Gospel teachings celebrate pleasure and vitality

What does the Gospel story about the wedding at Cana have to do with metanoia?

This question is answered in David Elliott’s 14 December post, "Water to Wine", that describes his adult study group’s reflections on Thomas Moore’s Writing in the Sand: "Several have mentioned that they never read about so many layers of interpretation and meaning in this simple story. Thomas Moore’s personal journey from the monk’s retreat to the university to the psychotherapist’s office to the den of a famous writer and the richness of married life has not been chronicled in detail in his other books that I have read. This chapter was like a blog entry or a diary."

Elliott includes Moore’s view, "The Dionysian and the Epicurian approaches to life — affirming, subtle, and positive about pleasure and vitality — are essential aspects of Jesus’ teaching" (p. 37). Elliott then contrasts this approach with a traditional focus on hard work and virtue.