You saved the best wine till last

Today in A Year with the Church Fathers, Paladius of Galatia says many profound things. If you're not following along, you might consider buying the e-book and reading today's selection. It's day 273 in the book, and the whole thing is worth reading, beginning with the words, "Play the man, then..."

He tells us to store up wealth for ourselves in heaven, by spending our money wisely now. Then he goes on to talk about wine, and his advice applies to wine and to every other enjoyment in our lives. He says that "to drink wine with reason is better than to drink water with pride." Which means if we are enjoying the pleasures of this world, food, drink, sleep, sex, etc... in the way God intended for us, in moderation, without making any of them too important in our lives, then we do well. If we abstain from any of these pleasures out of a sense of pride, thinking that we're better than those who partake, then we're worse off than those who overindulge in them foolishly. Because pride, according to Dante (among many others), is the chief of sins. It's the sin of all sins, that brings the others into our lives. It's the sin that is the most difficult to cast off. Which is why humility is so important.

But the wine itself, which Palladius talks about... it brings to mind the first miracle Jesus ever performed. It's interesting that He did it in response to literal intercession by His mother, the blessed Virgin Mary. And He did it through the hands of other men, telling them what to do rather than doing it with His own hands. He still does that today, doesn't He? And then, as C.S. Lewis points out, He merely does what God is doing all day, every day, around the world, turning water into wine. God normally does it by turning the water into grapes, and then the grapes into wine. But Jesus forgoes the long process, while still finding the same results - a theme we see repeated throughout His lifetime. When He heals people, He does what God is doing in almost every human body throughout history. When He takes a little fish and a little bread and feeds thousands, He does what God does through natural reproduction all of the time.

And when He raises people from the dead... well, He gives us a foretaste of what God has done, is doing, and will do to those who love Him, freeing them forever from the power of death, and raising them to eternal life.

He saves the best wine for last.

God, thank You for teaching us wisdom in wine... in vino veritas.