There we have a symbol of the vital place that Mary is ever to occupy in the Church’s system. Analyze that episode and you will see that Mary occupies at Cana a position analogous to the position in which the Church sets her for us. Hark back to the fact that the miracle was premature; that Our Lord was reluctant. She was plainly made the arbiter of Our Lord’s entry upon His mission. But that is nothing new. It was she who drew Him down from Heaven to earth; and no one else could have done it. Similarly her presence and consent would be necessary on Calvary for the consummation of Redemption. Why? Could not, as the parrot-cry of (some non-Catholics) alleges, the Lord do all these things without her help? No doubt He could, but it was not His plan. That plan allotted to man a co-operating part in Redemption. What man could not contribute God gave. But what man could contribute, he was called upon to contribute. But before man could have the grace to co-operate in that way, one representative of mankind had to act on its behalf. The fullest degree of responsibility and co-operation was exacted from that representative, thus raising a person, who is Our Lady, and in her all mankind, to a nobler level, to a partnership with the Redeemer. Thus sharing in Redemption and in its sorrows, man would later share in its triumphs and in its glory.
       We must go out and explain these things to those who do not appreciate them and whose spiritual loss is thereby great. As Christianity is defaced by removing her, so does the individual life fade when deprived of her. Be encouraged in your efforts by the oft-reiterated teaching of Pope Leo XIII that Mary is the mother of the whole human race, that every man is her child; and that in the soul of every one lies the germ of love for her.
       But that germ must be fostered. Only in the measure that her children recognize her can she mother them. Cana exemplified her role in a dramatic, thrilling way.