Homily:
Solemnity of the Epiphany – Cycle A
Fr. Mike McKinney was the pastor to whom I was assigned as
a newly ordained priest about seven and a half years ago. He’s a good pastor and I learned a lot from
him. One of the things that always
impressed me about Fr. Mike (well, I should say that it shocked me at first,
but then I was impressed) was his lack of inhibition with talking to strangers
about their religious lives. During my
first weeks in Logansport, Fr. Mike took me around to different places in order
to get me orientated to business related stuff in the parish (you know, like
putting my signature on file at banks and things like that). At almost every stop, he would inquire into
the religious life of the person who was helping us.
Being a newly ordained priest, I wasn’t yet used to the
fact that walking around with a collar on basically gives you a free pass to
talk to people about religion and so I was a little bit shocked when Fr. Mike
would ask these strangers if they went to church and if so what church they
went to. Almost just as shocking,
however, was that fact that multiple times the answer was “no, I’ve never gone
to church.” Did you hear that? It wasn’t “oh, I was going to this church,
but I stopped,” rather, it was “I’ve never gone to church.” Talking about this later with Fr. Mike, he
assured me that this was a rather typical response from people: that many
people there had been growing up completely “unchurched.”
The three wise men—a.k.a. the Magi—were also “unchurched,”
(at least in the Judeo-Christian sense of the term). These "kings" from the east were astronomers
and probably practiced some sort of pagan religion (if they practiced any
religion at all). Thus, they knew little
to nothing about a God who purportedly had chosen a specific people, living in
the land of Canaan, to be his own people and that this God had promised to send
them a Messiah, a king who would rule on the throne of one of their great
forefathers. What they did know,
however, was that the appearance of a great star in the sky was an indication
that a great king had been born.
Thus, when these three wise men from the orient saw the
great star appear in the west, they knew what it meant. And even though they were pagans, they were
good men and, thus, they knew that it would be right to make a journey to find
this newborn king and to pay him homage, bringing him kingly gifts to honor
him.
Here a couple of thousand years later, we find ourselves at
a bit of a disadvantage to those kings.
We live in an age when rulers—that is, those who govern societies—are
chosen from among the people whom they will rule. In other words, we elect our government
officials. For better or for worse, this
is what we are used to. Back in the time
of the Magi, however, great rulers were born—that is, destined from infancy to
be royalty—and great natural signs were often cited as accompanying their
births as a signal that the child’s destiny had been ordained by God. We, as a people, however, have decided that
it would be better if we relied more on our reason; choosing our government
leaders based on what we perceive to be their merits, rather than on the
interpretation of some natural sign.
As a result, we have generations of people who have stopped
looking for signs. In other words, we
have generations of people who have stopped believing in God’s providential
presence among us and have come to rely completely on themselves to make
decisions in their lives. Thus, there
are many people—including many who live around us here in Tippecanoe County—who
are fumbling in the dark, trying to make sense of life without the providential
guidance of God, which is readily available to them! The only thing that keeps them fumbling in
the dark is that they haven’t seen a light bright enough to break into the
darkness and lead them out of it.
In the first reading today, we heard the prophet Isaiah
proclaim to the people, “See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover
the peoples; but upon you the Lord shines, and over you appears his glory. Nations shall walk by your light, and kings
by your shining radiance.” My brothers
and sisters, this message applies to us today just as much as it did to the
Israelites over two-thousand years ago.
We, the Church, are the New Jerusalem; the city on which God’s light
shines. Thus, we are called to be a
light to the nations, to those stumbling in darkness around us. Yet, for the most part, it seems, we are
content to cover up that light as we walk out of this place so that those
walking in darkness never see it. We’re
embarrassed to engage friends and neighbors—and often even our own family
members—about faith, about what we believe, and about how what we believe makes
a positive difference in our lives.
We’re embarrassed to pray in public, even if it is just a small prayer
of blessing over a meal in a restaurant.
No, even though we receive life itself when we receive the Body and
Blood of Jesus from this altar, we are content to let those walking in darkness
to remain in darkness because we worry that they would be offended or think
that we were stupid if we talked to them about it (or, worse yet, that they
would start asking us about our faith).
My brothers and sisters, the world desperately needs
another star, like the one those wise men saw nearly two-thousand years
ago. The world needs a new
Epiphany! Our task as those who profess
Christ as Lord is to be that epiphany.
In other words, we are called to be that star, shining brighter than any
other star, that catches the attention of those dwelling in darkness and leads
them to an encounter with Christ: an encounter that will manifest the light of
salvation for them so that they may live in the joy that comes from knowing him.
My brothers and sisters, this is the new evangelization
that the last three Popes have called for, but it won’t happen overnight. In order to be that star for others, we first
need to renew and deepen our own faith.
This year our parish is offering many different opportunities for you
each to learn more about our faith (like a series on the Mass during Lent) and
there are a multitude of other resources out there of which you can take
advantage (our parish continues to subscribe to Formed.org, which has an
unbelievable amount of material, and there is the CD and book rack in the
gathering space, just to name a few, readily available resources). By this intentional effort to renew and
deepen our faith, we will grow in confidence in the truth of our faith. When that confidence grows, so too will grow a
desire to share our faith with others; in other words, our desire to be that
star for others will grow.
Friends, we need a sense of urgency about this. Remember that, throughout Advent, we were
reminded that the second coming of the Lord is imminent and that he is coming
with judgment. Thank God he hasn’t come
today! Just think of all of the people we
know who would be lost to the fires of hell because we refused to share
Christ’s light with them. I can name
three right off the bat: my cousin Joe, my friend Jake, and my sister’s husband
Jason. My guess is that most of us can
at least think of one. If so, please
pray for that person: that God’s light would shine into their lives and turn
him/her to Him. Pray also for God’s
wisdom to know how he is calling you to be his light for that person. Then pray for the courage to do it. My friends, I promise you, God will not fail
to answer these prayers.
First things first, however. First, we need to come to Christ ourselves to
honor him as our King and the good news is that he will be appearing before us
soon, here on this altar.
Given at Saint Mary’s Cathedral:
Lafayette, IN – January 5th, 2020
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