Dear Parishioners:
We are just a few short days into our new 2020 calendar year, and perhaps already any resolutions we might have made for the new year have already fallen by the wayside. We may have realized that it takes more than a solemn pre-midnight declaration to change the course of our lives. Yet our desire for change and a better future as we leave one year behind and start a new one is perfectly understandable, especially if the year we have left behind has been disappointing, sorrowful or painful in some way. And without the sense of a need for growth what would our lives be like? What would we be without goals and ambitions to pursue?
Perhaps what does seem a little worrying about our desire for change, and our pursuit of new goals is that so often what we pursue, and the way in which we pursue what we want, very seldom speaks of the faith that we proclaim. What does it say to others if all we want is materialistic, or vain glory, or if our change is fueled by only greed or avarice? And what does it say to others if our way of reaching our goals is self-satisfaction, egoism and self-centeredness? Anyone can have such goals and ambitions, but surely as Christians we should be pursuing more than simply a self-directed attempt at self-improvement.
We celebrate the great Solemnity of the Epiphany today. The story of the Magi, the wise men, is truly a story of a life changing revelation and encounter with the Word Incarnate, the Christ child. The Epiphany was the most significant encounter in the lives of the wise men. They lived their lives as men who sought the truth, and they find the very source of that truth in the Christ child. And having paid him homage, and offered him gifts they return to their place of origin by another route, transformed and changed by what they have encountered, taking the message of salvation with them.
The story of the Magi remains an important message for our times. The need to set a different course in our life which so clearly manifests itself at this time of year is an expression of a deeply rooted desire to find fulfillment and meaning. Yet in that search for fulfillment, so many things are sought which simply cannot satisfy. And some of the goals and targets can even be damaging to the individual and to others. Truth seekers will always be restless in their hearts unless they allow themselves to be drawn into an encounter, and then a living relationship with Christ and his Church. As St. Augustine said: “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”
If we truly change and redirect our lives then life should no longer simply be a self-directed search for self-improvement, because our encounter with Jesus Christ and our relationship with him and his Church must be the defining influence of lives as Catholic disciples. It is through this encounter and relationship with Christ nurtured by prayer and nourished and sustained by the Sacraments of the Church that our quest for happiness, meaning and fulfilment is shaped and guided. And it is by the grace of God that we can be shaped towards the ultimate goal of every human life, which is God himself.
As we celebrate the Epiphany we must pursue an encounter with the Child in the Crib as we turn back to the object of our faith. And having encountered Christ again, and worshiped and adored him, as the wise men did, we should go on our way by a different path, with lives lived in and through a growing relationship with the Lord. The invitation for us on the Epiphany is to reflect on the full meaning of the Christmas Mystery in our lives. And also for us to recognize who it is who has been born for us and to offer a prayer of thanks and adoration for the gift of this newborn King.
St. Bruno offers a good way to do this in his Epiphany Sermon from the 11th Century. He writes: “We offer the Lord gold when we shine in his sight with the light of heavenly wisdom. We offer him frankincense when we send up pure prayer before him, and myrrh when, mortifying our flesh with its vices and passions by self-control, we carry the cross behind Jesus.”
Let 2020 be a year to renew our faith and commit more fully to Christ and His Church. God Bless. Go Pats!