Jesus also was asked, and He did not refuse the invitation.  He went as freely to this house of feasting as He afterwards went pityingly to so many houses of mourning.  Though worn and weary with his long fast and struggle in the desert, He was pleased to attend this merry wedding feast, and by this loving and kindly act to sanctify the bond of Marriage, which was to become in His Church one of the seven Sacraments.

The feast went gayly onward until an incident occurred that greatly disturbed the host.  The wine failed.  The host had not calculated rightly, or perhaps he had not counted on so many guests.

Mary, with her motherly heart, was the first to notice the confusion of the servants when they discovered that the wine vessels had become empty; and leaning towards her Son, whispered, “They have no wine.”  “My hour is not yet come,” He answered her, meaning that His time for working miracles had not yet arrived.  He knew on the instant what the gentle heart of His Mother desired.  His words sounded like a refusal of the request which Mary made rather with her eyes than with her tongue; but the sequel shows that the Blessed Mother fully believed that her prayer would be granted.

She quietly said to the servants, “Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye.”  They had not long to wait.  There were standing close at hand six great urns of stone, covered with branches, as is the custom in the East, in order to keep the water cool and fresh.  These vessels “containing two or three measures apiece,” were kept in readiness for the guests, who were required not only to wash their feet before touching the linen and drapery of the couches, but even during the meal frequently to purify their hands.  Already there had been many of these ablutions performed, and the urns were being rapidly emptied.

“Fill the waterpots with water,” said Jesus to the servants.

They filled them up to the brim with clear, fresh water.

“Draw out now, and carry to the chief steward of the feast.”

And they carried it.

When the chief steward had tasted the water made wine, and knew not whence it was, he called the bridegroom and said to him:  “Every man at first setteth forth good wine, and when men have well drunk then that which is worse; but thou hast kept the good wine until now.”

The steward had supposed at first that the host had wished to give an agreeable surprise to the company assembled at his table; but the latter, to his amazement, was at once made aware that a wondrous deed had been accomplished—­that water had been changed into wine!

Jesus had performed His first Miracle.

From this beautiful story of the first miracle of Jesus, we learn that Jesus Christ is God, and that Mary, the Mother of God, whose intercession is all-powerful with her Divine Son, has a loving and motherly care over the smallest of our life’s concerns.

[Illustration:  THE FEAST Veronese.]