February 1, 2015

4^th Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Deuteronomy 18: 15-20; 1 Corinthians 7: 32-35; Mark 1: 21-28

Everyone likes to feel secure. I would imagine that everyone also wants to know as I do: what’s on God’s mind and what He is telling us to do. Sacred Scripture calls this type of people…prophets. This word comes from the Greek and means ‘one who speaks before others’ the Greek word almost always denotes one who communicates divine revelation. The Hebrew word for prophet nabi could either mean ‘one who announces or proclaims a message’ or ‘one who is called.’

In today’s first reading the people are afraid. Moses is old, his days are numbered and the people do not want to be left orphaned after his death. Who will speak for God to them? Since what a true prophet says comes true, then only history will tell whether a prophet should be trusted or not. Moses is assuring them today that the people will be guided by intermediaries who stand between them and God. Listen to them.

Now all of Paul’s writings have to be understood through the lenses of eschatology. Paul believed that the end of the world was imminent. God would be coming soon to judge all people. He believed that God would be ending the current evil age of oppression and domination and create a new reign of justice and peace. So Paul insists that the details of society and family are not important since all this will soon pass away. Alice Camille in Exploring the Sunday Readings expresses it in this way: “Family life is wonderful. And family life is also full of stress and anxious concerns. To love someone necessarily means to suffer with him or her in times of distress. There’s no carefree version of love, even though the romantic phase of relationships may seem like a season in heaven. So St. Paul cautions his community that he thinks believers ought to seriously consider whether or not investing in family life is the right thing to do in his generation of crisis.

Paul, like most Christians of his century, anticipated the return of Jesus in a day-after-tomorrow sort of time frame. If we don’t know the day or the hour, it could be tonight, right? So starting a family, or a new business, or anything requiring long-term planning seemed a distraction. Paul himself was running all over the Mediterranean world hand-carrying the gospel like a wild sower throwing seed. This was anxiety-producing enough! Considering the ever-present danger in the enterprise, dragging a family behind him would have seemed downright unfair.”

In last Sunday’s Gospel, Mark tells us how Jesus started His ministry: “After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Then after the call of the first disciples, today’s Gospel shows how Jesus came to Capernaum and went into the Synagogue to teach. Why Capernaum; it was on the north end of the Sea of Galilee on the highway between Ptolemais and Damascus. It was an important Galilean town, a center of customs and the location of a tax office, so it had offices of the Roman administration. Mark says, “The people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.” Now this doesn’t mean the manner that Jesus taught but that He had the right to teach as He does. This is the whole point of the cure of a demoniac that comes next. Mark describes this man as having an “unclean spirit” which the footnote in the New American Bible says “an unclean spirit: so called because of the spirit’s resistance to the holiness of God. The spirit knows and fears the power of Jesus to destroy his influence.” It is interesting that after the sprit leaves the man, the crowd is amazed but responds in terms of Jesus’ ‘new teaching’ not His miracle of exorcism. Jesus has the authority. Jesus is speaking for God. Jesus is exercising His prophetic role. Jesus is telling the people that “…the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” If we don’t then we are opening ourselves to the devil…the false messenger of God...the one who wants to keep us as far away from God as possible.

It is very interesting that the imminent scripture scholar, Dr. Bonnie Bowman Thurston in Preaching Mark says: “In The Screwtape Letters, the eminently sensible C.S. Lewis notes that we make two mistakes vis-à-vis devils. We either assume they do not exist or we manifest an excessive (even obsessive) interest in them. Certainly Mark’s Gospel proclaims Jesus’ victory over the dark forces of the spirit world. But I suspect in our day the ‘contact point’ of the story is the exclusionary effect of possession. What are the ‘demons’ that exclude person from full participation in the worshipping community today? And how would Jesus respond to them?”

Look who Jesus did battle with throughout His public ministry? Wasn’t it the Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees? These were the people who were the writers, the teachers and from the priestly class. These were the people who were educated and who had power and influence. These were the people who Jesus called hypocrites and brood of vipers because they were convinced of their own self-righteousness. They were convinced that they KNEW what God was saying. And since they KNEW this they were on the RIGHT ROAD. And isn’t it too bad that all the others had no hope of being saved. And Jesus came to all to redeem all. AM I LISTENING TO HIM? Do I feel that I have time so that when I am older I can look into the God question?

In less than a month, Lent will begin. Can I do a little pre-planning for this season? Could I focus more on: Prayer…The Eucharist, the Rosary, different prayer models and spend time in silence listening. Penance…individual sacrifices and devotions, and the sacrament of Penance, Stations of the Cross. Fasting…simple meals, cutting down of my food and goodie intake. Almsgiving…works of charity, participating in public activities that care for the needy. God is calling me, how am I preparing myself to respond to God?

So I reflect on:

• A conversion is a life-changing event. I look at the conversion that first made me a disciple of Jesus. I look at a later conversion that called me to re-order my priorities. HOW DO I DO THESE
• First…be silent…listen to the authoritative voice of God…
• Second …come out of him or her…get rid of something that has been a ‘weight’ that has kept me away from God and the person He needs me to be.
• I look back and reflect on of all the things Jesus said and taught, what has made the most impression on me? Why?
• I reflect on the experiences I had of being freed by someone and those that freed me from something. How was God present?

From Sacred Space 2015: Lord, I struggle to believe that You have overcome evil. Help me to see that You are at work in the small signs of love, justice, and truth around me.”

January 25, 2015

3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Jonah 3: 1-5, 10; 1 Corinthians 7: 29-31; Mark 1: 14-20

Perhaps one of the phrases that most people hear from people close to them is: ‘You are not listening to me’…or ‘you do not understand what I said’ or ‘are you listening to what I said or what you want to hear?’

I do believe that people come to the Scriptures with the same kind of ‘spiritual deafness’ that is a part of their everyday life. I do. Sometimes I believe too much in the phase that I was born to live and that I live my life with no ‘planning’ for the life hereafter. The simple question that I only like to hear when there is an intellectual ‘debate’ is … ‘how would I live my life if I believed that time was running out?’ This is a ‘nice’ debate question BUT, it is a real-life question. It is a question to ASK myself and APPLY the RESPONSES that I come up with. It is not a debate question.

The short synopsis from the ORDO about today’s readings says: “The Ninevites heard the preaching of Jonah and repented of their evil ways, (First Reading) thus experiencing the Lord’s compassion, (Psalm Response). Do we repent when we hear the preaching of Jesus? (Gospel). Do we invest our lives in the world rather than in God’s kingdom?” (Second Reading).

The First Reading is taken from the prophet Jonah. Now the previous passages in this short book show that this was really the second commission that Jonah had received from the Lord. A little background: Nineveh was a great city, it was the capital city of Assyria, Israel’s archenemy. And Jonah did not like what the Lord wanted him to do and he did not want to offer the Citizens of Nineveh an opportunity to experience God’s mercy. So he ran away, got on a ship. A fierce storm arose and the sailors blamed it on Jonah and threw him overboard. “But the Lord sent a large fish that swallowed Jonah; and he remained in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah prayed was is known as a Psalm of Thanksgiving, (Jonah 2: 3-11). So Jonah started on his way through Nineveh and his preaching was successful, even the royal court responded, enforcing acts of penitence on the entire population and even their livestock. This post-exilic story reminded the Jewish people that God’s judgment and mercy extend beyond Israel to include all people even a nation as wicked as Assyria. What a lesson for me to reflect on: God’s mercy extends to everyone. Does my mercy do the same?

In the second reading, Paul is writing the Corinthians and insists that earthly activities have only relative value. Though they have their importance, it must be remembered that each person is to prepare for a better life, the life of heaven that God intends for each person. As a result, I have to know that the world as I know it is ending. It will be replaced by the new kingdom of God. As Alice Camille in Exploring the Sunday Readings says, “It seems no matter where we go, we’re always on the clock. At work, the hours are at least counted and compensated. At home, we log endless more hours responding to the routines of homemaking and the needs of family life…Time is brief for mortals, because these bodies aren’t meant to last more than a century and often expire far short of that. If we intend to go somewhere, we better get on with it. If there’s someone inside us we’re meant to be, today is a good day to start being that person.” The question I have to ask myself is whether the person I am matches the person I long to be? Does it match the person God needs me to be?

Mark shares in the Gospel that after John the Baptist had been arrested by Herod, Jesus started proclaiming this message: This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Jesus is speaking to me! He is telling me to get moving. He’s telling me to fall in step behind Him. It’s now or never!

SO WHAT IS SLOWING ME UP?

WHY DO I FEEL THAT I STILL HAVE TIME?

The Old Testament and the New Testament are calling me and each person to change our lives…I must reform the way I act and conform it to the way that Jesus showed me. AND ISN’T EVEN LENT YET. Why do I feel that I can start it in the season of ‘reform?’ Now is the time. AND repenting and reforming require external expression in the form of specific actions. WHAT am I going to do?

Simon, Andrew, James and John in today’s Gospel give a good hint of the importance of Jesus’s proclamation that “the kingdom of God is at hand.” When Jesus calls, they drop what they are doing and follow Him. Basically no one wants to do this, I am too often hesitant. I like what I am doing…why do I have to change…Can I choose what part of God’s plan I would like to do?

Connections The newsletter of ideas, resources and information for homilists and preachers says, “Being the ‘fisher’ that Jesus calls us to become does not require us to cast our nets very far. The wisdom and values we instill in our children, the help we offer to neighbors and friends, our contributions to the life of our church and community, realize the vision Jesus articulates in today’s Gospel. Christ entrusts to each one of us the work of discipleship: to extend, regardless of our own limits and circumstances, the love of God to all; to proclaim, in our own homes and communities, the compassion and justice of the Gospel; to take on God’s work of reconciliations and forgiveness among all His sons and daughters. As God is present to us in the person of Jesus, we are called to be present to one another in His love and care.”

So I reflect on:

• What determines who gets my mercy and receives my judgment?
• What prevents me from responding to Jesus’ summons with the immediacy of the disciples in the Gospel?
• When Jesus called the disciples they left ‘everything’…what do I want to hang on to? What do I want to carry with me to heaven?
• Does being a good Christian mean discipleship will be an easy task?
• When I am in the middle of something and asked to stop and do something else, how do I respond? Does it depend on what I am doing? Does it depend on who asks? Do I ever hear the voice asking as the ‘voice of God’
• At this point in my life, what are some of the things that I have left behind to follow Christ? What am I still hanging on to that I know deep inside that someday I have to let go of?
• How do I experience God calling me now?

Sacred Space 2015 says:

Jesus begins His ministry by calling a group to follow Him. He gives His disciples a mission—to catch people for the kingdom of God. He chooses as His companion’s very ordinary people, people with no wealth or position. They risk all for Jesus.

Lord, You continue to call ordinary people, like me. In all my human interactions may I bring Your Good News to others.”

January 18, 2015

2^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time B

1 Samuel 3:3-10, 19; 1 Corinthians 6: 13-15, 17-20; John 1:35-42

It is now the beginning of the third week of the New Year. No doubt many have made ‘resolutions’ and probably many of them have been broken. Each person hopes they know where they are going and have a plan of action to get there. This ‘plan’ concerns family, work, travel, retirement, just keeping up with the bills, relationships, even church and living a daily life that is motivated not on self but on a concern for those who are important in one’s life. Most know that there must be time spent with the unknown: why am I here; why was I created; is there a God, heaven and hell, how am I living my life accordingly? For the most part we ‘put these thoughts off’ thinking that we will have plenty of time later to work these out. But God is concerned with the ‘now’…the future is now…God is present in the now…and God is helping (gracing) each and every person now to make the right decisions and choose the right directions that bring them in touch with Him, His teachings and His love. The reality is that no one knows the future so the future is the now.

Long ago there was a radio show, The Shadow, which had a constant refrain, “Only the Shadow knows.” Well God knows and has interacted in my life and continues to do so and also does this in each person’s life. Do I pay attention? Do I want to pay attention? Am I afraid to be attentive to God? Do I let God lead me to a more complete experience of His love? The readings help me today in realizing that to become a follower of Jesus and answer God’s call means more than keeping the commandments. It means that my life is directed to waiting and listening for the direction and assistance of God and letting Him lead me according to His plan.

Moses wrote the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, as the people were ‘wandering’ in the desert. After their arrival in the Promised Land, Joshua let the tribes begin ruling in a loose configuration. Then came the centralized state forged by David and Solomon. The major figure in this period of change was Samuel. He was a prophet and a strong religious leader as well as the most important political voice of the late eleventh century B.C. Did he know this would happen? No, God knew because God had a plan. His father was Elkanah who had two wives, Peninnah, who had children and Hannah who was childless. Because of this Hannah was verbally abused. She would cry and refuse to eat. She went to Eli the priest and in bitterness prayed to the Lord and make a vow promising if she had a son she would give him to the Lord. The Lord heard her prayer and she conceived. Hannah nursed him until she had weaned him at which time she brought him to Eli at the temple of the Lord in Shiloh. Did she have any idea what would happen to Samuel? No, but God had a plan.

We hear the plan in the first reading when God called Samuel. Did Samuel at this young age have any idea what God was calling him for…No, but God had a plan. Samuel developed into both a priest and seer. After a while, the Philistines forces came and destroyed the Israel’s forces and captured the Ark of the Covenant. The people begged Samuel to give them a king ‘as other nations have’. Samuel warns them of the dangers of giving so much power to one person, but they insist and eventually God gives. Saul becomes that King, but that ultimately wasn’t God’s plan. Did Saul know that? No. Did Samuel know that? No. Then God sends Samuel to rectify this fatal mistake and Samuel anoints David as king. Did Samuel know what would happen...No, but God had a plan? At the beginning at his call, Samuel listened and was attentive to God, “Here I am, You called me.” Eli told him to respond in this way, “Speak, Lord for your servant is listening.”

God has a plan for me and for each person. Do I know what it is…No…do I try to live my life each day and be attentive to God? I try, but I need to be reminded that it is about God and not me; today’s scriptures help.

Psalm 40 is entitled a psalm of Gratitude and a Prayer for Help, it starts, “”I waited, waited for the Lord; who bent down and heard my cry…happy are those who trust in the Lord…and in Your plans for us there is none to equal You…sacrifice and offering You do not want; but ears open to obedience You gave me…You are my help and deliverer; my God, do not delay!” This is a psalm that I need to pray very often; I’m reminding myself of that today. God has a plan for me as He did for Eli, Elkanah, Hannah, Samuel, David…

The Gospel picks up the narrative of Jesus shortly after His baptism. John the Baptist encourages Andrew and an unnamed companion who were his disciples to go after Jesus and become acquainted with Him. I’m sure they thought that ‘We like you…why should we leave.’ But God had a plan they didn’t know about. Now John’s sole purpose in preaching was to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. No doubt, Andrew and his companion had probably become comfortable in their relationships with John. They like him. They admired the courage of his preaching. They sensed that he was a holy person, a prophet. They enjoyed being in his select circle of friends. But God had a plan they didn’t know about. God has a plan I don’t know about. It is found in the responsibility I have to proclaim Christ by my words and actions.

Brian Maloney OFM says, “The story of call and response is repeated in the life of each sincere Christian. To answer God’s call means more than keeping the commandments. It means that one’s life is directed to waiting and listening for the guidance of God. It means saying to the Lord, as Andrew did, ‘Rabbi, where do you live?’ ‘Where can I spend some time in your company?’ To become a disciple of Christ, we must have a listening heart. If we are truly to be His disciples, we have to sit at His feet every day. It must become our life. We must make sure we stay until the Lord speaks, and when we listen, we will start doing God’s will, instead of doing our own.”

I reflect on:

• There is too much information running through my brain! When am I still and quiet?
• And Jesus said, “Come and see.”
• What does Jesus invite His potential followers to see?
• Andrew only asked to see where Jesus was staying. At that time, that’s how disciples entered the school of a master teacher, by literally going to live with Him. Ancient teachers taught a lifestyle, not just a lesson. If one wanted ‘in’ on the lesson, one had to surrender entirely to the process. Am I open to ‘come and seeing’ and allowing God to show His plan for me?

A prayer from Sacred Space 2015:

“Lord, may I grow in spiritual awareness. Bless me with a clear sense of my call. Make me sensitive to the action of Your Spirit. Give me freedom to witness to You in my current situation.”

January 11, 2015

Baptism of the Lord

Isaiah 55: 1-11; 1 John 5: 1-9; Mark 1: 7-11

Baptisms are big today. I have visited the traditional Baptismal Site of Jesus at Kasr el Yehud, at the Jordan River not that far away from Jericho. Each time there have been baptisms being celebrated. The last time there were adults wearing white robes who were from one of the Eastern Churches going into the water with prayers and ceremonies celebrating their baptismal ritual. So many of the baptismal ceremonies I have participated in were family and extended family affairs. It is so personally rewarding to see two, three and even four generations gathered to share their faith and love.

So the burning questions remain: what does my baptism mean? What am I doing with my baptism? Is my baptism a guarantee of anything or is it a beginning of a commitment? Is my baptism just something that happened over 73 years ago or is it more? The response is: The baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan River had great significance for Jesus Himself, for the readers of Mark’s Gospel and it has enormous significance for me today and for all Christians.

For Jesus:

From the very beginnings of the beginnings of Christianity, people and scholars had a tension: Jesus was truly human and Jesus was truly divine. The difficulties arose when focus was put on His divinity which seemed to water down His humanity. Did He really need sustenance: food, water and even sleep; God wouldn’t need these. Doesn’t this take away from His divinity? No it doesn’t…He was like us in all things, but sin. Another, did Jesus really need to be baptized since He was God? The text says that the heavens were torn open and the Spirit descended like a dove and His Father’s voice said, “You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.” This certainly had a profound effect and perhaps was a giant leap forward in His perception of His Fathers’ will and the purpose of His life because afterward He went into the desert for more discernment.

For Mark’s readers:

Scholars show us that Mark was constantly answering the question: ‘Who is this man Jesus?’ And at the end of his gospel at Jesus’ death, Chapter 15: 39, Mark answers this question, “When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’”

Significance for me today and all Christians:

Living the Word, Scriptural Reflections and Commentaries for Sundays and Holy Days says: “We often think about baptism in terms of the washing away of sin. Sometimes we speak of it as dying and rising with Christ. These ways of thinking and speaking about what happens in baptism are true and important. But reflection on the event of Jesus’ baptism opens up new perspectives on our own baptism. In baptism we, like Jesus, are anointed with God’s Spirit and declared to be God’s beloved sons and daughters, with whom God is well pleased. In baptism too we see the heavens torn open and the ways of God made manifest to us. In baptism we too conquer the world through faith.

Also in baptism we, like Jesus, are given a commission. The Spirit anoints us as priests, prophets, and kings; in these roles we are called to lives of prayer, proclamation, and service. We are called, as the prophet Isaiah exhorts us to ‘seek the Lord while He may be found’ and to call on Him while He is near.’ In other words, in our baptism we are given a share in the saving work of Jesus.

Of course, this can seem quite daunting. It is daunting to think that every child or adult who is baptized is given the task of sharing in Jesus’ priestly, prophetic, and royal ministries. Lest we become overwhelmed, we must also remember that at Jesus’ baptism the heavens are torn open and the Spirit is poured out. We do nothing on our own. We do all though God’s Spirit.”

I don’t really realize these connections unless I realize that I have first been loved by God, that’s why He created me. He gifted me too so that I can carry out in my own unique way of being Jesus and showing Jesus in my life. I am Jesus’ hands, feet, mouth, eyes, ears; I am Jesus’ compassion, caring, love to the world I pass through today and each day. The bigger question is what do I need from the Spirit to be Jesus today?

The readings help me. Isaiah gives his readers a message of encouragement. The people are still in exile in Babylon. They have problems with living since they are treated as slaves. Isaiah says, ‘God knows this; seek Him out. Tell Him what you need from Him today. He is not far away, He is close. So often I feel that I’m not that important, and that God is too busy with all the ‘bad’ things happening in the world. Will He hear my ‘little voice’? Yes, He gives me encouragement because He created me in love and continues to love and help. To think differently is to deny the Gospel images of God.

In the second reading from John’s first letter, people in their community have been saying that Jesus is not the Christ, and the Son of God and denying too that He came in the flesh. John is telling them, ‘Look at your faith, look at what you believe and know that you are loved. Real believers believe Jesus is the Christ begotten of God and love God by keeping His commandments.

Mark shares the words of the Father, “You are my beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.” These are so similar to the Fathers’ words on Transfiguration Mountain: “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him.” Mk 9:7. And Jesus is telling me daily I am beloved to Him, that’s why He created me. Now what I have to do is to Listen…Love…Act. This is a command. Am I surrendering my own will of what I want to God’s will of what He needs me to be? Do I realize that Jesus promises the Spirit to me every inch of the way?

So I reflect on:

• What do I feel is my personal mission as a believing Christian? More to the point, why am I here?
• Has the power of the Holy Spirit made a difference in my faith life?
• How can I become more open to the action of the Holy Spirit?
• How do I cooperate with God’s word? What will God’s word do with or without me?
• My baptism is about my change in the focus of my living; it is about my dying and rising to Christ each and every day. How am I doing? What do I need?

Sacred Space 2015 says:

“Jesus’ baptism gives us a window into a powerful religious moment. Jesus knows His identity. The imprint of the Spirit has sealed His life.

Lord, remind me that I, too, bear Your seal of approval. I am marked by Your Spirit, called to participate in Your mission as Your beloved son or daughter.”

January 4, 2015

Epiphany of the Lord

Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6; Matthew 2: 1-12

Christmas and New Years have come and gone. I, like so many others, have settled back into the same ’old routine.’ No doubt all have dreams and visions of what the new year will bring; perhaps there have been many ‘resolutions’ made to ‘improve’ what is hoped for or needed. How about our “God resolutions”? What should I DO?

I think it would be good to start with another question: What is God doing? We’ve just celebrated what God has done. God the Father created the world and all that was in it. As Genesis tells us, He created our first parents and gave them everything. These two enjoyed all of creation and their intimacy with our Creator. But they wanted more; isn’t this the SIN of all creation? When people, ourselves included, get power—we want more; when we get possessions—we want bigger and better; when we see all that we have and revel in all this pleasure—we want more indulgence into what is pleasurable. Power, possessions, pleasure...Msgr. Chet Michael said that these are the bane of our existence.

(A sidelight…the Thesaurus uses these words to describe ‘bane’: nuisance, misery, pest, blight, curse, bother, irritation, annoyance; the antonym is blessing). How True!

The opposite of these words or better, the positive attributes that are needed to counteract these selfish tendencies are Prayer…Almsgiving…Fasting.

During the Christmas season to date, most have enjoyed the ‘good life’ so to speak. It’s not the time to ‘give up’ on the good life, but to realize what the good life is and what the coming of Jesus has to tell us. The Good News is that the people from the time of Genesis had wandered away from God and been unaware or unresponsive to God’s love. They just didn’t believe that God really loved them. They felt that they had to love themselves ‘more’ by enjoying the good life and the more they enjoyed the less they were aware of God. The Good News is that God has never stopped loving any person ever. Do I let God love me? Am I grateful for God’s love? Do I realize that His loving me first enables me to see ‘my importance’ and specialness before God and this enables me to be a person of love? It is not in what I have or in what I possess or what I do that is important…it is that I am loved. It seems that so often I am running away or avoiding the implications of being loved. If I acknowledge that I am loved by God then I might be asked to change? I might be asked to avoid the ‘play things’ that are so enjoyable in my life? I may be asked to go out of myself and think of others and sharing instead of keeping and enjoying? And God continues to say, “I love you just the way you are! Now can you love others so that they can see My Love?”

Today’s feast of the Epiphany celebrates the magi coming to pay homage to the baby Jesus, presenting gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But before their coming, Jesus came: Emmanuel—God is with us. And God is with myself and each person each and every single day of our existence because each person is INDIVIDUALLY LOVED AND SPECIAL TO GOD.

I read the following in Living the Word, Scripture Reflections and Commentaries for Sundays and Holy Days:

“The word ‘epiphany,’ which means a shining forth of light, has slipped from its religious use into secular usage to indicate any sudden flash of insight. First used in this sense by the writer James Joyce, the term has degenerated to the point where ‘Epiphany’ is even the name for an integrated suite of customer relations management software. Presumably using this software will give one striking new insights into how to manage one’s customer relations.

The distance between the secular usage of the term ‘epiphany’ and what we celebrate on this feast can be seen in the fact that we do not celebrate a flash of insight, but the shining forth of God’s light in our world through the person of Jesus. Pope Benedict XVI wrote that to be a Christian isn’t merely an ethical choice or a noble idea, but the encounter with an event, a person who gives life a new horizon and a definitive direction. (See the opening paragraph of Deus Caritas Est.) The Epiphany is not about an idea occurring to us but about an encounter with a person: Jesus Christ.

This is at least in part what our Evangelical Protestant brothers and sisters mean when they speak about having a ‘personal relationship’ with Jesus. They do not mean a private relationship, but rather a relationship with a living person—the risen Christ—and not just with an idea. We too should seek to have such a personal relationship with the God who chose to come among us at this time in the form of a little child.”

So have I come to the manger and worshipped my God? Have I spent some time in thanking God for His love? Have I expressed my gratitude for all the gifts and love and interaction with the many people who have touched me with love these last days? Have I seen in their love an image of God’s love in His sending of Jesus? Have I taken time to reflect on many of the different moments during Christmas that I felt ‘touched by love:’ whether it was during the Eucharist; in Scripture; in the Children’s Pageant; in the different traditions celebrated this Christmas; in the cards that I have spent time in reading and digesting; in the faces of the people gathered around our celebrations? Have I realized that each and every one of these reflections starts with the words from God: “I have loved you FIRST?”

Now the response from this comes down to What Am I Going to Do? This is not so much What I Have to Do? But do I ALLOW myself to do? Do I take time from MY BUSY LIFE and GO to the Lord and sit with Him? This is what the Magi did: they travelled long and far and took time from their busy life, their jobs and their families just to come to Jesus…THEY FELT IT WAS THAT IMPORTANT…and they saw LOVE.

So I reflect on:

• When I think about Jesus Do I think of Him as someone who lived way back when or as someone whom I can have an encounter with even now?
• How do I encounter Jesus in my life now: is it in prayer…scripture…in other people? Do I realize He is in all?
• How am I Jesus’ presence in my world today?
• The Magi saw the truth because they were objective ’outsiders’ from Persia. They knew a king when they saw one; they could even recognize the goodness of God when they saw it. But Herod couldn’t. A total self-interest can blind us, even to God. Does this happen to me?

Sacred Space 2015 says:

“The wise men stand for all who are ready to break out of their routine and comfort zone and go in search of what they yearn for. The insignificance of the baby in the crib can draw us on more powerfully even than the majestic night sky.

From every corner of our bustling planet Earth, we are drawn to you, Saviour and Lord, brother and companion, who touch with the healing power of love even the least valued of God’s children.”