Monday, April 27, 2009

The First Sign

One of the stained glass windows in the Chapel of Our Lady Queen of the Apostles in Maryknoll depicts the first of Jesus's signs at the Wedding at Cana in Galilee which we find in the Gospel of St. John (Jn. 2: 1-11). You can see the six stone water jars being filled. The waiter is filling the last of the jars here and it appears to be transparent with layers of red and clear liquid in the jar itself and being poured into it as well. Think of the other scene in the Gospel (Jn. 19:34) where the lance is thrust into the side of the Crucified One and immediately flow out blood and water, which the baptismal ritual refers to as the "fountain of sacramental life."
In the panel underneath are two stylizied doves. The one on the left is the dove sent out by Moses: the wavy lines underneath are much deeper than the wavy lines underneath the dove representing the Holy Spirit, descending on Jesus as he was baptized by John in the river Jordan.