not yet come. As if to say: I will recognize you
as my mother when the time of my passion arrives. And so it was that on the cross he
entrusted his mother to the disciple.”
353 Chrysostom explains this differently. He says that the Blessed Virgin, burning with
zeal for the honor of her Son, wanted Christ to perform miracles at once, before it was
opportune; but that Christ, being much wiser than his mother, restrained her. For he
was unwilling to perform the miracle before the need for it was known; otherwise, it
would have been less appreciated and less credible. And so he says, Woman, what
does that have to do with me and you? As if to say: Why bother me? My time has
not yet come, i.e., I am not yet known to those present.
Nor do they know that the wine ran out; and they must first know this, because when
they know their need they will have a greater appreciation of the benefit they will
receive.
354 Now although his mother was refused, she did not lose hope in her Son’s mercy.
So she instructs the servants, Do whatever he tells you, in which, indeed, consists the
perfection of all justice. For perfect justice consists in obeying Christ in all things: “We
will do all that the Lord commanded us” (Ex 29:35). Do whatever he tells you, is fittingly
said of God alone, for man can err now and then.
And so the Lord performed many miracles using created and visible substances in order
to show that these substances are good and were created by God.
The third reason is mystical. Christ made the wine from water, and not from nothing, in
order to show that he was not laying down an entirely new doctrine and rejecting the
old, but was fulfilling the old: “I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it” (Mt
5:17). In other words, what was prefigured and promised in the old law, was disclosed
and revealed by Christ: “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the
Scriptures” (Lk 24:45).
Finally, he had the servants fill the jars with water so that he might have witnesses to
what he did; so it is said, the servants knew, since they had drawn the water.
361 In the mystical sense, those who pour out the water are preachers: “With joy you
will draw water from the springs of the Savior” (Is 12:3). And the architriclinus is
someone skilled in the law, as Nicodenius, Gamaliel or Paul. So, when the word of the
Gospel, which was hidden under the letter of the law, is entrusted to such persons, it is

as though wine made from water is poured out for the architriclinus, who, when he
tastes it, gives his assent to the faith of Christ.
Here we should consider, according to Chrysostom, that everything is most perfect in
the miracles of Christ. Thus, he restored most complete health to Peter’s mother-in-law,
so that she arose at once and waited on them, as we read in Mark (1:30) and Matthew
(7:14). Again, he restored the paralytic to health so perfectly that he also arose
immediately, took up his mat, and went home, as we read below (5:9).
And this is also evident in this miracle, because Christ did not make mediocre wine from
the water, but the very best possible.
363 This is appropriate to a mystery. For in the mystical sense, he serves good wine
first who, with an intent to deceive others, does not first mention the error he intends,
but other things that entice his hearers, so that he can disclose his evil plans after they
have been intoxicated and enticed to consent. We read of such wine: “It goes down
pleasantly, but finally it will bite like a serpent” (Prv 23:3 1). Again, he serves good wine
first who begins to live in a saintly and spiritual manner at the start of his conversion, but
later sinks into a carnal life: “Are you so foolish as, having begun in the Spirit, to end in
the flesh?” (Gal 3:3).
Christ, however, does not serve the good wine first, for at the outset he proposes things
that are bitter and hard: “Narrow is the way that leads to life” (Mt 7:14).
Yet the more progress a person makes in his faith and teaching, the more pleasant it
becomes and he becomes aware of a greater sweetness: “I will lead You by the path of
justice, and when you walk you will not be hindered” (Prv 4:11). Likewise, all those who
desire to live conscientiously in Christ stiffer bitterness and troubles in this world: “You
will weep and mourn” (below 16:20). But later they will experience delights and joys. So
he goes on: “but your sorrow will be turned into joy.” “I consider that the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which will be
revealed in us,” as is said in Romans (8:18).
It was for the reason given above, then, that Jesus performed this miracle of turning
water into wine at Cana of Galilee; and this was the first of the signs he did. And Jesus
revealed his glory, i.e., the power by which he is glorious: “The Lord of hosts, he is the
King of glory” (Ps 23:10).
365 And his disciples believed in him. But how did they believe? For they already
were his disciples and had believed before this. …previously they had believed in him
as a good man, preaching what was right and just; but now they believed in him as God.