Sunday, January 8, 2023
READINGS: IS 60: 1-6; PS 72: 1-2, 7-8, 10-13; EPH 3:2-3A, 5-6; MT 2: 1-12
It seems that the Christmas Season just began and now on Tuesday of this week, we return to Ordinary Time in the Liturgical Year. Monday, we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord which is the last day of the Christmas Season. Next Sunday we will celebrate the Second Week in Ordinary Time. The reason that it is called Ordinary Time is because of the use of ordinal numbers such as second, third, fourth etc.
But for today, our celebration of Christmas continues, where we observe the great feast of The Epiphany of the Lord. The word “epiphany” comes from the Greek and means manifestation or appearance. Our Christian walk or way of life is one in which we live in grateful response to God’s countless manifestations (or appearances) in our lives.
Our Gospel passage, from Saint Matthew, has much to teach us about the Christian life as Jesus’ modern-day disciples, through the actions of the magi. As devout and Godfearing men, the magi were watching for manifestations of God’s presence in their lives. “We have seen the star at its rising,” they said. As modern-day disciples, are we keenly aware of the “star” of God’s presence and His gifts in our lives? It is this awareness that fills us with a sense of gratitude and a desire to both worship God and share our gifts with others imitating the generosity of devotion of the magi.
The magi, upon seeing the manifestation of God’s presence in their lives, “were overjoyed.” As modern-day disciples of Jesus, who live with the awareness of God’s presence and gifts to us, simply can’t help but be filled with joy. Not necessarily the fleeting and superficial kind of joy the world offers through wealth or power, but rather the deep, unalterable joy that only God can give.
Finally, the magi were so filled with awe upon encountering the newborn Jesus, they prostrated themselves before him and “opened their treasures and offered him gifts.” This is precisely why modern-day disciples of Jesus generously share our material gifts — as a loving act of worship to an extravagantly loving God. Let us rejoice in God’s manifestations in our lives and be watchful for the new ways He is calling us to share ourselves and our gifts in gratitude to Jesus our King in the year ahead.