Epiphany
by Rev. Michael Dogali
We are coming close to the end of the Christmas Season - at least in the liturgical sense. The preparations went on in our secular society for a number of months - but our spiritual celebration has actually been quite short. There is so much celebrating to do - yet so little time before it is all over.
Epiphany is the time we remember the public revelation of the Christ-child as the Messiah. We celebrate Jesus as the star that shines in our darkness. The readings of the season challenge us to believe that Jesus is the one sent by the Father to be our Redeemer, our Messiah.
Even before humankind began to record human history in writing, we were searching the skies for signs that would give some meaning and direction to our lives. Human history is intertwined with the roles of the stars and the heavenly bodies. The calendar by which we count our days, years and centuries is determined by the movement of the moon and the planets around the sun.
Why would we be surprised when the magi, wisemen or, as they have been variously called, astrologers who regularly searched the heavens for signs, were attracted to the star that led them eventually to Jesus, the new born Messiah and Lord? The manifestation of the Lord in Matthew's Gospel, tells us that the magi "saw his star at its rising" and they came to "do him homage."
We are at the end of our Christmas celebration - but that does not mean that we should stop celebrating the presence of Christ in our lives. The Newborn King came as the Messiah who redeemed us from our sins. We must be witnesses for Christ in the world - to testify that Jesus not only was born to bring us hope, but that He died to give us eternal life. It is the Spirit of God that moves us to witness to such great love.
The revelation of Jesus continues in the world today. We are not left to our own resources to search for meaning in our lives and to answer such ultimate questions of "How shall I live?" "Why am I here?" "What is the purpose of life?" without definitive answers and visible leadership. The glory of God's plan revealed in Jesus - is passed on to each of us in the mystery of the Church and in the lives of the faithful.
Epiphany reveals that God is with us and that the fullness of His love and the glory of His kingdom are already partially present in this world. The brightness of the star illuminates the darkness for the magi, so too, the brightness of our Christian faith, lived out in our lives, illumines the darkness of the world around us and reveals God's presence with us. The constellation of lives manifesting faith in God - these countless human lights that sparkle brilliantly in the life of the Church - points to God with us as forcefully today as on that first Epiphany.
Whoever possesses the Son, possesses life. We are able to possess the Son when we receive Him in the Eucharist. May our reception of the Eucharistic Lord strengthen us to be His faithful witnesses to the world and to proclaim that Jesus truly is our light shining in the darkness of a sinful world.