While our secular world has moved on from the
Christmas season, probably because we have been hearing Christmas songs in the stores and on the radio since early November and have seen decorations up for several months as well, we in the Catholic Church are still celebrating Christmas. In fact, the Christmas season does not
officially end in our Church until next Sunday when we celebrate the Baptism of
the Lord. Today, we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany,
one of the high points of our Christmas season. Our English word “epiphany” comes from the
Greek word “epiphaneia”, which means "appearing" or "revealing”
or “manifesting.” Today, on Epiphany, and during the entire
Christmas season, we focus on how God manifested himself in Jesus, his divine
Son.
We celebrate Epiphany in the visit of the
kings or the Magi as they traveled from afar to honor the Christ child and to
bring him gifts. It is interesting to look up the feast of the
Epiphany on the internet to find the different ways it is celebrated
throughout the world. The Guardian newspaper showed a series of
photos of the celebration of Epiphany. Carolers in Germany dress up as the three
kings – they sing Christmas carols and ask for donations to fund children’s aid
projects throughout the world. Many of the Eastern and Orthodox Churches
celebrate the baptism of the Lord on Epiphany – a photo showed swimmers jumping
into the frigid waters of a river in Bulgaria as they raced to retrieve a cross
positioned in the river. Getting the
cross supposedly brings good luck and wards off evil spirits. And in Romania, there is a special blessing
of horses on this day. In different parts of the world, we
have special traditions to mark today’s feast of the Epiphany and to celebrate
the Christmas season. Part of the richness of our community of St
James here in Tupelo is our diversity. Today, we come
together in this multi-culture celebration to honor the Christ child just like
the Magi did. We have the three kings with us today. In the Hispanic culture, the kings bring
gifts to children and youth - we honor that tradition today with our Hispanic community.
I have always loved the story of the three
kings. I guess I’ve always dreamed about
going to faraway lands and I had a great sense of adventure as a child, so the
story of the three kings really appealed to my imagination and my adventurous
spirit. There is that wonderful image of the star of
Bethlehem leading the Magi to the place where they can find the baby Jesus. As we think about the star of Bethlehem that
guided them to their destination, we realize that we all follow something in life, don’t we? We might not even be aware of what is pointing us
in the direction we are going. At the end of this month, I am departing for
the Camino of St James in Spain. It is
my third time to go there, and the first time to go as the pastor of a parish
named after St James. There are these big yellow arrows pointing
the pilgrims in the right direction.
There are also these scallop shell symbols pointed all over the
route. Sometimes they are on building, or on stones,
on walls, on signs, or even right in the middle of the street. Sometimes I wish that I had these yellow
arrows or a star of Bethlehem pointing me in the right direction in my daily life
here in Tupelo. But, in our faith, we do have signs pointing us in the right
direction. Sometimes, those signs are
rather subtle, but they are there.
The other thing that strikes me about today’s
Gospel is that the chief priests and the scribes close their hearts to the
surprising ways God’s revelation can reveal itself to us in our lives. Sometimes we expect to see God in a certain
way, sometimes we expect our journey of faith to go down a certain road, but
oftenGod leads us down a road less traveled or down a road with
struggles and challenges. God can speak to us in the human world and in
the non-human world, too. I know a lot
of see God in nature. Remember, God spoke to the Magi through a
dream and through a star. There are many ways God is speaking to us today, but
sometimes we don’t pay attention or listen to him.
Through the wonderful story of the Magi, God
is speaking to us during this joyful Christmas season, that’s for sure. May it stimulate our imagination to seek Him
out today and every day.
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