We have been reflecting on the Wedding Feast at Cana where Jesus performed his first miracle (Jn 2:1-11). He turned ordinary water into an overabundance of the best wine.

Wine symbolizes joy! Jesus wants you to know abundant and fruitful joy in your marriage. Last week, we began to look at ways to receive the grace that Jesus wants to pour into your marriage.

Just as there were six stone jars at Cana, we propose that there are six “jars” which we need to fill with water (our efforts) so that Jesus can turn it into wine.

Last week, we discussed the first stone jar: “Follow Christ.” This week we will focus on the second of the stone jar: “Read Scripture.”

Jesus wants to have an intimate relationship with each one of us. He desires to spend time with us and speak to us. He speaks to us through His Word, the Scriptures. The best way to get to know Jesus is to read Scripture, especially the Gospels.

St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church and the first to translate Scripture into Latin, (the Vulgate), said: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace. (Jn 1:1, 14, 16)

Christ is the Word made flesh!

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) has this to say about the Word of God:

In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word, “but as what it really is, the word of God”. “In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them.” (CCC 104)

As we grow in intimacy with Christ in the Word of God, we grow in intimacy with our spouses. Each of the six stone jars develops intimacy in this manner. Scripture is God’s love letter to His beloved children. Spend time reading Scripture, individually and as a couple, to see how much God loves you and desires to bless you in your marriage.

This is our prayer for you as you build your marriage on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God. (Eph 3:14-19)

Next week, we will discuss the third jar: “Receive the Eucharist.” In subsequent weeks, we will discuss praying together, forming community and forgiving each other.