We come together this weekend as a community to celebrate the feast of the Epiphany, the visit of the Magi to the child Jesus. We are really excited to be able to celebrate a bilingual mass this weekend with our St Jude community for the feast of the Epiphany. It is important for us to bridge the gap of language and culture in order to celebrate the devotions of our faith as one community.
The message of the feast of Epiphany is so rich in different messages and symbolism. The main message of the Magi is that the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is meant for all, not just a select few, not just for one culture or one group of people. There is a lot of symbolism in the gifts that the Magi brought the Christ child. Their first gift was gold, the most precious of metals, reminding us that God has to be granted first place in our lives, that he is to be worshipped and valued. In the frankincense they offered as their second gift, we can see it symbolizing our relationship with the Lord through prayer. Our prayers rise up to God like smoke from the incense. Just as incense must burn in order to yield its fragrance, so too, our prayers must burn in our hearts as we spend time with God through those prayers. That brings us to the third gift myrrh, the ointment that would be lovingly used to prepare Jesus’ body for burial after he was taken down from the cross. Myrrh reminds us of the suffering and sacrifices we will have to make for our faith. May these gifts the Magi brought remind us of different aspects of our faith. And may we be willing to bring our own gifts in our own way to the Christ child, just as the Magi brought their gifts.
This week also is important in the ALPHA programs that we have for both youth and adults at St Jude. We are starting to sign up people for the next adult ALPHA program, which will start on January 20. We all need to take a role in evangelization; ALPHA is a good start to bringing the Gospel to others. If you think of a parishioner who has not been to ALPHA before, or a neighbor or a friend who might not even be Catholic, it would be great to invite that person to ALPHA. All of us to see ourselves as evangelizers. This Sunday, our youth ALPHA will also resume after a short break. We are excited about our youth ALPHA continuing.
Blessings to all of you as we continue our Christmas season and as we celebrate the Magi this weekend.
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