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Reflections
for Sunday, January 4, 2015
We, the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in
the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Probably most of us pay
little attention to this statement of Saint Paul in the second reading
today. It is from the Letter to the Ephesians. For the early Church, it
was an enormous change for new Gentile Christians to feel incorporated into
the Chosen People. The Chosen People were Jewish People, not Gentiles.
As part of our spiritual growth, we need to be reminded at times that
spiritually, we are Jewish. In order to understand our Christian faith, we
must also have some understanding of the Jewish faith. Epiphany is a
wonderful time to renew a bit of this connection. Epiphany means simply
that God is made manifest, God appears, God is revealed. Actually at the
mundane level, an epiphany can be anything that is made manifest, that
appears or that is revealed.
For us who follow the Lord Jesus, Epiphany is when the divinity of Jesus is
made manifest, when that divinity appears or when it is revealed. We often
this of this Epiphany celebration in relationship to the Three Kings:
Jesus being made manifest as God to kings or wise men who have come from
far distant lands.
For us there is still the spiritual challenge: can we recognize this
Savior of the Jewish people as our personal Savior and the Savior of all?
When we do recognize Jesus as our Savior, when we have that Epiphany in a
personal way, we begin to rejoice because the Lord has come to us and we
have recognized Him. Our lives begin to be transformed as we seek to live
in relationship to the Lord that we now recognize as our Savior and the
Savior of all.
Thus as we celebrate this great Solemnity of the Epiphany, we rejoice that
God became man and lived among us. We rejoice because faith has allowed us
to see the face of God. We rejoice because we are called to adore Him and
be transformed by Him. Alleluia. Your light has come, the glory of the
Lord shines upon you.
Readings of the day:
First Reading: Isaiah 60.1-6
Second Reading: Ephesians 3.2-3a, 5-6
Gospel: Matthew 2.1-12
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