FrNikola

Epiphany of the Lord

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An incandescent light bulb contains a filament that glows brightly but sits within a glass bulb in order to produce light. That light is meant to go beyond the confines of just the bulb. In celebrating the Epiphany of the Lord today we celebrate the first moment in Our Lord’s childhood when it was revealed, as Paul recalls in today’s Second Reading, that all nations, not just Israel, would be able to benefit from the promises Our Lord has made through the Gospel. The Three Kings come from afar bearing gifts because they see the signs in the stars that a great king had just been born, great enough to warrant leaving their countries behind to see him and pay him homage.

The First Reading speaks of how Jerusalem will be radiant when the Lord shines upon it, so much so that Jerusalem itself will attract others by its light to the Lord. Christ is the filament without which there’d be no light at all. Israel is the glass bulb; in becoming flesh Our Lord choice a place, a time, and a people in which to become flesh, and that people, prepared by the Father, is Israel. Like a light bulb, that illumination is not just for Israel alone; all peoples will be drawn to that light until they reflect it too. The Three Kings represent all the peoples of the earth seeing that light in the distance of their cultural differences and heading toward it. A distant light, a star, became a beacon that led them to Jerusalem. The prophecy regarding Bethlehem lead them closer to their goal, and then the star itself ushered them to the baby Jesus.

Thanks to this episode we know that Christ’s light reaches to all the nations, and leads us even above and beyond our cultures. All the nations of the earth can benefit from his light. Let’s pray today for the grace to follow his star in our lives as well, and offer him the best gifts we have in homage so that his light shines in us too.

Readings: Isaiah 60:1–6; Psalm 72:1–2, 7–8, 10–11, 12–13; Ephesians 3:2–3a, 5–6; Matthew 2:1–12.

Christmas, January 2nd

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After the Christmas octave end a few days of the Christmas Season follow before the liturgy returns to Ordinary Time with the Baptism of the Lord, the moment in which Jesus begins his public ministry. So in today’s readings we’re catapulted from the events around Jesus’ birth and early childhood to the ministry of John the Baptist, a ministry that immediately preceded Jesus’ public ministry after thirty quiet and private years in Nazareth.

John’s ministry is a preparation for Jesus’, but many people don’t know that yet. John starts to get noticed, so priests and Levites come to see John at Bethany and submit him to a questionnaire regarding what prophecies he was supposed to be fulfilling. It was not a pilgrimage of conversion and faith, just a fact-finding mission. John starts right off by answering the central question: he was not the Christ. So then they start asking him about the other prophecies: Moses said a prophet would come, was it John; other prophets said Elijah would come again, was it John? He was neither, and told them he was fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah to prepare a path for the Lord. That’s wasn’t good enough, so the Pharisees come too and ask him why he’s doing Messianic things if he’s not the one. Again John responds that someone greater is coming after him. Ultimately they would have to see for themselves when the moment came: they couldn’t just classify and file away John’s ministry.

The Jews had built up a lot of preconceived notions of how the Savior was going to come and what he was going to do. Some of them never accepted Our Lord as the Lord. We may have the benefit of a community of believers and witnesses, but we too can have preconceived notions of how Christ should be and what he should do. The New Year has begun: let’s prepare the way for Christ this year by fostering openness to whatever he wants to do in our lives, and to how he wishes to reveal himself to us.

Readings: 1 John 2:22–28; Psalm 98:1–4; John 1:19–28.

 

Mary, Mother of God

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Today a new year begins and the Christmas Octave concludes with the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. We begin the new year celebrating the generosity and fiat of Mary that made her the Mother of God. In the early Church a group of heretics called the Arians claimed that Mary was not the Mother of God because Jesus was not God. This feast celebrates both the divinity of Christ and what that implies for Mary’s maternity.

When the shepherds in today’s Gospel told Mary that angels had spoken to them, she surely remembered that fateful day nine months earlier when she conceived of the Holy Spirit after the visit of Gabriel. Again in this moment the heavenly choirs can’t contain themselves at the birth of the Savior. Jesus in his public ministry would tell his listeners that the angels in Heaven rejoice more over a repentant sinner that over scores of holy people. Here they celebrate the salvation at hand for everyone, and share the news with people pretty low down on the social scale: shepherds were marginalized in the culture of the time, which is why they usually kept to themselves. That didn’t matter to them now; they found the Holy Family and shared the good news with “All who heard it.”

Mary, in contrast, takes in the incredible mysteries of God that are unfolding in silence and contemplation. We can only imagine how she described these events years later to the first Christians, perhaps to Luke the evangelist himself, so that they would be narrated for future Christians. As this new year is beginning we remember this moment of salvation history as a beginning of a new phase of Mary’s relationship with God. Inspired by her example let’s strive to begin this new year as a year of a deeper love for Christ; in that way it will truly become a happy new year.

Readings: Numbers 6:22–27; Psalm 67:2–8; Galatians 4:4–7; Luke 2:16–21. See also Christmas Octave, 5th Day and 6th Day.

Christmas Octave, 7th Day

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It’s no coincidence that today’s Gospel is the same as the daytime Mass on Christmas Day. Tomorrow the Christmas octave concludes and a new year begins, but it begins by honoring Mary as the Mother of God. Today is the end of the year; in the Book of Revelation Our Lord identifies himself as the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending (see Revelation 1:8; 21:6,13), so in contemplating the last day of the year in the light of the prologue of the Gospel of John we are taking stock of the year ending and drawing up resolutions for the year beginning. If we read today’s Gospel carefully we see that John is not just speaking of one moment that comes and goes, but of Someone around whom everything revolves: the Word, who enables us to become children of God and brings us the fullness of grace and truth. Therefore we contemplate the ending and the beginning of the year in his light.

There are two spirits at play in celebrating the ending and beginning of the year. One is squeezing out the last few hours of the year in the best party you can find (or devise) and go howling and cheering from one year to the next. It’s an effort that can’t be sustained very long and usually doesn’t last past the hangover on the morning of January 1st. The Christian spirit of this day, on the other hand, doesn’t shy away from making it a moment of celebration, but also sees the importance of taking stock of all the blessings received during the year and giving thanks to God for them, as well as showing gratitude for his mercy regarding those moments we regret. It is a good moment to ask before the party whether the year began with Christ (Alpha) and ended with him (Omega), or whether at some moment we “broke orbit” around the Word and started to veer off into the unknown. In today’s First Reading John reminds us that the “antichrists” apparently started with Christ, but ended up against him. We pray that we’re not one of them, but we must also pray to identify them so that they don’t knock us off orbit too.

Let’s thank Our Lord today for all the blessings of this year about to conclude and for his mercy over anything this year we regret. Let’s pray that in the new year we continue to place him at the center of our lives and make his Word resound.

Readings: 1 John 2:18–21; Psalm 96:1–2, 11–13; John 1:1–18. See also Christmas Day.

Christmas Octave, 6th Day

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Today’s Gospel reminds us that when it comes to prayer and a healthy spiritual life there’s no such thing as being past your prime. Anna’s married life was short; she spent more of her life as a widow than as a wife, but all those years were full of prayer. As Luke recalls she was a prophetess: she had a special relationship with the Holy Spirit. In the early Church, as the New Testament attests, widows didn’t just receive material support from the Church: they provided invaluable spiritual support. The elderly have a great vocation to prayer and to sharing their wisdom.

Anna spent many years in prayer and expectation, but when the moment came, she didn’t shy away from giving witness as well. She was attentive to the signs of the times, helped by the Holy Spirit, and she saw that the time of redemption was at hand. Just as Simeon yesterday rejoiced at the sight of the Christ, Anna wants to spread the good news that the Messiah has come.

You’re never too young nor too old for a life of prayer and a mission of giving witness to Christ. As the year draws to a close, spend some quiet time with Our Lord to see how you can draw closer to him in prayer and give witness to him.

Readings: 1 John 2:12–17; Psalm 96:7–10; Luke 2:36–40.