Sunday, January 7, 2018

Epiphany brings All in

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today are for the liturgy of the Feast of the Epiphany.
The Book of the Prophet Isaiah heralds the blessing to come to Zion from God that will be available to all peoples.
* [60:1–9] The light the prophet proclaims to Zion symbolizes the blessing to come to her: the glory of the Lord, the return of her children, the wealth of nations who themselves will walk by her light. The passage is famous from its use in the Latin liturgy for the feast of Epiphany.
The author of the Letter to the Ephesians reveals God’s resolve to deliver Gentiles along with Israel.
* [3:3–4] The mystery: God’s resolve to deliver Gentiles along with Israel through Christ; cf. notes on Eph 1:10; 3:9.
Magi are identified in the Gospel from Matthew who links to references to kings in Psalm 72 and Isaiah 60:6.
* [2:11] Cf. Ps 72:10, 15; Is 60:6. These Old Testament texts led to the interpretation of the magi as kings.
Bob Mims gathers comments on the Epiphany from Christian leaders in Utah.
“On Christmas, God appeared as a man, on Epiphany this man manifests himself as God to the world,” Pastor Peil says. “In this season of Epiphany, the Christmas gift is unwrapped.”
Richard Hauser, S.J. is inspired by the plan of God to reveal Jesus to the world to pray the words of St. Richard, Bishop of Chichester, 1245-1253 that were made popular in the musical Godspell.
God chose an insignificant people, the Jews and Jerusalem, and from among them God chose an equally insignificant Jewish virgin, Mary. Through them, God chose to reveal mystery of God’s plan for the salvation of the entire world.
Today we celebrate the revealing of God’s plan beyond the Jews to the world: “The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts; the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute. All  kings shall pay him homage, all nations shall serve him”( Ps 72, 10-11).
Don Schwager quotes Chromatius (died 406 AD) on how the glory of Christ's divinity is revealed in Epiphany.
"Let us now observe how glorious was the dignity that attended the King after his birth, after the magi in their journey remained obedient to the star. For immediately the magi fell to their knees and adored the one born as Lord. There in his very cradle they venerated him with offerings of gifts, though Jesus was merely a whimpering infant. They perceived one thing with the eyes of their bodies but another with the eyes of the mind. The lowliness of the body he assumed was discerned, but the glory of his divinity is now made manifest. A boy he is, but it is God who is adored. How inexpressible is the mystery of his divine honor! The invisible and eternal nature did not hesitate to take on the weaknesses of the flesh on our behalf. The Son of God, who is God of the universe, is born a human being in the flesh. He permits himself to be placed in a manger, and the heavens are within the manger. He is kept in a cradle, a cradle that the world cannot hold. He is heard in the voice of a crying infant. This is the same one for whose voice the whole world would tremble in the hour of his passion. Thus he is the One, the God of glory and the Lord of majesty, whom as a tiny infant the magi recognize. It is he who while a child was truly God and King eternal. To him Isaiah pointed, saying, 'For a boy has been born to you; a son has been given to you, a son whose empire has been forged on his shoulders (Isaiah 9:6)
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, prays and waits for a second gaze, a deeper seeing. This is his daily bread. He expresses the belief that each being uniquely reflects part of the mystery of God for a while on this earth.
From the very beginning, we see that nature is good, humans are good, and God is good. I have never met a loving human being who did not also believe in the foundational goodness of people and all of creation. We are sons and daughters of God, and all creatures are our brothers and sisters. We come forth from God, we have the privilege of co-creating with God, and we will return to God. Each being uniquely reflects part of the mystery of God for a while on this earth, before returning home. Remember, the divine image is objectively held by all people, but we each have to choose to grow in our likeness to God. That is our primary task on this earth. God always sees and loves the image; we tend to get distracted by the likeness.
We are familiar with taking the viewpoint of the Magi and adopting an adoration of the Christ child. Contemplation of the texts offers our consideration of how Jesus views humanity as all being invited to grow in likeness to God and reflect the Light that Jesus Incarnation brings.

References
(n.d.). Isaiah, chapter 60 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved January 7, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/isaiah/60:1

(n.d.). Ephesians, chapter 3 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved January 7, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/ephesians/3

(n.d.). Matthew, chapter 2 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved January 7, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/matthew/2:1

(2018, January 4). Utah Christians still have one more Christmas gift to unwrap: Epiphany .... Retrieved January 7, 2018, from http://www.sltrib.com/religion/local/2018/01/04/utah-christians-still-have-one-more-christmas-gift-to-unwrap-epiphany-is-this-weekend/

(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved January 7, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html


(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved January 7, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/

(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved January 7, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)