Epiphany 2024 - Star worshippers, astrology, and reordering life to Christ

 In keeping with the ancient practice, following the proclamation of the Epiphany Gospel, I just chanted what is called the announcement of Easter and the Moveable Feasts for this liturgical year.  

Before the age of mass-produced calendars and smart phones, the chanting of the feasts was a practical necessity; now, we do it as a way of remaining rooted to Catholic tradition, and to remind us to plan our year around Christ—to order our year—to orient our lives to Christ. 

And in a very real sense, that’s what the feast of the Epiphany is all about, reordering. The birth of Christ has reordered creation, it has reordered time, it has reordered history, and it has reordered humanity. The Magi from the east, following the star to Christ, illustrates this reordering. 

There is an ancient hymn from the Eastern Orthodox liturgy that talks about this reordering. It goes like this: Your Nativity, O Christ our God, / has shone to the world the Light of knowledge; / for by it, those who worshipped the stars / were taught by a star to adore You, / the Sun of Righteousness, / and to know You, the Dawn from on High. / O Lord, glory to You!”

Those who worshipped the stars, referring to the magi, were reoriented, they were taught by a star to adore Christ. 

In the ancient east, and many parts of the world, the stars had tremendous significance; so much so, that many peoples actually worshipped the stars. 

Learned ones, like the magi, of course could keep track of the seasons by studying the stars. Keeping track of the winter and summer solstice, and the spring and autumn equinox, was even a matter of survival. The stars told people when to plant their crops. Plant too early, or plant too late, and your family, your village, would starve. The stars could be counted upon. They were a source of stability in an otherwise chaotic universe. And for that reason, it’s not too difficult to grasp why the ancients worshipped the stars as divine beings. For what is religion but that which helps us to order our lives to something that is greater than ourselves.

So, the gentiles—the pagan world—were star worshippers. The Sumerians, the Babylonians, where the magi in the gospels were from, the Egyptians worshipped the celestial bodies. For the Romans, mercury, venus, mars, Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, were the names of not just planets, but gods. Many of the constellations—Orion, cassiopia, Hercules—are named after gods who were worshipped. 

It’s also not too difficult to grasp why astrology has been so popular throughout the millennia. Now it’s considered rather silly to think that the position of the stars and planets have any bearing on our personality or world events. But that’s because of Christ. Why are we not worshipping planets and stars right now? Because of Christ.

The Feast of Epiphany celebrates this. It celebrates the pagan world, once bound by error and idolatry—enslavement to stars—now through the birth of Christ  being given the invitation to know and worship the one true God. The magi, representing all the star worshippers of the world, now come to know, adore, and worship the maker-of-the-stars-made-flesh. 

Notice the gifts which the magi bring to the Christ child. The bring gifts, not just fit for a king, but fit for a god. And to this day, we still use these gifts to worship him. We use gold—in our church vessels and furnishings. We use oil—to anoint—to open the soul to divine life. We use frankincense—as part of our worship—to acknowledge the presence of God. 

The time for astrology has passed. We don’t look to the stars for answers to guide our life, we look to the creator of the stars, who has made himself known, and who has entered into this world, to save man from idolatry, error and sin.

In fact, scripture and our catechism explicitly prohibit astrology. The Catechism lists astrology as a sin against the first commandment. It says, “All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums...contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.”

As our western culture continues to reject Christ more and more—we are seeing a rise in popularity and interest in astrology and occult practices. Instead of converting to truth, the world is reverting—regressing, going backwards. If you pay attention to pop culture, you see occult and demonic symbolism all over the place, and witchcraft. Remember, we had demonic graffiti on our church steps this summer. Lucifer—the light bearer—who is called “the morning star” in the book of Daniel--revels in our culture’s regression back into the old occult practices. Back in the 1960s our culture celebrated the dawning of the age of Aquarius with the sexual revolution and the beginning of the breakdown of the family and the eclipse of right religion. And it’s only gotten worse.

But there is also some good news here. There is a hunger for the divine. If Magi from the East will travel thousands of miles to seek Christ, then it’s not impossible for people who live down the street, to accept an invitation to meet Christ here. Because he is here, really and substantially, in the Eucharist. He is proclaimed by the Church, and encountered in our divine worship. And meeting him, and knowing him, and loving him will change your life, and deliver you from the misery that comes from those empty pagan practices.

But the task of the Church—the task of our parish is to be on fire with love for him. The light of our love is the new star that will guide the searchers and seekers to Christ.

Now of course we have some competition. Not only the false light of those old pagan practices, but the addictive light of iphones and computer screens, the light of technology promises people happiness without the need for old fashioned things like church and prayer. The internet, social media, is a new god for a lot of people—and it’s got people enslaved. In a sense, it’s almost worse than the old gods—because at least people were praying back then—they believed in something bigger than themselves. 

So our competition is pretty fierce. And that probably means that Christians of 2024 need to be a lot more public about our faith than in previous generations to draw people’s attention away from the false gods of the world to the one true God—Christ the Lord. Are you up to the task? Are you willing to be reordered a little in order to be the instruments God wants to draw souls to Christ? 

Well, it starts at home, dear ones. Make sure your days are ordered to him—praying as much as you should be, fasting from frivolous entertainment—interacting with real people, geting the rest you need to keep your strength up for the work God has for you, ordering your family life to focus on Christ, to draw life and light from Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

Epiphany of the Lord 2023 - Seeking the Light of Christ

 

Happy Epiphany everyone. In many parts of the world, the feast of the epiphany is celebrated with as much solemnity as Christmas: families gather together to feast, sing, and exchange gifts—recalling the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh brought by Magi from the east in honor of the new-born King.

I too, have returned from the east. Last night, I returned from two weeks in Edinburgh, Scotland. And I too, traveled with a few wise men, two brother priests. After four years here at St. Ignatius, you may have noticed that I enjoy traveling a bit: seeing new places, tasting new foods, seeing how different cultures go about their day-to-day life, and the art and architecture they have produced. It’s a chance to glimpse how God has worked and is working around the world. 

Years of study preceded the Magi’s journey from the East—these pagan scholars studied the Hebrew Scriptures and the known astrological charts and set out to follow the star which signaled the birth of the King of Kings, whose reign of goodness, peace, and justice would be eternal. And follow the star they did. Coming to Jerusalem they first met a real imposter of a king, King Herod, just like many of us, in our journeys, encounter so many imposters to God.

The wise men then continued their journey to Bethlehem, the little town in which King David was born and raised. And there in Bethlehem they found the newborn heir of David, the Savior whom the prophets foretold, they brought him gifts, and worshiped and adored him. 

They searched for the savior—through study, through the exhaustion of a thousand-mile journey. And upon finding him, they worshipped and adored.

Finally, they return to their home country, by a different route, having been warned to avoid Herod’s treachery.  

You’ve no doubt heard the famous reflection that “of course they go back a different route, you never come to Christ and go back the same way you came.”  The encounter with Christ changes you.

Throughout Christian history we have countless stories of people from all over the world who begin life one way, and upon encountering Christ, their lives are changed forever.

Think of those first called by the Lord—Peter, Paul, Andrew, and James.  They began life as fishermen, but meeting Christ, encountering him, their lives were changed forever.  They went from ordinary Galilean fishermen to miracle working world missionaries and martyrs!

Saint Paul, too, remember, was a stringent adherent of the Jewish law who put Christian converts to death.  But upon the road to Damascas, Paul encountered Christ, and his life was changed forever.  

There have been cutthroats, crooks, trollops & bigamists, war-mongers, shard sharks and con men, devil-worshippers and atheists who have not only converted to Christ, but who have become saints—men and women who began life one way, far from any semblance of righteousness, but who were led grace to follow a star, and came to know, love, adore and worship Jesus Christ as God and Lord. 

One of my favorite sinners turned saints is the great St. Augustine. Augustine, remember, rejected his mother’s Catholic faith for many decades. In his youth, he engaged in thievery and promiscuity, in his college years, he joined a cult and promoted heresies about God. “It was sinful and I loved it” was his motto for many years. And yet, his heart remained restless, he was not satisfied with those imposters. He yearned for Truth, he yearned for Christ. 

He searched and he listened. And the Epiphany for Augustine came through the preaching of the holy bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose, who inspired Augustine to pick up the Christian Scriptures. And picking up the Bible, Augustine came upon a powerful line from St. Paul. “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness . . . . But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh "  

Augustine says that reading that verse caused the light of faith to flood into his heart and the darkness of his doubts were dispelled. Augustine prepared for baptism, and was later ordained a priest and bishop. 

Our Church history, our parish history is full of such stories of life changing Epiphanies. Many of you, no, have been led on journeys, which started in doubt and sin, but ended in faith? Thanks be to God.

Each year, I have the honor of working with such journeying souls in our RCIA program. And they often enter RCIA because they have heard Christ or glimpsed Christ in our Catholic worship, or witnessing Catholics putting their faith into action in works of charity, witnessing Catholics standing up for the truth in this morally ambiguous culture, or they have received a book or had a conversation with a Catholic that challenged them to question their opposition to Catholicism. Catholics doing what Catholics are supposed to be doing has led to countless epiphanies for those seeking Christ.

But epiphanies are not just for the uninitiated.  God wants to continue to reveal Himself to each of us—to help us deepen our faith, hope, and love for Christ. And that happens, how? It happens through prayer, daily prayer. Daily we must pray, kneeling at the crib of Bethlehem, kneeling at cross, kneeling and the throne of our King. Faith, hope, and love are deepened by picking-up the scriptures like St. Augustine, and meditating on those timeless words, considering what it means for us to "put on christ" and to "make no provision for the flesh". Faith, hope, and love are deepened through selfless works, and pilgrimages, and holy conversations with strangers, and acts of kindness. 

Seek an Epiphany every time you come to Mass. Seek an Epiphany every day. Seek to be renewed in that holy desire to fall down before the Lord in worship and adoration, and to be changed by him for His purposes, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Epiphany 2022 - "We saw his star at its rising"

 In keeping with the ancient practice, following the proclamation of the Epiphany Gospel, I just chanted the announcement of Easter and the Moveable Feasts for this liturgical year.  

Before the age of mass produced calendars and smart phones, the chanting of the feasts was a practical necessity; now, we do it as a way of remaining rooted in our Catholic tradition, and still to help us plan our year around Christ.

God Himself planned creation around Christ. He planned our salvation around Christ. From the Big Bang nearly fourteen billion years ago, God planned the saving birth of Christ at Christmas. “In the fullness of time” writes St. paul to the Galatians, “God sent forth his Son born of a woman.” And this plan of God included the confluence of a multitude of historical events—the census of Caesar, the plotting of King Herod, the appearance of angels to the shepherds, the inquisitiveness of the wise men from the east, the stable, the gifts, the poverty of the Holy family, the Christmas star. 

A few years ago, Frederick Larson, an American university professor set out to investigate the Christmas star using modern scientific methods. And he discovered some very interesting things. 

First, he looked into the bible’s claim of the wise men from the east. There are many references in ancient literature to the Magi who were basically the “scientists” of the ancient world. They didn't have the benefit of modern scientific, experimental methods, but they did make a rational, logical study of philosophy, medicine, and the natural world - including the stars.

One group of these scholars revered throughout the ancient world were the Chaldean Magi, based in the city of Babylon, just south of Bagdad, in modern Iraq. The scholars of Babylon were already well-established 600 years before the birth of Jesus. The prophet Daniel encountered them during the Babylonian exile. In fact, it’s likely thanks to Daniel and the exiles, that the Magi even heard the biblical prophecies of the Messiah and the star marking his birth. 

After verifying the biblical claim of these wise men from Babylon, Professor Larson put modern astronomy to work. He programmed computer software to show what the stars would have looked like in Babylon around the year 3 BC. Larson deduced that the star of Bethlehem wouldn’t have been a shooting star, or a super nova, or even a comet. Those things would have been obvious to everyone, and yet, King Herod and his advisers were astonished by the Magi's news of this strange astronomical event. Instead, this event would have been detectable only by the wise, those who were looking for it. And there was a remarkable astronomical event at that time. 

That September, the Planet Jupiter, the brightest planet in the night sky, known as the King Planet, began to converge upon a star known at that time as Regulus, regulus whose name also means King. The convergence of the King Planet and the King star was an interesting coincidence, but that’s not all. 

The convergence of Jupiter and Regulus occurred within the constellation known as Leo, the Lion. The Magi would certainly have recognized the Lion as the Biblical image for the tribe of Judah, from which the Messiah would be born. 

Thirdly, the constellation Virgo, the Virgin, began to arise in the east, and right at the feet of the constellation of the Virgin, sat the new crescent moon, the "birthing" moon. The birthing virgin—that’s an interesting idea. Where have we heard that?

Together, these astronomical coincidences pointed to Jewish King coming forth from the line of Judah being born to a virgin. But that’s not all…Nine months later, things got even more interesting astronomically.

In June of the year 2 BC, the Planet Jupiter, the King Planet, was no longer in conjunction with the King Star, Regulus. Instead, on the horizon of the western sky, Jupiter was having an even more spectacular rendezvous. Jupiter came so close to the Planet Venus that their light merged, becoming the brightest light in the night sky - the brightest the Magi would have ever seen. The Magi, along with the rest of the pagan world, knew the planet Venus as the Mother Planet - the icing on the cake. 

If at that point the Magi had begun their journey, by the time they reached Jerusalem the orientation of the Jupiter-Venus conjunction would have changed. Looking up from Jerusalem, the Magi would have seen the stars pointing south - the exact direction of Bethlehem. And so, leaving Herod’s company, as we heard in the gospel today, they simply followed this convergence of planets and stars, that God had set into motion billions of years ago.

This scientific research gives credence to the biblical claim and our Catholic faith that God had planned the saving birth of Jesus Christ from the beginning—our salvation is God’s highest priority. His love for us, is truly beyond all telling.

And like the wise men, we are to use our intellectual gifts and talents to seek him out, to understand him, to bow down and worship him. The God who guides the entire universe, who guided the Magi to Bethlehem, wants also to guide our lives because he loves us and desires our salvations.

But we must do our part, we must seek him out. “Seek and ye shall find” the Lord says in the Gospel. Why do so many not believe, even though Christ, Savior, King, and Lion of Judah has been born of the virgin and  has been revealed to the nations? They do not really want to find him. Their egos, like Herod’s eclipse the truth, that Jesus is Christ and Lord, and to him every knee should bend.

Because upon finding him, you have a choice: will your life revolve around him or not? Will you allow him to be the center of the universe or not? Many do not seek him out because, like Herod, they are threatened by Him, by the babe of Bethlehem. They will not allow the universe to spin around anyone but themselves. And their earthly lives are sorrier for it, and their eternity is in danger. 

The feast of the Epiphany reminds us that the wise seek him out, and fall down in worship before him, and by doing so, point others to do the same, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Epiphany 2021 - What child is this?

 In keeping with the ancient practice, following the proclamation of the Epiphany Gospel, I just chanted the announcement of Easter and the Moveable Feasts for this liturgical year.  

Before the age of mass produced calendars and smart phones, the chanting of the feasts was a practical necessity; now, we do it as a way of remaining rooted in our Catholic tradition; the light of faith, the light of our Catholic Tradition is something that we’ve inherited from ages past, and it’s up to us to keep the light of faith burning in this darkened age.

Light. The Feast of the Epiphany sheds light upon the identity of the child born in Bethlehem, a light which the Catholic Church is called to manifest throughout the world.

“What child is this?” asks that beautiful Christmas carol. To an ordinary onlooker, he is just another child born into poverty—this one so unfortunate that he is born in a stable, amidst the filth of beasts of burden. There is no crib, so he is laid in the feeding trough. But then something interesting happens. As if choreographed by heaven, the christmas star, a spotlight from heaven shines upon the stable, and three strange figures approach the stable, and the fall prostrate before the child. 

What child is this, that these learned men—these magi—these royal philosopher astrologers from the east—having traveled a thousand miles, from Babylon to Bethlehem, see him, and fall flat on their faces?

What child is this that after doing him homage, they offer him gold, frankincense, and myrrh? Who did they think this child was to offer him these strange gifts?

Well, they had studied and pondered the ancient jewish prophecies, and they believed this child to be a king, the king of king and lord of lords, and so they brought him gold. The first gift: gold fit for a king. By the gift of gold they acknowledged the child to be the long-awaited heir to the Davidic Kingdom. A king who would gather all the scattered peoples of the earth into a single kingdom. A king who would rule over the whole earth—over a kingdom that would last forever. An eternal and universal kingdom, a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace. And a king who would make his dwelling place among his people.

The prophet Zechariah says that this king “shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne.” He would not only be a king, but a priest. And hence the second gift—the gift of frankincense. In the book of Exodus, Aaron and his sons were consecrated to God as priests with frankincense.

Just like the smoke of the sweet smelling incense rises up to God, the priest’s job is to offer sacrifice to God on behalf of the people--to offer sacrifice for peace and blessing and healing and favor and the forgiveness of sins. And so the gift of frankincense acknowledges the identity of the child as priest—the high priest of the One True God—the fulfillment of the priesthood.

And then the final gift, the bitter gift, the gift of Myrrh. Myrrh was used throughout the scriptures in many different ways: for purification, for anointing, as a medicine and a painkiller, as a sort of perfume for the wedding bed, and also for the anointing dead bodies at the time of burial.

Myrrh, like frankincense is a sort of resin cultivated from trees. Myrrh is extracted by piercing the tree’s heartwood and allowing the resin to trickle out into bitter red droplets called tears. Even the process of cultivating myrrh makes us think of the sort of death the Lord would endure—pierced on the cross for our sins and laid in the tomb, so that we may be healed, and cleansed, so and presented to God as a pure and spotless bride.

What child is this? Through the gift of Myrrh, the Magi showed that this child through his suffering and death would bring about our healing and purification and union with God.

Throughout the centuries there have been attempts to reduce Jesus to a moral teacher—simply a good role model of the morals we should adopt. In the early 1800s for example, Thomas Jefferson composed a sort of alternative bible, in which he attempted to extract all of the moral principles of Jesus’ teaching from the new testament, while leaving behind anything that hinted at the Lord’s divine mission and establishing the Church. Jefferson’s Bible contains a bit of the Christmas story, how the child Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. But it omits any reference to today’s Gospel of the Magi and the gifts they brought. For the gifts of the Magi show that the child is much more than a moral teacher, guru or life coach. He is king, priest, and savior. 

Jefferson, a wonderful statesman, but a lousy theologian, and so many of our contemporaries, deny that Jesus is anything more than a moral teacher. They believe that human flourishing and blessedness can be reached simply by human efforts. But God directs us to a higher good than human frailty can attain on its own. Jesus is not simply a frail human teacher with some good ideas about living an upstanding life. He is more than that. He is king, priest, and savior, and so we owe him more than an interested ear. We, like the wise men, owe him our complete homage. We journey to him and fall prostrate before him. We like the magi bring him the gold, frankincense, and myrrh of our lives—the honor, obedience, and worship we owe to God.  

And by allowing the fullness of his light to shine in our lives, in the words of our collect today, we are able to pass through the shadows of this world and reach the brightness of our eternal home. Picking which moral teachings we wish to follow is not enough in order to obtain heaven.

“What child is this?” How we answer that question, how we allow that question to shape our earthly life will determine our eternity. Will we go a search diligently for him, and fall down in worship before him, or will we, like Herod, sit in our palaces lazily, and leave the work of worship and service to others—the spreading of the light of His Gospel.

May this new year be filled with gifts, the gifts of homage, prayer, worship, obedience, gratitude, honor and faith, given to Him, every day, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Epiphany 2019 - See, Set Out, Bring Gifts

I’d like to share this evening some thoughts from Our Holy Father Pope Francis. Last year, on the feast of the epiphany, preaching in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Holy Father noted: “Three actions of the Magi guide our journey towards the Lord, who today is revealed as light and salvation for all peoples. The Magi see the star, they set out and they bring gifts.”

These three actions of the Magi contain three wonderful lessons for us. First, they see the star. Not everyone saw the star. St. Matthew tells us that Herod and the people in Jerusalem were troubled at the news of this star. They had missed it. There concern was not for heavenly things, but for earthly things.

“We often make do” the Holy Father notes, “with looking at the ground”…we tell ourselves, “it’s enough to have our health, a little money and a bit of entertainment.” Many of our contemporaries have settled for the earthly while ignoring the heavenly, and their lives are sadder for it. Francis asks, “ I wonder if we still know how to look up at the sky. Do we know how to dream, to long for God, to expect the newness he brings, or do we let ourselves be swept along by life, like dry branches before the wind? The Magi were not content with just getting by, with keeping afloat. They understood that to truly live, we need a lofty goal and we need to keep looking up.”

That’s our first invitation for this new year: to have our eyes raised to heaven, to look for signs that God is working in our lives. To look for God in the Sacraments, to look for God in the Scriptures, in our private prayer, to look for Him in the opportunities he gives us to serve.

The second thing the Magi do, once they see the star, St. matthew tells us they “set out.” Regardless of how difficult the journey may be, they set out to find Jesus. The Holy Father notes, “His star demands a decision to take up the journey and to advance tirelessly on our way. It demands that we free ourselves from useless burdens and unnecessary extras that only prove a hindrance, and accept unforeseen obstacles along the map of life. Jesus allows himself to be found by those who seek him, but to find him we need to get up and go, not sit around but take risks, not stand still, but set out.”

“Jesus makes demands: he tells those who seek him to leave behind the armchair of worldly comforts and the reassuring warmth of hearth and home. Following Jesus is not a polite etiquette to be observed, but a journey to be undertaken.” Here the Holy Father is talking about Christian discipleship. Being a disciple is not just about observing, as he says, “polite etiquette”. It’s about setting out on a risky journey. Finding Jesus involves taking risks: the risk of going out of the comfort zone to allow yourself to be changed by Christ.

Not everyone did set out to meet him, as we heard in Matthew’s story. Herod stayed at home. He stayed in the comfort of his palace, and sent other people to do the hard work of setting out and searching for Jesus. The people of Jerusalem too, were afraid, that God could be doing something new in their lives. They wanted everything to remain just as it was, but that is rarely the way things are with God.

So there is our second invitation for this new year: not to be afraid to set out on a new adventure, to engage in acts of charity you may never have engaged in before, to reflect on Christian truths you may have shied away from, to practice devotions that have been set aside by the worldly minded.
The third thing the Magi do is they bring Gifts, they offer to the Christ Child their costly gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The Holy Father says, “The Gospel becomes real when the journey of life ends in giving. To give freely, for the Lord’s sake, without expecting anything in return: this is the sure sign that we have found Jesus. For he says: “The gift you have received, give freely as a gift” (Mt 10:8). To do good without counting the cost, even when unasked, even when you gain nothing thereby, even if it is unpleasant. That is what God wants.”

Jesus comes to give the greatest gift of life for our salvation, and we are called to give of ourselves freely, which opens us open ever more deeply to receive the gift of His divine life.

So there is our third invitation for this new year, to give with the generosity of Jesus himself. To give of our time, talent, and treasure, as I hear you are used to hearing around these parts. To be attentive to the ways the Holy Spirit is urging us to give of ourselves for the spread of the Gospel, to set our gaze upon the things of God, to set out to obtain them no matter the difficulty, and to give of ourselves generously, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Epiphany 2018 - The Wise still seek Him

On this beautiful Feast of the Epiphany, we reflect on the journey of the wise men—the magi—as they journey to the newborn king in Bethlehem.  The journey of the Magi stands for the journey that all of us must make to come to know Christ. 

But, who were the Magi anyway? To the east of Israel was Persia, Babylon, a periodic oppressor of the Jewish People. In the book of the prophet Daniel, we hear how the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar employed a host of magi as advisers to the throne. The magi engaged in the interpretation of omens and dreams and in astrology—making predictions about the future based on the movement and positions of the moon, stars, and planets.

It’s sort of surprising to even meet these characters in our Sacred Scriptures, as Astrology is expressly forbidden in the Old Testament. Jews and Christians are forbidden from consulting horoscopes, fortune tellers, and palm readers and the like, most of them being charlatans anyway.

It is also extremely strange that these Persian Astrologers had read the Old Testament Prophecies about a star heralding the birth of a Messiah. It must have been the Holy Spirit who inspired the Magi to look outside of their Pagan religion to the Jewish Prophets.

Throughout the Advent season we spoke of the great longing and anticipation of the Jewish people for the coming of the Messiah. But the Magi show us that this longing didn’t simply belong to the Jews. I’d venture to say that this longing for a Savior, for God to reveal himself in a human face is a universal human longing. So the Magi stand for all people of all time longing, searching, gazing upwards, waiting for God.

God built us, designed us, created us to look for Him. So this story of these non-Jewish astrologers from the east, teach us that God is working in the hearts and minds of the people on the outside: the family members not going to Church this weekend, the young people with their noses glued to the screens of their idevices. all those people who have grown up without religion, without faith, without spirituality, people worldwide who engage in false religions: this story reminds us that deep down they long for Christ. And we have a job of revealing Christ to them through the living of the one true faith, our charity, our conviction for the Gospel.

Many people refuse to believe that Jesus is found in the confines of the Catholic Church, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t looking. Most of them are looking for him in all the wrong places, but there is something inside of them, urging them to seek out and truth and goodness and beauty which is found most fully in Jesus Christ. That very same impulse found in the hearts of the magi, can be found in your next door neighbors.

What made the Magi of the Gospel wiser than most, is that realized the importance of this quest. They left their homes, they left their comfort, they left homeland to go searching.

One definition of wisdom I like very much is that wisdom is the ability to put your priorities in order. The wise man values what is truly valuable and eschews what is foolish. The Magi of the Gospel can rightly be called wise, in that they realize that the quest for finding Jesus Christ is the most important thing ever. Political gain, academic status, earthly wealth, fleshly pleasure, economic stability, all these desirable things are nothing if you do not find Jesus Christ and kneel down to adore Him.

Another lesson I’d like to focus upon today from the Magi was the opposition they faced in their journey. Following the Christmas star they make their way to Jerusalem and encounter King Herod. Likely, here too, the Holy Spirit assisted the Magi to detect Herod’s murderous intentions when he asked the Magi to tell him the location of the Christ Child.

The lesson here is that in the spiritual journey, in the spiritual life, we do well to expect opposition. Finding Jesus isn’t always easy, practicing Christianity isn’t always easy. Finding God’s presence in the midst of grief, in the midst of suffering, and in the midst of temptation isn’t always easy. But the Holy Spirit comes to our aid in the midst of difficulty.

A bacon double cheeseburger always sounds best on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. There’s always going to be a family member or neighbor who is going to test your patience. Persevering in a particular spiritual practice like daily meditation is going to be hard sometimes. Practicing chastity and purity and limitless forgiveness and boundless mercy is going to be difficult. But resistance isn’t proof that it isn’t the right path; in fact, quite the opposite: it’s often the path of least resistance that leads to damnation. “Broad is the way and wide is the gate that leadeth to perdition.”

Now, Herod’s opposition was subtle, and so we should expect that too. Sometimes temptation and evil even sound like good ideas. So we have to be wise, clever, knowledgeable of our faith, aware of the ruses and tricks of the enemy, to ensure our faithfulness.

The next lesson from the Magi is that upon leaving King Herod’s palace, the Magi follow the star, they come to Bethlehem, they see Mary and the King, what do they do?  They prostrate themselves, and then they bring him gifts—gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Gold for the king, frankincense because he is God, and Myrrh because he will die for our sins.  They bring the finest things they can find, gifts worthy of a king. 

And here’s the next spiritual lesson.  When you’ve discerned the presence and the will of God, you’ve overcome hardship and resistance and now you’ve come to Christ, what should you do?  You give him your best.  The great danger in the spiritual life is to just give God the leftovers. We do well to begin the day on our knees, to begin every undertaking with the intention of glorifying God, and giving Him our best.

Finally, having come to Christ, giving him their gifts, they return to their home country, by a different route, having been warned to avoid Herod’s treachery. 

Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “of course they go back a different route, you never come to Christ and go back the same way you came.”  The encounter with Christ changes you…if weren’t changed you didn’t truly encounter him.

Coming to Mass, offering God the best we have in worship, encountering him and receiving him in Holy Communion, should change us.  We are to go from this mass differently from when we came in.  I hope everyone here comes to Mass wanting, hoping, and expecting to be changed, to be sanctified, to see another dimension of Christ’s beautiful face.

Help us Lord to seek you, to find you, to give you our best, and to be changed by you, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Epiphany 2017 - The Light of Christ

In keeping with the ancient practice, following the proclamation of the Epiphany Gospel, I just chanted the announcement of Easter and the Moveable Feasts for this liturgical year. 

Before the age of mass produced calendars and smart phones, the chanting of the feasts was a practical necessity; now, we do it as a way of remaining rooted in our Catholic tradition; the light of faith, the light of our Catholic Tradition is something that we’ve inherited from ages past, and it’s up to us to keep the light of faith burning in this darkened age.

The light of reason, the light of faith, these are lights that do night shine automatically. It takes real effort: real prayer, real commitment to the truth of our faith, real faith formation and acts of charity and self-sacrifice that the light of Christ shines in our dark world. For, in many parts of the world, in Europe and here in the United States, places where the light of faith once burned quite brightly, that light is quickly darkening.

Pope Benedict, a few years into his papacy spoke of an eclipsing of light. “An eclipse of reason has taken place.  That man no longer uses his intellect in search of God, but is driven by his passions and desire for self-gratification…the sun is setting over an entire world.”

Addiction, pornography, Racial violence, greed, permissiveness of immorality, decadence: these evils darken our civilization as faith is abandoned, parents failing to pass on the light of faith to their children.

This darkening makes today’s feast so important. For the Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the manifestation of the light of God in the world, the light which began to shine first in the history of Israel, which was finally fully manifest at the birth of Jesus Christ, a light which the Catholic Church is called to manifest throughout the world.

In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah acknowledged that though darkness covered the earth, light shined upon Israel. While all the world worshipped pagan gods and walked in pagan ways, Israel was chosen to be enlightened by God. They were given knowledge of the one true God, his ways and commandments.

Filled with this light, Israel was meant to be a beacon to the rest of the world: “a light to the Gentiles”, that all nations, all people would come to know the one true God. As we sang in our Psalm: “Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.”

The light given to Israel was not meant for Israel alone, but was given for the good of the whole world. And so, we then heard in our Gospel, how the prophecy of universal adoration of God began to be fulfilled as magi from the east came to adore the newborn Christ child.

And St. Paul taught in the second reading how Christians are inheritors of that revelation, and as “stewards of God’s grace” Christians are called to make known that revelation to every generation to every corner of the earth.

If God’s light has been revealed…why is there so much darkness in the world? Why is there so much unbelief and faithlessness and division? With so much darkness in the world, many people do conclude that God doesn’t exist, that the Christian faith ought to be relegated to the past. Many in the younger generation believe that Christianity has nothing to say to them.

This feast certainly contains several challenging questions to us: do we allow his light to illuminate our whole life? Do I share his light as I should? Do I walk in his light as I should? Am I the bright, constant witness to Christ? Am I a clear and gentle witness to what is most important in life?

I am becoming more and more convinced that in order to share the light of Christ, we must turn ever more to the light of truth contained in the Holy Scriptures.

When we read the scriptures, God illuminates the dark corners of our life: he satisfies our doubts, he comforts us in our afflictions, he helps us to understand ourselves, and see ourselves as he sees us.  As Pope Benedict said, “In the light of the revelation made by God’s Word, the enigma of the human condition is definitively clarified.”

When we read the scriptures, the darkness of sadness and strife is pushed back, and we come to recognize that Christ s the one our hearts long for, he is the one whose beauty we long to see, he is the one whose truth we are meant to walk by, and whose goodness we are meant to share.

No matter what dark temptation or dark affliction we are experiencing, when we seek out God’s light in the scriptures, we will be illuminated. As Vatican II said, the Scriptures enlightens the mind, strengthens the will and fires the hearts of men and women with the love of God” (Dei Verbum).

A wonderful New Year’s resolution would be to spend time daily with God’s word, to familiarize yourself with the Bible, and to learn how to pray with the Scriptures.

Also, blessed chalk is be available at the church exits as well as the short ritual for blessing your homes for the new year.  By this act, we ask Christ’s blessing upon the home and those who live there and those who will visit.  By visibly marking our homes, we identify them as places where the light of Christ shines.

In a sense our homes are meant to be like the Christmas star, as the wise men followed the star to find Christ, those seeking Christ should be able to find Him in our homes. There are people out there who do not know Christ or do not know him as they should, who are meant to discover Christ in your homes.  The home is also meant to be like the stable of Bethlehem isn’t it? A place where Christ is honored and adored constantly. 

God’s love is the light, and in the end, the only light which can always illuminate a world grown dim. So let the light of Christ shine in your homes and in your hearts for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Homily: Epiphany 2013 - Servants of the grace that invites all people to Christ

Happy Epiphany. Today is really the last of the great Christmas Celebrations, when we celebrate the three wise men from the east following the start of Bethlehem and adoring the newborn savior of the world presenting him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Epiphany comes from the Greek word which means “Revelation”.  At Christmas, Jesus was proclaimed as the long-awaited Messiah of the beloved people of Israel.  Today is the day when we celebrate the Epiphany, the Revelation that Jesus is the Savior of the entire world.  We recall those three wise men from the east, who tradition names Melchior, Balthezar, and Caspar: how the Christ Child was revealed to them as Savior of all people, all lands, all times, all places. Jesus is the universal savior.

In many parts of the world, the feast of the epiphany is celebrated with as much solemnity as Christmas.  For, today, in many countries, is the day gifts are exchanged, recalling the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh brought in honor of the new born King.

Having followed the star from the east, to Jerusalem, they met with Herod, whose evil intentions towards the Christ Child were veiled, but evident.  The wise men then continued to Bethlehem where they found the newborn Savior, they worshipped him and adored him.  Then in a dream an angel told them that Herod had terribly vicious designs to kill the Messiah, to kill baby Jesus.  So as we just heard, they departed for their country by another way, the went home another route.

A deep spiritual meaning is contained in that line: “they went home another route”. They searched for the savior, they found him, and upon finding him, were changed forever.  There is the important spiritual truth: Once you meet Jesus Christ, once you adore Him, once his identity is revealed to you, once you have the epiphany, once you place your faith in Him, your life is changed forever. Once you meet Him, you go through life a different route.

(There is a fresco by Giovanni da Modena of the magi returning home, not on camels, but in a large ship, perhaps a prefigurement of the Church founded by Christ.)

Throughout the centuries of the Church we have stories of people from all over the world who begin life one way, and upon encounter Christ their lives are changed forever.

Think of those first called by Christ, Peter, Paul, Andrew, and James.  They began life as fishermen, but meeting Christ, encountering him, their lives were changed forever.  They went from local ordinary fishermen, to miracle working world missionaries and martyrs!

I think too about Saint Paul.  While a very stringent adherent of the Jewish law, he was putting Christians to death.  But upon the road to Damascas, and he encountered the Risen Christ, his life was changed forever.  Saint Paul definitely went home a different route.

I came across a book a few years ago, entitled “Saints Behaving Badly: The Cutthroats, Crooks, Trollops, Con Men, and Devil-Worshippers Who Became Saints.”  Men and women who begin life one way, encounter the Revelation, the Epiphany that Jesus Christ is Lord and calls them to newness of life, and follow Him, and depart from that encounter changed forever.

Men like Saint Ignatius of Loyola, who begins life, arrogant, full of himself, seeking fame through war, full of ambition, vain about his appearance, addicted to gambling and dissolute in his dealings with women.  He went everywhere armed, looking for a fight, obsessed with proving himself in battle. But an epiphany occurred in his life, which changed him forever.

After rushing into battle, his legs were shattered and wounded by a cannonball.  And as he lay convalescing in bed, his sister-in-law gave him two books, a life of Christ and a collection of the lives of the Saints.  There in his solace, shattered, broken, he met Christ.  He repented of letting his vanity, and his pride, and lust, and violence rule his life.  He began to pray, and dedicated himself to Christ.  He founded the Jesuit Order and became a soldier in quite a different sense, soldiers in spreading the Gospel throughout the world—to the darkest jungles and most foreign lands.

We think of the Great Saint Augustine, who rebelled as a teenager from the faith of his mother, monica.  While in college he flirted with the popular heretical faiths of his day, and embarked on a life of promiscuity, he even fell into thievery.  Yet, through his studies he continued to search for the Truth.  And he met him one day, through the preaching of the Archbishop of Milan, the great Saint Ambrose.  Inspired by Ambrose to take and read the scriptures, Augustine came upon a powerful line from Saint Paul: “ Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness . . . . But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof."  And Augustine said, that upon coming to the end of that sentence, it was the light of faith flooded into my heart and all the darkness of doubt was dispelled.  That’s a life changing epiphany—an encounter with the Lord Jesus through his Word.  Augustine was baptized, and ordained a priest and was later consecrated a bishop.  Come to find out his mother had been praying many many years for his conversion.

Our Church history, our parish history is full of stories of such men and women, who come to encounter Christ through the prayers and faith of others and whose lives are changed forever.  Our prayers for people’s conversion matter, as do our little acts of kindness.  I think particularly of the men and women in our RCIA who have sought after Christ and found him here in the Catholic Church.  And it is so often because of a book given to them or a conversation they have with a Catholic that God uses to bring them home.

But epiphanies  are not just for the uninitiated.  God wants to continue to reveal himself in epiphany moments in our lives as well.  Our daily prayer, when we kneel, humbly before God with our desires for conversation and for peace and healing—those are meant to be epiphany moments.

Vatican II called Sunday Mass the source and summit of the Christian life: like the wise men who encountered the Christ child, we too who encounter Christ in word and sacrament and should return home a different route.  Do you come to Mass desiring that, hoping for that, open to that epiphany moment, where your encounter with the Lord Jesus at Mass changes you, so that you go home a different person than when you came…

Priests and religious pray one of the Psalms every day that goes “if today you hear his voice, hardened not your hearts.”  Because when the Lord does speak to you, in prayer, and in your service, harden not your hearts so you do not miss the opportunity to be changed, to grow in holiness and sanctity.

After encountering the Lord in the Eucharist today, the priest or deacon is going to send you forth into the world from Mass. Do not go home the same route you came, but think of how the Lord is calling you to change, that you can give better witness to the Lord to those you meet this week, to be more responsive to the ways the Lord is calling you to be servants of the grace which invites all peoples to Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.