Homily: The Epiphany of the Lord – Cycle A
It’s often said that converts make the
best Catholics, which is usually intended to mean that converts seem to be more
knowledgeable and more engaged in their faith than folks who grew up in the
Church. There are good reasons for
this. When someone converts, that person
has usually had the “conversion experience”, a strong spiritual movement that
causes the person to take ownership and personal responsibility for his or her
beliefs and how they are expressed. Many
“Cradle Catholics” have never had that experience and so while they claim the
Catholic faith, many don’t “own” it on the same level as converts do: meaning
that they sometimes look like “worse” Catholics than those who had converted.
The great irony that often occurs is
that a convert will help a cradle Catholic discover new things about the faith,
thus enriching the faith life of the life-long Catholic. Unfortunately, however, the converts will
sometimes find cradle Catholics who decided to stop learning about the faith
after their Confirmation in 8th grade and, thus, refuse to listen to
anyone who tries to teach them anything new; thus reinforcing the stereotype
that converts make better Catholics.
We see that this is nothing new,
however. Complacency in the practice of
the faith has made people blind to its riches ever since Moses led the
Israelite people out of Egypt. Today, in
particular, we recall a sharp example of this in the interaction between the
Magi and King Herod and the religious elite in Jerusalem.
The magi, who were “Gentiles”, that
is, “outsiders” to the Jewish people and religion, have seen a star at its
rising and respond: traveling a long way from the east to Jerusalem only to
find that Herod, the “king” of the Jews, and the chief priests and the scribes,
that is, the “religious elite” of the Jews, seemed not to have noticed the star
nor did they have a ready understanding of where this newborn king of the Jews
ought to have been born. The coming of
the Messiah had been long-delayed and so it seems like Herod and the religious
elite had become complacent in the practice of their faith thereby making it
seem as if these outsiders knew more about the Jewish faith than they, the
insiders, did.
Then we see, also, that Herod’s reaction
(and the religious elite’s reaction) was not one of joy that the divinely
appointed King of the Jews had been born (in spite of having missed the sign),
but rather that he was “greatly troubled”.
Herod was worried about losing his position of power and so this news of
a newborn King fills him with anxiety.
The child who was born was the Messiah for whom the Jews had been
waiting and yet the news creates nervousness instead of happiness. Complacency, it seems, leads to more than
just “absentmindedness” in the practice of the faith; rather, it can also lead one
to lose the faith all together.
My brothers and sisters, as I’ve
already said, this can happen to any of us, which is why the Church gives us
this celebration of Christmastide right at the beginning of the year. In celebrating the various “epiphanies” or “manifestations”
of our Lord, the Church is reminding us that “Epiphany” is about acknowledging the
manifestation of God’s salvation for the whole world. It seeks to wake us up to the fact that the
Glory of God has broken into the darkness of this world and has crushed it,
establishing it in his Church as a beacon to provide light to every person in
the world.
Thus, the Church gives us the
beautiful prophesy from the prophet Isaiah in the first reading today. “Rise up in splendor”, the Lord says to his
people. In other words, “Stand up and be
seen!” This bold statement has been made
to a nation who has been made resplendent in his glory and thus will be a place
and a people of envy for other nations, whose richness and generosity will
attract people from every corner of the world.
Theirs is a glorious light shining brightly in the midst of a world enveloped
in darkness and so the prophet calls them to rise up and so to be a beacon of
light proclaiming that God’s salvation has come into the world. By remembering the epiphany to the Magi, the
Church is reminding us that this prophesy has come to its fullest completion in
the birth of Jesus.
This celebration is not only a
reminder to us of the reason for our joy, but it is also a reminder of the
stewardship that comes with having received the Glory of God into our
lives. Saint Paul said in his letter to
the Ephesians that a “stewardship of God’s grace” had been given to him; and by
“stewardship” he meant “a responsibility of management”. And what was he called to manage? God’s grace (an enormous task, indeed!). My brothers and sisters, we the Church still
possess this stewardship of God’s grace; and, as a body, we are called to “rise
up in splendor” as the New Jerusalem: to be the city shining brightly on the
hill whose glory—which is nothing less than the full glory of God—is so resplendent
that all peoples—peoples who are enveloped in darkness—are attracted to it by her
richness and generosity.
By richness, of course, I mean the
Deposit of Faith and the Sacramental Life, which will only be attractive to others
when the Church’s members know the faith on a personal, intimate level—the
level that a convert has after he or she has had the “conversion experience”—and
when they celebrate that faith in the sacraments, engaging the rich beauty that
nearly two-thousand years of celebration brings to that experience. And by generosity, I mean, of course, the Works
of Mercy, which are attractive to others precisely because they address the
most basic fear of the human heart: that human suffering has no answer and
therefore that we are alone in this world.
The Faith proclaims the truth that we are not alone and that human
suffering does have an answer; and the works of mercy demonstrate the veracity
of this truth in concrete actions.
My brothers and sisters, whether you
are a life-long Catholic or a recent convert, it is my prayer for you today, as
we prepare to close out this Christmas season and enter back into Ordinary
Time, that the joy of celebrating the coming of God among us will spill forth
into your daily lives so that God’s continuing presence with us—which we
encounter here in this Eucharist—will be made manifest by his glory shining
forth through you: in your words and in your actions—and thus draw all around
us who are enveloped in darkness into the light of salvation and to the eternal
life won for us by Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Given
at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – January 8th, 2017
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