1st Week of Ordinary Time 2023 - Friday - Strive to enter God's rest

 

The letter to the Hebrews today quotes a very important Psalm—the 95th Psalm.  Psalm 95 is prayed daily at the very beginning of the Liturgy of the Hours in what is called the invitatory prayer. A line from Psalm 95 is written above the sanctuary in the old lower church here at St. Ignatius: come let us adore and worship. 

Consider, the Church begins every day contemplating this Psalm. And what a Psalm it is, for it contains so many themes and lessons vital to the spiritual life: the importance of coming before God to worship, of singing God praises and giving thanks for the beauty of creation and God’s governance over it. It contains a warning of not hardening our hearts against God’s commandments, so that, as we heard quoted today, we may finally, at the end of our long journey, come to enter into God’s rest.

Remember, the original audience of the letter to the Hebrews were to those early Jewish converts to Christianity who were experiencing persecution, enduring hardship for the Gospel. And so the sacred author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95 to them, and to the Church of all ages, to encourage us to not to grow weary in our witness to Jesus, to not harden our hearts to the Gospel when things get difficult. Rather, we are to strive, to work hard, be zealous, be eager, to be diligent, to enter into God’s rest.

The attainment of our eternal destination is to be our highest priority. “Seek first the kingdom of God,” says the Lord. And this means overcoming the opposition we face to that goal: resisting temptations, turning to the Lord to carry us through times of trepidation and human weakness, learning to detach ourselves from earthly distractions, prioritizing the spiritual over the physical—zealously, eagerly, with haste, striving for the kingdom with assurance of the rest and the reward which awaits those who persevere.

In the Gospel, we have the powerful example of the group of four men striving to bring their friend near to Jesus to be healed. They go above and beyond what many would consider normal conventions to bring their friend to Jesus—they climb a roof, and lower their friend through the ceiling, to get him to Jesus. Striving to bring souls close to Jesus is part of our mission, and that not only requires zeal, eagerness, diligence and effort, it often requires us to work together, as members of the Church, to bring lost souls, sick souls, paralyzed souls, deluded souls to Jesus. 

May the Holy Spirit enliven us and give us strength and enthusiasm for our mission, in striving to enter into God’s rest through a life well-lived in diligent and zealous service of the Gospel, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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To God the Father Almighty we direct the prayers of our heart for the needs and salvation of humanity and the good of His faithful ones.

For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.

For the peoples of the world, that the Lord may graciously preserve harmony among them.

For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief.

For ourselves and our own community, that the Lord may graciously receive us as a sacrifice acceptable to himself.

For our beloved dead, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Mass is offered.

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

1st Week of Ordinary Time 2023 - Wednesday - To destroy the works of the Devil

At Christmas we celebrate Christ born to save us from our sins, he was born in order to save. And yet, today’s readings reveal that he came, not just to save, but to destroy. 

Hebrews tells us what exactly Christ was born to destroy. In the incarnation, Jesus took on human flesh, human mortality, “that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the Devil”

The first letter of John says it clearly: “"The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil."

In Mark God’s too, too we find him silencing demons, exorcising demons, putting an end to the stronghold the devil has upon human souls.

But the Lord did not defeat the devil with a physical sword, like a valiant knight in armor slaying a dragon in a fantasy story. Christ destroyed the death dealing Devil by his own death on the cross—his embrace of suffering and death on the cross out of love for you and me. 

The devil’s claim on us is broken, but sadly, that doesn’t stop most of us from inviting him back in, allowing him to take up shop, so to speak, in our lives. But to invite the devil back into one’s life through sin and immorality and error contrary to the Gospel is to lock the shackles back around our hands and feet and necks. 

This is why Hebrews says Jesus came to “free those who had been subject to slavery all their life.” His saving death broke the bonds, the shackles, the chains of slavery. But when we chose to sin, it’s like returning to the former state. 

Ordinary Time reminds us that an ordinary dimension of the Christian life is to root out sin, to cooperate with the grace of God, so that we can be free from those shackles—the sin that dehumanizes us, causes us to tarnish our Christian dignity, causes us to love less than we should, work less than we should, pray less than we should, give to God less than we should, to allow God to have dominion over our lives less than we should. 

Allow the Holy Spirit to help you identify those areas of your life where the devil still has sway, where he’s tempting you to re-enter into a demonic pact, with his empty promises and glamours and lies. For the devil is prowling like a roaring lion, says the letter of st. peter, looking for souls to devour, so resist him, solid in your faith, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

To God the Father Almighty we direct the prayers of our heart for the needs and salvation of humanity and the good of His faithful ones.

For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.

For the peoples of the world, that the Lord may graciously preserve harmony among them.

For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief.

For ourselves and our own community, that the Lord may graciously receive us as a sacrifice acceptable to himself.

For our beloved dead, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Mass is offered.

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

1st Week of Ordinary Time 2023 - Tuesday - All things are subject to Him

 

Until the beginning of February, the first readings on normal weekdays will be taken from the Letter to the Hebrews.  The Church does not know who wrote the letter to the Hebrews, for many years, a certain verse of chapter 13 seemed to point to Saint Paul, but the jury is still out.

This Letter seems to be addressed to Jewish Christians who were undergoing persecution for their new belief in Christ. The letter itself states how these converts to Christ "endured mockery, scourging, even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, sawed in two, put to death at sword's point".

And so, the sacred author of this letter wrote to encourage them—to persevere in their faith even unto death because Christ is victorious. He is Lord. He is the True High Priest. He is the perfection that was promised, who established a new covenant in his blood. All things are subject to Him.

But today, just in chapter 2 of the letter, read a verse that is brutally honest: “at present we do not see all things subject to him.” Ain’t that the truth! The Church proclaims Christ is victorious. Well, to those who are experiencing persecution, or anyone whose eyes are open, it sure doesn’t look that way, at least not initially.

If all things are subject to Christ, why were the powers of the world still holding such sway. Why were the Romans so bloody efficient at putting Christians to death? Why were there still imposter kings imposing their godless wills. The Messiah was supposed to usher in the eternal kingdom of justice and peace. So where was the justice, where was the peace? Why are the wicked still in control? 

And why should those who are being persecuted, keep the faith, if this promise of peace and justice has not been fulfilled? 

This letter is grappling with some serious questions. It’s the same question that Job grappled with. The problem of evil. If God is omnipotent, why is does evil persist? If the claim is that Christ is victorious, why doesn’t it look that way? 

The answer probably has to do with the cross, doesn’t it? The victory came through the perfect one’s suffering and death. And to share in his victory will also require us to share in his cross. And the evil in the world, the persecution, is in a sense, our cross. “Endure your trials,” Hebrews says.  As you are experiencing them, “they seem a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained” by them.

During this season called Ordinary Time, we are to learn from our Lord, how to endure our trials patiently, with endurance and faith, that they may produce the fruits of righteousness, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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To God the Father Almighty we direct the prayers of our heart for the needs and salvation of humanity and the good of His faithful ones.

For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.

For the peoples of the world, that the Lord may graciously preserve harmony among them.

For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief.

For ourselves and our own community, that the Lord may graciously receive us as a sacrifice acceptable to himself.

For our beloved dead, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Mass is offered.

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

1st Week after Epiphany 2023 (EF) - Monday - Transformed by the renewal of your mind

One of the themes of Epiphanytide is revelation. Christ is revealed as a light to the nations. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh reveal that the one born at Bethlehem is king, priest, and savior. 

Today’s Gospel is another sort of Epiphany, revealing a profound truth about Jesus. He responds to Mary’s questioning, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” The Lord himself reveals—he is the Divine Son of the heavenly Father, confirming the words of the prophet Isaiah, that Mary would give birth to the one called, “Son of the Most High”. 

The twelve-year old Son of the Father has spent three days in the temple, to the astonishment of Mary and Joseph, because his first priority in this life was to do the will of the heavenly Father. He takes on the Messianic mission because he was sent to do so by the Father and was obedient to the Father unto death. The obedient Son came to reverse the disobedience of Adam’s sin. And through the Son’s obedience, we are redeemed and become heirs to the Kingdom of heaven.

And as the Christ, so too the Christian. Obedience to the will of the Father is to mark our lives, even, when it comes at great cost to our egos and social status and so many other dimensions of our lives. 

But we willingly surrender to the will of the Father because the Son reveals that life is found in doing the Father’s will. 

Conform yourselves not to this age, St. Paul says in our epistle—this age whose errors and depravity are so contrary to the truth and goodness of the Father. There is this pull, this pressure, this temptation to disobey like Adam. It is so much easier simply to conform, to go along with the ways of the world, to swallow the errors unquestioningly. But truth is not determined by a majority vote, as the dear departed Pope Benedict was fond of reiterating.  

Rather than conforming to the world, we, like the Son of God, are to conform to the Will of the Father, through the renewal of our minds, as Paul says. In a commentary on this passage from Paul, Pope Benedict writes: “transforming ourselves, letting ourselves be transformed by the Lord into the form of the image of God, transforming ourselves every day anew… this is the true novelty which does not subject us to opinions, to appearances, but to the Grace of God, to his revelation. Let us permit ourselves to be formed, to be molded, so that the image of God really appears in the human being.”

Daily may we seek that renewal of our minds through prayer, study, meditation, contemplation, good works, the restraining of vices and penance for sin, that we may be conformed ever more to the Son, and filled with His life for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 A reading from the epistle of St. Paul to the Romans

Brethren: I urge you therefore, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. For by the grace given to me I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than one ought to think, but to think soberly, each according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned. For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another.

A continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Luke

When Jesus was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple,  sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.

 

Baptism of the Lord 2023 - A share in the divine life

 The Christmas season concludes with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. 

It may seem strange to conclude season of the Lord’s birth with an event taking place 30 years later, but this Feast commemorates a very important truth related to the reason we celebrate Christmas at all.

At Christmas, when Christ was born, we believe that God, who loves us so much, plunged himself into our world; the omnipotent God became one of us, sharing our humanity.  When we are baptized, we are plunged into the life of God; through the waters of baptism we became sharers in his divinity.

So the Lord’s Baptism is an important link in the chain between his saving birth and our new birth in the Sacrament of Baptism.

At the Lord’s Baptism, it was revealed by the voice of the Father speaking from heaven, and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, that Jesus indeed was the incarnate Son of God. And in our baptism, we receive adoption by God as “sons in the son” as St. Paul writes.

Pope Saint Leo the Great, would give special catechism lessons to the newly baptized. In his famous instruction, he said, "Christians, recognize your dignity. And, now that you share in God's own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning. Remember who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Never forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of the Kingdom of God."  

Never forget! Recalling that we are baptized should bring us joy when we are sad, and strength when we are tempted. A powerful way to fight off temptation is to recall our baptism.  To say to ourselves, “wait, I’m a Christian, I’m not supposed to do that; I’m not supposed to talk like that. I’m supposed to act like Christ.”  

For Baptism is more than just a symbolic ceremony where we express our faith; in Baptism, as he does in all the Sacraments, God does something for us that we cannot do ourselves.  He gives us a sharing in his divine life, a share in the power and strength by which Christ overcame sin and death on the cross.

This is the greatest of the Christmas gifts—the gift of salvation—the gift which overcomes the power of darkness and evil and death, the gift of eternal life. 

May the grace of our baptism be renewed and flourish within us, strengthening us in our mission to “go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them all that Christ commands and baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all members of the Church may live out their baptismal call with greater conviction and faithfulness.

For all those to be baptized, especially those preparing for baptism at the Easter Vigil:  that they may be open to the grace of conversion and the joy of the followers of Christ.

For the conversion of all those who dwell in the darkness of sin and ignorance of God and His commandments: that the mercy of Jesus Christ will bring light to their minds and hearts.  

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, immigrants and refugees, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

Feast of the Holy Family (EF) 2023 - BXVI and the School of the House of Nazareth

 

Happy Feast of the Holy Family. "The house of Nazareth", Pope Benedict wrote, "is a school of prayer where one learns to listen, meditate on and penetrate the profound meaning of the manifestation of the Son of God." And so In light of Pope Emeritus Benedict’s recent passing, let us allow the great Pope Benedict to take us to school. 

He writes, at the school of the Holy Family, we learn that we must develop “spiritual discipline if we wish to follow the teaching of the Gospel and become disciples of Christ”.  Notice, how the holy father connects discipline and discipleship. We cannot have discipleship without discipline. In our prayer lives, that means developing and sticking to a routine, a habit of prayer, no matter how we feel, marking the hours of the day, the household duties, the meals, rising and waking, with prayer, praying perhaps before speaking when a conflict arises, praying in times of great joy—turning as a family, to the holy family for blessings and graces and guidance.

Pope Benedict writes, that we must learn also from the Holy Family’s practice of silence. “Silence”, he says, “is the wonderful and indispensable spiritual atmosphere, in which the Word can be reborn within us! Whereas we are deafened by the noise and discordant voices in the frenetic, turbulent life of our time. O silence of Nazareth! He prays, teach us to be steadfast in good thoughts, attentive to our inner life, ready to hear God’s hidden inspiration clearly and the exhortations of true teachers” 

Our day, like the day of the holy family, should be infused with silence.

It’s in silence, that we like Our Lady are able to cherish and ponder Christ. He writes, “Mary was a peerless model of the contemplation of Christ. The face of the Son belonged to her in a special way because he had been knit together in her womb and had taken a human likeness from her. No one has contemplated Jesus as diligently as Mary. The gaze of her heart was already focused on him at the moment of the Annunciation, when she conceived him through the action of the Holy Spirit; in the following months she gradually became [more deeply] aware of his presence, until, on the day of his birth, her eyes could look with motherly tenderness upon the face of her son as she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger.

Memories of Jesus, imprinted on her mind and on her heart, marked every instant of Mary’s existence. She lived with her eyes fixed on Christ and cherished his every word. St Luke says: “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (as we heard in the Gospel today) and thus describes Mary’s approach to the Mystery of the Incarnation which was to extend throughout her life: keeping these things, pondering on them in her heart. 

St. Joseph too, teaches us. Pope Benedict wrote: Joseph fulfilled every aspect of his paternal role. He must certainly have taught Jesus to pray, together with Mary. In particular Joseph himself must have taken Jesus to the Synagogue for the rites of the Sabbath, as well as to Jerusalem for the great feasts of the people of Israel. Joseph, in accordance with the Jewish tradition, would have led the prayers at home both every day — in the morning, in the evening, at meals — and on the principal religious feasts. In the rhythm of the days he spent at Nazareth, in the simple home and in Joseph’s workshop, Jesus learned to alternate prayer and work, as well as to offer God his labour in earning the bread the family needed.

Pope Benedict draws several lessons in particular from today’s Gospel. He writes, “Jewish families, like Christian families, pray in the intimacy of the home but they also pray together with the community, recognizing that they belong to the People of God, journeying on; and the pilgrimage expresses exactly this state of the People of God on the move (journeying to God together).” So vibrant personal prayer lives, contemplating the face of Christ, cherishing christ in our hearts like our Lady, is important. Ordering our family life, our professional life in a godly way, and infusing them with prayer, like St. Joseph is indispensable. But also the Holy Family models communal prayer. Our corporate worship together as the family of God, the Church, is so powerful and essential to who we are. We join together in prayer at holy Mass, a foretaste of the saint’s communal worship of God in heaven. 

But then, the Holy Father draws our attention to the words of Jesus in the Gospel. They are first words of Our Lord recorded in the Gospels, and Benedict writes, After three days spent looking for him his parents found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions (cf. 2:46). His answer to the question of why he had done this to mary and joseph was that he had only done what the Son should do, that is, to be with his Father. “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

Benedict says, “note the resonance that hearing this word “Father” on Jesus’ lips must have had in the hearts of Mary and Joseph…We may imagine that from this time the life of the Holy Family must have been even fuller of prayer since from the heart of Jesus the boy — then an adolescent and a young man — this deep meaning of the relationship with God the Father would not cease to spread and to be echoed in the hearts of Mary and Joseph…The Family of Nazareth became the first model of the Church in which, around the presence of Jesus and through his mediation, everyone experiences the filial relationship with God the Father which also transforms interpersonal, human relationships.”

The dear departed Pope Benedict knew the important of Christians families looking to and modeling their family life after the Holy Family. He wrote, “the Holy Family is the icon of the domestic Church, called to pray together. The family is the domestic Church and must be the first school of prayer. It is in the family that children, from the tenderest age, can learn to perceive the meaning of God, also thanks to the teaching and example of their parents: to live in an atmosphere marked by God’s presence.”

May the Holy Family guide and protect us always, and may the soul of God’s servant, Pope Benedict XVI, through the mercy of God rest in peace, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

A reading from the epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians

Brethren: Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another,  if one has a grievance against another;  as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

A continuation of the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke

Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple,  sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.

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.