A reader writes:
Hi Jimmy
I was listening of KIHM’s rebroadcast of Monday’s show this morning as I am
wont to do and enjoyed it as usual. I liked your answer to the question
about why water is mixed with the wine at Mass and as I do know something
about the history of wine (I used to sell the stuff for a living) I do want
to expand on the subject if I may.You said that wine in ancient times was concentrated. This gives the
impression that it had a very low water to solids concentrate not unlike
juice concentrates that one buys in the grocery store today and to which one
adds water in order to drink.But rather ancient wines were both slightly more alchoholic and considerably
sweeter than modern wines, cloyingly so. Therefore it was part of all
Mediteranean cultures (all of whom were wine drinkers) to add water to the
wine simply to make it palatable.Indeed the definition of immoderate drinker in Greco-Roman culture was not
one that drank to much, but rather one that drank unwatered wine. The
implication being that if you did that you were too uncivilized to know
better.Of course there were exceptions to the rule. The wines of the Greek island
of Chios were considered to be of the highest qualtiy and it was considered
bad taste to dilute them.So I suspect (and I admit I’m just making an educated surmise here) that in
the early days of the Church, when it was time for the Eucharist the
celebrant simply did what was the cultural norm and added the water to the
wine. But I also suspect that fairly early on someone also realized that
this cultural norm also was a excellent symbol for the Incarnation and the
dvinization of man through the Eucharist as you mentioned and the prayers
were subsequently added.
Thanks much for the info!
Thanks for posting the whole e-mail. I honestly didn’t expect that.
–arthur
Hey, I’m happy to have quality guest-blogs any time!
At Christ’s crucifixion – so graphicly portrayed in Gibson’s ‘The Passion of The Christ’, when Longinus opened the Lord’s aside with a lance, the outflowing of blood and water having separated, indicated the death of Jesus. So just as the separation is a sign of death, the addition of the water to the wine is an indication of life – more than just a symbol, and a statement of The RealPresence.
Is the miracle at Cana an example of transubstantiation?