Happy new year to you all. At the end of each calendar year we reflect on the past year and with grateful hearts thank God for the blessings we have received. Among the special blessings of the past year is the opening of the Bishop Dudley Hospitality House which carries the beacon of hope which is this Cathedral out into the broader community, sharing the love and mercy of Christ with those who need a helping hand. Another great blessing was the Legacy event at which we thanked God for the 125 years of our diocese. Thank you to all who helped make these two significant happenings possible. Now we begin a new calendar year filled with mystery and uncertainty, yet also a Jubilee Year of Mercy. May we use it well.
Today is the Solemnity of the Epiphany. It offers us the opportunity to take the time amidst the complicated and busy lives we lead to discover and reflect on the simplicity of the message and reality of Christmas. Jesus Christ, the son of God, broke into the world to save us and to encourage us to break out of the world.
Soon the trees, the decorations, the special music and celebrations will end. Next week we return to Ordinary Time where we spend most of our lives. Before we go there, let us rest in this sacred Epiphany moment to reflect and prepare for the New Year.
Isaiah in the first reading prophecies this simple reality with the words: “darkness covers the earth and thick clouds cover the peoples, but upon you the Lord shines.” Darkness surely covers the earth today with violence, terrorism and disrespect for life in all its phases. Thick clouds cover the peoples living in poverty, sickness, unfaithfulness, injustice. Yet today upon us the Lord shines if we see in that darkness the star that leads us to the Christ child and then bow in humility and hope in homage before Him as did the Magi.
The inspired scripture with the beautiful images of the Magi contains an encouraging affirmation of inclusiveness. Christ is here for us all. Those who came were outsiders yet they bowed in worship before the Lord of us all. St. Paul in the 2nd reading underscores this truth. He wrote that the Gentiles were coheirs, members of the same body, and sharers of the same promise. Jesus is a Christmas gift open to all, regardless of status, age, economic standing, education, gender, ethnic background or any artificial separation enacted by man.
This gospel also is reassuring because it identifies the fullness of the power of Jesus Christ, reflected in the gifts presented. As one writer put it: Gold was the symbol for divinity. “This Child, who would be betrayed for silver, comes to transform our perspective of wealth to treasure again the things of God – compassion, forgiveness, and peace are the coin of the realm of the new born King.”
Frankincense is an all-purpose medicine. “This Child comes to restore and heal not just the physical ailments of those he will meet in his gospel journey, but to heal humankind of our fears and doubts, to bridge the chasms that separate us from one another and from God.”
Myrrh is used to embalm the dead. “This Child comes to re-create us in the life of God: his death will be the defeat of death, his cross with be his – and our – glory. (Cormier)
This time of year I recall an experience I had in my first years as a priest which I have shared before. I was at a Christmas party in the Diocese of Madison sponsored by the Apostolate to the Handicapped, a ministry to those with special needs. Over 1,000 were there including frail elderly, others in wheelchairs requiring assistance. Mass was prayed then healthy high school students served a festive holiday meal.
At the front of one long table was a young man, likely in his twenties, blond hair and beard. He was in a wheelchair, a quadriplegic. I later learned that he was a victim of a motorcycle accident. With him was a woman who looked on him with such love. She was his sister. She held his hand throughout Mass. The chair was fitted with a special brace on which his head could rest. Every once in a while his head would fall forward. His sister would so gently lift it back up. I could not help but look at those siblings and so many more struggling in so many ways wondering how they could handle what they must each day. How when the festive lights are darkened and the routine of ordinary time takes over do people cope, from where comes their hope. At the end of Mass the answer was given. With the final blessing the sister stood up, took the arm of her brother and helped him make the sign of the cross – in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Simple yet profound.
The Christ born in Bethlehem, to whom the shepherds and the Magi paid homage was with them, is with us all every day. That sister was the Christmas star leading the way.
Darkness still covers the earth and thick clouds still cover the peoples and yet as Isaiah predicted upon us the Lord shines. Christ broke into the world to save us and to encourage us to break out of the world. That is the simple message of Christmas. May in the darkness and clouds of ordinary time we keep close to the star that leads to Christ – His Church.