Oscar Wilde wrote a beautiful story about a statue.  The statue was called the Happy Prince.  It was a beautiful statue with sapphire in place of the eyes, with a ruby on the hilt of the sword, and with gold leaf covering the uniform. This statue was in a town full of suffering poor people. One day a swallow, who was left behind after his flock flew off to Egypt for the winter, meets the statue of the late “Happy Prince”, who in reality has never experienced true sorrow, for he lived in a palace where sorrow was not allowed to enter. Viewing various scenes of people suffering in poverty from his tall monument, the Happy Prince asks the swallow to take the ruby from his hilt, the sapphires from his eyes, and the gold leaf covering his uniform, to give to the poor. As the winter comes and the Happy Prince is stripped of all of his beauty, his lead heart breaks, when the swallow dies as a result of his selfless deeds and severe cold. The people, unaware of their good deeds, take the statue down from the pillar due to its shabbiness  and the metal is melted in a furnace, leaving behind the broken heart and the dead swallow; they are thrown on a dust heap. These are taken up to heaven by an Angel that has deemed them the two most precious things in the city. This is affirmed by God, and they live forever in His “city of gold” and garden of Paradise. In today’s gospel we read that Jesus goes to a wedding feast.  At a certain moment the wine is finished, and Mary tells Jesus, and Jesus performs a miracle, he changed water into wine, and he saves the feast. What happened at Cana happens sooner or later in every marriage in every family, and in our lives, the wine runs out. I read an interesting anecdote recently: a man was sitting on the sofa watching the TV when he heard his wife’s voice from the kitchen, what would you like for dinner love, chicken, beef, or lamb? He said: thank you, I’ll have chicken. Hump off your having soup I was talking to the cat. In our gospel story today, there is one aspect which we should not miss; the wine that Jesus gave, was the very best; nobody had ever tasted anything like it. This teaches us that Jesus cannot give anything cheap. He always gives his very best.  Jesus cannot give a little, love a little or pardon a little, he gives, he loves he pardons with all his heart, until there is nothing left.  This fills us with hope and with happiness, but at the same time it is a great challenge.  If Jesus loves like that, we as Christians should love like that also.  Let us ask ourselves:  In my daily life as a father, or mother, husband or wife, brother or sister, son or daughter, grandparent, or friend, do I try to give my very best, or am I holding something back?

If the wine has run out in our lives, let us do what the couple in Cana did today, they invited Jesus into their home. Inviting Jesus into your home could be the most important thing you do this year.

Let’s close with a prayer: Lord Jesus, come into our home and bless it. Bless the doors of our home. May they always be open to the stranger and the lonely? Bless the rooms of our home. May they always be filled with your presence. Above all, bless each member of our family. May their minds be ever open to your word. May their hands be ever outstretched to the needy. And may their hearts be ever turned towards you.