Fr. Roger J. Landry
\nSt. Anthony of Padua Parish, New Bedford, MA
\nEpiphany, Year C
\nJanuary 7, 2007
\nIs 60:1-6; Eph 3:2-3,5-6; Mt 2:1-12<\/p>\n
1) Today we celebrate the Lord\u2019s Epiphany, the \u201cmanifestation\u201d of his light, glory and presence to all the nations, represented by the wise men coming from afar. It is first and foremost a feast about God\u2019s actions: God wanted to reveal himself and the mystery of his love to us; he came into our world, he became one of us, to reveal to us who we are in his eyes and invite us to follow him on the path of love all the way home. But today is also a feast of the human response to God\u2019s action. In the wise men, we see before us the paradigm of the search for God, the finding of God, the loving worship of the God found, and the transformation that occurs when one truly embraces the Lord. Today I would like to focus on the \u201chuman side\u201d of this feast and what it means for each of us. <\/p>\n
2) How can any of us not be filled with wonder about the wise men? They were wise not just because they were their age\u2019s astronomical equivalents of Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler; they were wise because they were searching for God. Their hunger for him meant was so strong they could detect his coming presence in the appearance of a bright star. This should not strike us as so bizarre. The ancients knew that God had created the heavens and \u2014 well before the invention of compasses and GPS systems \u2014 filled it with stars to give us direction. Whenever anything new happened in the sky, like the appearance of a comet or a meteor shower or a new or brightly burning star, they thought that it contained a message from their Creator. They were also likely influenced by the prophecies of the Sybils, ancient near-eastern prophetesses, who foretold that one day there would be a universal king whose birth would be announced by a sign in the heavens. When they saw the star, they viewed it as a fulfillment of these prophecies. <\/p>\n
3) But it wasn\u2019t enough for them merely to know that a universal king was being born. They wanted to be with him. They wanted to worship him. And they were willing to go through enormous sacrifices to do so. So they began the preparation for a journey to search for him. St. Matthew\u2019s Gospel does not tell us precisely where they came from or how long their journey took. All we know is that they came from the East, which meant that they came from or through the desert. Theirs was by no means an easy journey or a short one. Based on Herod\u2019s killing all children under two when they failed to return to him, it\u2019s likely that their journey took about 18 months. They sacrificed their time. They sacrificed much of their fortune, giving up the work they were doing, assuming the costs of the journey, and preparing for the newborn king the best, most lavish gifts they could give. When they finally arrived, they gave him more than gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They gave themselves, falling down before Jesus and giving him homage. And it was worth it! St. Matthew tells us they were \u201coverjoyed.\u201d For them, Christ was the \u201cpearl of great price,\u201d the \u201ctreasure buried in a field\u201d worth selling all they had to obtain (Mt 13:44-46). He made the whole journey, all their sacrifices and all their preparations worth it. When they finally left \u2014 and they were probably in no rush to do so \u2014 they were changed forever. St. Matthew uses the expression, \u201cthey went home by another route,\u201d which the early saints interpreted as leaving different than they had come. They came in search of a king and they found him \u2014 and not just a king, but their Creator, their Lord, their God \u2014 and that changed everything. <\/p>\n
4) On this great day, we not only recall who the wise men were and what they did. We look to them as examples, preserved for us in the Gospels, so that we, in imitating them, might become the wise men and women of our own day. The truth is that a star still burns. It\u2019s the gentle flicker of the tabernacle lamp. It points to the presence of Christ. The same Jesus who was held in Mary\u2019s arms and laid in a manger now becomes present in the priest\u2019s hands and is later placed in the tabernacle. We don\u2019t have to cross deserts on foot or camels to get to him. We don\u2019t have to have to give up years to encounter him. But it is the same Jesus. Today, with the help of the example of the wise men, we need to look to how we prepare for this encounter with the same newborn king. We have to look at our desire and search for him. We need to look at what we give him when we come. We need to look at how we\u2019re changed when we leave. For our encounter with him is even greater than the wise men\u2019s: they encountered him only on the \u201coutside\u201d through their eyes. We encounter him on the inside through Holy Communion. <\/p>\n
5) The U.S. Bishops in November gave all Catholics in the country \u2014 you included! \u2014 a beautiful, practical and clear document to help us to prepare for our encounter with the Lord with the same preparation, homage, and fruitfulness that the wise men did. It is entitled \u201cHappy are Those Who Are Called To His Supper\u201d: On Preparing to Receive the Lord Worthily in Holy Communion. I have included a copy of this six-page document in this weekend\u2019s bulletin and on our parish website. I ask all of you to read it over the course of the next week, as your Epiphany gift to the Lord, knowing that if you give him your time and attention, you will always receive much more in return. If you\u2019re a slow reader, it will take you only about an hour. If you\u2019re a fast reader, I\u2019d encourage you to slow down, so that it can sink from your head to your heart! But I ask you to block out an hour sometime in the next week to take it to your prayer and have it influence the way you prepare to meet Christ in the modern Bethlehem of his Church. This morning I would like briefly to highlight some of what the bishops say and apply it directly to the lessons we\u2019ve learned from the Magi. <\/p>\n
6) The first lesson of our preparation for our meeting Christ is that we have to search and hunger for God. The wise men searched the heavens, ready to leave their old ways behind and travel to another place. Our \u201cremote preparation\u201d for our encounter with Christ, the bishops write, should involve three elements: <\/p>\n
a. To search the Scriptures and pray regularly \u2014 In prayer and in reading the Bible, the bishops say \u201cwe allow the Holy Spirit to work within us and so engender a love for Jesus and a desire to do the will of the Father in our lives.\u201d Prayer and Scripture meditation help us to look for Christ and where to find him. The bishops in particular encourage us to follow the star of the tabernacle lamp and to pray and meditate Blessed Sacrament whenever possible. <\/p>\n
b. To fulfill with faith and love the duties of our state in life \u2014 We are called to seek to Christ in the people we meet every day and to make all the occasions of our life encounters with Christ. While our responsibilities may vary, the bishops say, it is by \u201cfaithfully living out in our daily lives the call of the Gospel to love God and our neighbor \u2014 especially the poor and the vulnerable \u2014 that we grow in charity and so draw closer to Jesus and to one another.\u201d <\/p>\n
c. To repent daily for our sins and regularly receive the Sacrament of Penance \u2014 Like the wise men, we\u2019re called to leave behind whatever keeps us from encountering the Lord, foremost among which is sin. Sin, the bishops tells us, \u201cundermines and weakens our communion not only with the Blessed Trinity but also with one another.\u201d The bishops call us, each night before we go to bed, to make an examination of our conscience and an act of genuine contrition. They encourage us frequently to go to confession, even when we are not conscious of having committed a mortal sin, because, they say, it will increase our hunger for and growth in holiness. Furthermore \u2014 and this is important, because there are many who are confused about this today \u2014 they state, \u201cIf we are conscious of having committed a mortal sin, we are obliged to confess it in the Sacrament of Penance with true sorrow and purpose of amendment before receiving Holy Communion.\u201d If we are aware that we have committed a mortal sin, something that cuts off our communion with Christ, then we first must go to Christ working through the ministry of his priests in the confessional before we come to receive Christ in Holy Communion, working through the ministry of the same priests. For us to receive him who is \u201choly, holy, holy,\u201d we cannot still be attached to serious sins. Out of love, to eliminate any possible confusion, the bishops then give a partial list of mortal sins to which people today are prone and for which they must be forgiven before a person comes for Holy Communion: <\/p>\n
i. \u201cBelieving in or honoring as divine anyone or anything other than the God of the Scriptures\u201d \u2014 Have we made someone or something else first in our lives instead of God? <\/p>\n
ii. \u201cSwearing a false oath while invoking God as a witness\u201d \u2014 This is the worst type of lying, which is lying to God. It\u2019s not uncommon. As I mentioned last week, it\u2019s what many of our state legislators have done with respect to their sworn duty to uphold our Constitution. <\/p>\n
iii. \u201cFailing to worship God by missing Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation without a serious reason, such as sickness or the absence of a priest\u201d \u2014 This is a particularly important one to stress. If we voluntarily miss Mass one Sunday or on a holy day of obligation, the bishops remind us that before we can receive holy communion again, we need to receive his forgiveness, because by our choice, we put something more important than Him on the Lord\u2019s day. To be very concrete, if you voluntarily choose to miss Mass, because you want to sleep late, or because you are at Disney world, or because you want to play sports, then you need to go to confession before you can come to Communion. Sometimes Catholics don\u2019t see missing Mass as a mortal sin. They think that if they come to Mass two to three times a month, they\u2019re in good stead with God. I always ask, \u201cIf you were unfaithful to your husband or to your wife (only) twice a month, would you still be faithful overall or not?\u201d Our love and fidelity to God must be even greater our love and fidelity to our spouse. God\u2019s the one who told us to keep his day holy. He\u2019s the one who told us to do THIS in memory of him. Simply put, except for sickness, the absence of a priest or very dangerous weather, a faithful Catholic must have the intention and try to come to Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation. If we fail, we fail, and we should be humble enough to come to say we\u2019re sorry, confess our sins in the way he established, be forgiven and returned to communion. <\/p>\n
iv. \u201cActing in serious disobedience against proper authority; dishonoring one\u2019s parents by neglecting them in their need and infirmity.\u201d \u2014 This applies to all sons and daughters, no matter how young or old. <\/p>\n
v. \u201cCommitting murder, including abortion and euthanasia; harboring deliberate hatred of others; sexually abusing another; physically or verbally abusing another that causes grave physical or psychological harm\u201d <\/p>\n
vi. \u201cEngaging in sexual activity outside the bonds of a valid sacramental marriage\u201d \u2014 This means sins with those of the opposite sex, same sex or alone. It also refers to \u201csexual activity\u201d that is not really conjugal, meaning unitive and procreative. <\/p>\n
vii. \u201cStealing in a gravely injurious way, such as robbery, burglary, serious fraud and immoral business practices.\u201d <\/p>\n
viii. \u201cSpeaking maliciously or slandering people in a way that seriously undermines their good name.\u201d <\/p>\n
ix. \u201cProducing, marketing or indulging in pornography\u201d \u2014 With the rise of the internet, this sin is quite common and needs to be confessed before one can go to Holy Communion. <\/p>\n
x. \u201cEngaging in envy that leads one to wish grave harm to someone else.\u201d <\/p>\n
xi. Publicly rejecting definitive Church teaching in such a way that it would scandalize others and tempts them toward evil. \u2014 This applies not just, for example, to Catholic politicians who support abortion or same-sex marriage, but also to all Catholics who in their personal or professional life knowingly and obstinately repudiate her definitive teaching on moral issues. <\/p>\n
d. These are not the only mortal sins one could commit, but they are some that occur often today. If we have committed them, then we need to be humble out of love to come to ask the Lord\u2019s forgiveness before we would ever try to receive Him in Holy Communion. Think for a minute if our lips were bloody, filled with pus or warts, or otherwise filthy or infected. We would never kiss someone we love in that situation because we love them. We\u2019d wait until they were cleaned or healed. It\u2019s the same way with the embrace of the Lord in the Eucharist. If our souls are unclean, we need to love him enough to let him clean them before we try to embrace him in Holy Communion. If we haven\u2019t had a chance to go to confession before Mass, then we should remain in the pews and make an act of spiritual communion. Don\u2019t worry what others will think. They know you\u2019re not the sinless Virgin Mary and they know you\u2019re not a serial killer! Your good example of love for the Lord and personal integrity may be exactly what they need to examine their consciences better before coming to receive the Lord. <\/p>\n
7) Next the bishops turn to what they call \u201cproximate preparation\u201d for the encounter with the Lord, which would be like the preparation of the wise men as they were getting near to Bethlehem. Their hearts doubtless would have beating in anticipation. Our should too. The bishops call their fellow Catholics to three things: <\/p>\n
a. Prayerful recollection before Mass \u2014 This involves: <\/p>\n
i. Arriving at Mass on time or early, to prepare our minds and hearts for the liturgy. <\/p>\n
ii. Maintaining a reverent silence as we enter, so that we and those around us are able to pray before Mass. <\/p>\n
iii. Peaceful recollection, to eliminate distractions and allow ourselves to focus more easily on the great mystery of the Eucharist. <\/p>\n
iv. Prayerful reading the Scripture selections before Mass begins so that we might be better soil to receive the seed of the Word of God. <\/p>\n
b. The Eucharistic fast \u2014 They remind us that we are to refrain from food and drink (except for water and medication) for at least one hour prior to receiving Holy Communion. The fast helps us to hunger for Jesus in Holy Communion and shows reverence and respect for Jesus whom we\u2019re about to receive. We shouldn\u2019t receive Jesus, in other words, with a mouth filled with jelly or sugar from a morning donut. One of the benefits of being a parishioner of St. Anthony\u2019s is that Fr. Blyskosz and I make the fast easy for you by the fact that we don\u2019t rush in celebrating Mass; even if you ate fifteen minutes before Mass, you would still likely have fasted for an hour by the time for the reception of Holy Communion. But I\u2019d like to ask you to try not to eat or drink anything before Mass unless you absolutely need to. In the olden days, people fasted from midnight until the time they received Holy Communion and it was never cited as a cause of death. It\u2019s not at all bad to arrive at Mass hungry, because it may increase our desire for God. It will also cut down on other distractions during Mass \u2014 for you and for others \u2014 like needing to go to the bathroom, or needing to bring your kids to the bathroom. <\/p>\n
c. Appropriate attire \u2014 The bishops say, \u201cWe should come to the sacred liturgy appropriately dressed, \u2026 wearing clothes that reflect our reverence for God and that manifest our respect for the dignity of the liturgy and for one another.\u201d How we dress is a sign of how important we think something or someone is. There is something we need to recover about the old tradition of the \u201cSunday best.\u201d If God is really God in our lives, he deserves our best, including our best clothes. If we have been brought up with class, we would always dress up to meet the President, or the Pope, or for a friend\u2019s wedding, or for a job interview. If we would do that for them, would we do it for God? I have to say that parishioners here at St. Anthony\u2019s are better than parishioners in many other local parishes in one respect on this score: even during the hottest days of summer in a Church without air conditioning, I seldom find people wearing shorts or tee-shirts, which we would never wear to an important event. That said, I must also add that even during the winter, few parishioners could be accused of wearing their best clothes \u2014 or even of dressing \u201cup.\u201d Few men wear suits, even men who wear suits to work during the week. Few women wear what they would if they were going out to a fine restaurant for dinner. It\u2019s obvious that the Lord cares more about our hearts and souls than he does our clothes, but he does care about what we wear (see Mt 22:12!), because our clothes is an external sign of our reverence. I would encourage you to pray about what you wear on Sunday and to show your love for Christ above every other love by dressing up for him and giving him your best. <\/p>\n
8 ) The bishops then turn to the \u201chomage\u201d paid to Christ during Mass. I\u2019ll leave for you at home what they write, but I would like to call your attention to three things. <\/p>\n
a. First, they call us fully to participate in the Mass, \u201cwith our whole hearts and minds and bodies.\u201d That means to put love into our genuflections, to put love into how we listen to his word, how we sing, how we pray the Our Father, how we wish the sign of peace to our brother and sister. The Mass is not for spectators, but for participants, and they call us to full, active and conscious participation. <\/p>\n
b. At the time that we come to receive Christ in Holy Communion, they call us to make a profound bow while the person in front of us is receiving Holy Communion. This is a sign of reverence, for us and for others, that we know that we are receiving not a piece of bread but Christ, the king of kings. I\u2019d also add for those who receive Holy Communion on their hands, that they are supposed to make a throne with their hands, one on top of another in the form of a cross, to receive Christ the King. <\/p>\n
c. They call us to make an act of Thanksgiving after receiving the Lord. We who are \u201ccalled to His supper\u201d are meant to be happy, joyful and grateful. After meeting the Lord, the Magi were \u201coverjoyed.\u201d Our joy and thanksgiving can take many forms. There are beautiful prayers, like Mary\u2019s Magnificat or many written by the saints, that can be recited. You can make your own the words of the Communion Hymn and Meditation. You can simply inwardly, \u201cthank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you\u2026 Lord!\u201d enough times until you are meaning it with your whole being.<\/p>\n
9) If we\u2019re well prepared for Mass, the Mass will change us. Like the wise men, we too will leave by a different route, glorifying and praising God. One practical tip I would encourage as you to do as you leave Mass is to reflect on what you\u2019ve heard. As you\u2019re in the car or walking home, talk about the readings and the homily with the members of your family. Pass on to others what the Holy Spirit whispered to you. Apply them more concretely to your lives. Water the seeds God tried plant in the soil of your heart during the Mass. Seek to keep Communion with the Lord you just encountered alive as you go about your other duties. Like the wise men must have done, tell others along the way that you have met the Lord and let them see in your joy the incarnation of the good news. The simple fact is that THE MASS IS CHRIST\u2019S CONTINUAL EPIPHANY, but our contemporaries need \u201cwise men\u201d to show them where the star still burns and help and encourage them to make the journey to find Christ and come into a life-changing communion with him. God is calling us, you and me, to be those \u201cwise men and women,\u201d the modern Melchiors, Balhasars, and Kaspars of our day and he will give us all the help he knows we need to fulfill this mission! <\/p>\n
Welcome to Bethlehem!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fr. Roger J. Landry St. Anthony of Padua Parish, New Bedford, MA Epiphany, Year C January 7, 2007 Is 60:1-6; Eph 3:2-3,5-6; Mt 2:1-12 1) Today we celebrate the Lord\u2019s Epiphany, the \u201cmanifestation\u201d of his light, glory and presence to all the nations, represented by the wise men coming from afar. It is first and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[987,3,8],"tags":[8712,832,461,602,603,718,902,98],"class_list":["post-1027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-987","category-homily","category-year-c","tag-8712","tag-eph-32-3-5-6","tag-epiphany","tag-feast-of-the-epiphany","tag-is-601-6","tag-mt-21-12","tag-st-anthony-of-padua-parish","tag-sunday"],"yoast_head":"\n