Seeking a Sign: The Epiphany of the Lord

    Seeking a Sign:

The Epiphany of the Lord

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Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72; Ephesians 3:2-6; Matthew 2:1-12

We look for signs just as much as the magi did on their journey through the Arabian desert. When we are trying to decide how to choose or which direction to take, some event happens that makes someone remark, “Well, if that isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is.” We take it as confirmation that God is working through these tiny invitations.

The visit of the magi is confirmation that Christmas is indeed real, that God is indeed with us. While the child is proof that God is with us, our Emmanuel, Epiphany is the confirmation of the universality of the gift. Jesus of Nazareth was given as a sign to the Jews, and throughout his life, his mission kept expanding to include those outside the boundaries we place in our culture. Epiphany reminds us that God is with everyone, without limits, without frontiers, beyond race, culture, or religion, and beyond the grave. It is a wake-up call for us to know that those who are different from us are also included in God’s plan for salvation. When we say, ‘God is with us,’ that ‘us’ includes ‘them.’

While nationalism and xenophobia grab the news headlines, the action on the street is much more encouraging. As a society, we are moving towards greater respect and understanding of the needs of the ‘other’ in many school and social programs. To further the common good, we are learning about traditions of different cultures and faiths, and we are learning about struggles and experiences of those who have held minority status, especially women. People of different backgrounds are inter-marrying and it produces new types of awareness. This new learning and education is Epiphany in action, because the feast represents the encounter between people of wealth and influence with a hard-working Jewish family, the touching of two groups of people that never interacted because of strict boundaries, the Jew and the Gentile, the sacred and the profane. The message is the same as at Christmas: God is with us.

The collective journey we are on is one of peace, and it begins with the way we encounter another person. We are invited, in the spirit of Epiphany, to behold the stranger, the foreigner, the same way the magi beheld the child. For us, it means that we are to reflect and ruminate on the other person, not to obsess or try to figure out, but to wonder what live for that person might be like. Understanding born from our connectedness leads to peace.

As we are a people who look for signs that guide us and confirm us, let’s look around us to see the goodness that is a basic part of everyone. People of goodwill want to connect and be known. The signs are everywhere. They are contained in smiles, the acts of generosity and goodwill, when someone holds open the door for you, or picks up the article you just dropped, or says a word of encouragement to you on a day you need it. God is with us, and God’s reach continues to expand whenever we allow it.

Further the journey of peace by holding people in your hearts and then expanding your understanding of their situation. Peace will take hold and will smooth out the rough edges of life. It is in those times that we see the encounter between God and us, and our hearts are content.

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (1 John 3) We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us, while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

Tuesday: (1 John 4) Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us.

Wednesday: (1 John 4) Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.

Thursday: (1 John 4) If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

Friday (1 John 5) Who is the victor of this world? The one who believes in Jesus, who came through water and Blood, and the Spirit testifies to him.   

Saturday (1 John 5) We have confidence that if we ask anything according to his will, God hears us.

Gospel: 

Monday: (Matthew 4) He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,and curing every disease and illness among the people.

Tuesday: (Mark 6) When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already very late.

Wednesday (Mark 6) After the five thousand had eaten and were satisfied, Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and precede him to the other side toward Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And when he had taken leave of them, he went off to the mountain to pray.

Thursday (Luke 4) Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.

Friday (Luke 5) It happened that there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where Jesus was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”

Saturday (John 3) Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, where he spent some time with them baptizing. John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there, and people came to be baptized, for John had not yet been imprisoned.

Saints of the Week

January 5: John Neumann, bishop (1811-1860), emigrated from Bohemia to New York and joined the Redemptorists in Pittsburgh before being named bishop of Philadelphia. He built many churches in the diocese and placed great emphasis on education as the foundation of faith.

January 6: Andre Bessette, religious (1845-1937), was born in Quebec, Canada. He joined the Congregation of the Holy Cross and taught for 40 years at the College of Notre Dame. He cared for the sick and was known as a intercessor for miracles. He built St. Joseph’s Oratory, a popular pilgrimage site in Canada.

January 7: Raymond of Penyafort, priest (1175-1275), was trained in philosophy and law and was ordained in 1222 to preach to the Moors and Christians. Though he was appointed bishop of Tarragon, he declined the position. Instead he organized papal decrees into the first form of canon law. He was later elected Master of the Dominican Order.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      Jan. 5, 1548: Francis Suarez, one of the greatest theologians of the church, was born at Granada.

·      Jan. 6, 1829: Publication of Pope Leo XII's rescript, declaring the Society to be canonically restored in England.

·      Jan. 7, 1566: Cardinal Ghislieri was elected pope as Pius V. He was a great friend of the Francis Borgia and appointed Salmeron and Toletus as apostolic preachers at the Vatican. He desired to impose the office of choir on the Society and even ordered it. He was canonized as St. Pius V.

·      Jan. 8, 1601: Balthasar Gracian was born. A Spanish Jesuit, he wrote on courtly matters. He is the author of "The Compleat Gentleman" and "The Art of Worldly Wisdom."

·      Jan. 9, 1574: Fr. Jasper Haywood died at Naples. He was superior of the English mission. As a boy he was one of the pages of honor to the Princess Elizabeth. After a brilliant career at Oxford, he renounced his fellowship and entered the Society in Rome in 1570. An able Hebrew scholar and theologians, he was for two years professor in the Roman College.

·      Jan. 10, 1581: Queen Elizabeth signed the fifth Penal Statute in England inflicting heavy fines and imprisonment on all who harbored Jesuits and Seminary priests.

·      Jan 10, 1567. Two Jesuits arrived in Havana, Cuba, as a base for evangelization.

·      Jan 11, 1573. At Milan, St Charles Borromeo founded a college (the Brera) and placed it under the care of the Society.