Epiphany! You Are Invited to the Feast of All Nations!

Sermon by Fr. Joseph Mungai

The Epiphany of the Lord, Jan 8, 2017

Immaculate Heart Mary and Christ the King  Catholic Parishes, Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A.

"Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do Him homage." (The Magi inquired of King Herod, Matt 2:2)

One day a young man sought a holy monk in Egypt, who happened to be quite muscular and burly. The young man asked: "Oh, holy man, I want to know how to find God." 

The monk replied, "Do you really want to find God?" The young man answered: "Yes, I do." So the monk took the young man down to the river. Suddenly, the monk grabbed the young man by the neck and held his head under water. At first the young man thought the monk was giving him a special baptism. But  after one minute, the monk didn’t let go and the young man began struggling. Second by second, the young man fought harder and harder. After three minutes, the monk pulled the young man out of the water and said: "When you desire God as much as you desired air, you will have the Epiphany of God"

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Epiphany -- a Greek word meaning "appearance or manifestation." We celebrate today the manifestation of Our Lord to the

whole world. After He was made known to the shepherds keeping watch outside Bethlehem, he is now revealed to the Magi, who have come from the East to adore Him. 

Epiphany is the Feast of all Nations because on this day we celebrate the manifestation of

Christ, the true Light of all nations, calling us

to become more and more filled with His Light, to clothe our  communities with the universality of this Light and to labour to bring the Light to those living in darkness.

In age of electricity and artificial lights, it is difficult for us to appreciate the symbolism of light; but the truth is that Christ as Light is the fullest expression of God's work in the world.

Therefore "Arise, shine!" cries out Isaiah, "for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you." We Gentiles thank God that

today we are being invited to God's Kingdom, his Church, which is our means to reach heaven. 

Unlike the people of the Old Testament, let us not forget how God is so good to us. Let us not provoke Him, so we end up in exile as slaves to pagans. Whatever challenges you and I may go through in life let them not cause us to be unfaithful to God. We do not want to be excluded from our true home -- where "the glory of the Lord will shine" forever.

The Epiphany is a festival of light, for on this

day we celebrate the manifestation of Jesus Christ in the darkness of the world calling all humankind to come and bathe in His Light. 

At the birth of Jesus, three wise men from the East, guided by a star came to worship him. It is a custom to picture them as black, white and brown; thus they represent all the people of the earth, particularly the Gentiles. Hence, "This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus." (Eph 3:6)

This makes us to rejoice for we appreciate the gift of true faith. This gift means that we know where we came from, we know where we are going and we are certain that that is a wonderful eternal place.  Holding onto our faith and following the right path, we also know the Way there. We may have to climb some hills that look as steep as Calvary, but after Calvary comes the Mount of the Ascension. Yes Epiphany is the feast of all Nations.

The Magi are the central personages in today's feast. They were pagans who did not know the true God of the Jews. Yet  God revealed to them that the promised King of the Israel had come.

They came to Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, expecting to find the whole country rejoicing. Instead they found suspicion and hatred in the reigning king -- a hatred which in a few days turned to murder. 

Among the religious leaders they found knowledge of their past history. These leaders knew that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. They recognised that the Magi were very sure  the foretold Messiah had come.  In spite of all that, the thought of going to Bethlehem with the Magi never occurred to them. We too know the true facts concerning Christ, His mission and His present and future kingdom. Like the leaders of the Jews of his day, we also can become absorbed in the affairs of the world -- the quest for wealth, pleasure and power. We can become so totally absorbed in worldly affairs that we have no time to welcome Christ into our homes and hearts as Our True Lord.

We are baptised so we have the entire Light of Christ, but too often we think that is enough. The strange thing about Jesus is that

you can never get away from Him, but also you can never get enough of Him. 

Jesus Christ is  everything man needs. Therefore until God meets all our deepest needs, our quest for more and more of Jesus must go on. Meet Jesus daily. We need not look towards the stars to encounter Him. He is being born every day in our lives. He comes anew to us in every suffering we face, in every hand stretched out to us for help.

The Lord comes to us in the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist. He comes in the community of believers -- the universality of Christ. Hence it has to be a community that welcomes all peoples and races, that provides equality for all, especially the "little ones."

The more we Christians receive the Light of Christ, the more we want to give it to others.

People may appear to be seeking fame, fortune, exitement, but what they actually want is human fulfilment. Their search is for what is supreme and beautiful -- Jesus Christ. 

So we Christians have a  a lot of work to do. After Christmas there are already signs on the streets that work has resumed, sales have started, and schools have re-opened. The "back to work" motif is noticeable. 

Today's feast also calls us to bring Christ to all nations. "When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with the flock, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to build the nations and to make music in the heart." (Anonymous)  God bless you all.

Today's Readings:  Is 60:1-6, Eph 3: 2-3, 5-6, Matt 2: 1-12

Consider That When the Word Became Flesh

God was an Embryo

by Lawrence Fox

Good News! St. Luke the evangelist captures an exchange between two women and their unborn children brought together by divine providence. The words shared between them will be known by generations to come as the Good News. For three months, “in the hill country of Judea” (Lk. 1:39) in the house of Zechariah, the joy of motherhood is celebrated in the fulfillment of promises made by the Lord God of Israel to His people.

The two children in the womb also join their mothers’ conversation; they even instigate aspects of it. The one child — John, six months old —  is filled with the Holy Spirit. He leaps for joy in his mother’s womb. The other child — Jesus, both divine and several days old — is the Word of God which sustains all things and for whom all things exist. Their mothers do not hear the exchange between their children, but they do experience it.

The older woman is Elizabeth, which means in Hebrew “my God is an oath.” The origins and existence of her people are the result of many oaths (covenants) and promises made between the Lord God and her ancestors. She knows through the writings of the prophet Jeremiah that the Lord God plans to establish a new covenant with her people,"'The day is coming,' says the LORD, 'when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.'” (Jer. 31:31) Elizabeth is aware her pregnancy is an integral part of that promise.

Elizabeth is a daughter of Aaron, the priest and brother of the prophet Moses — who wanted God to let him see His face. God told Moses, “'You cannot see My face, for no man can 

see Me and live!' Then the LORD said, 'While My glory is passing by I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.'” (Ex. 33:21) What was once forbidden -- seeing God face to face -- will soon be allowed when man looks at the face of the Child Jesus. 

Elizabeth is married to Zechariah also a descendent of Aaron, who serves in the temple. Zechariah has been unable to speak for six months. He will not utter a word until the day when his son is born and circumcised. On that day, He will give his son the name, John, in obedience to God according to the message of the Angel Gabriel. John will be known by many in Judea as the baptiser. 

Zechariah, who doubted the angel's words, has not been able to speak since that encounter. He can only make signs with his hands. The angel had told him that God remembered his prayers; his wife Elizabeth will conceive and bear a son. Zechariah was afraid. He protested that God waited too long to give such a blessing, “How shall I know this to be true? I am old and my wife is stricken with years.” (Lk. 1:18) God’s ways are not man’s ways. Abraham had to wait for God to give to him a son through his wife Sarah. He too struggled with waiting, giving up and having a child through Hagar, the bondswoman of Sarah.

Still God’s timing is perfect. Elizabeth is not simply one of many possible woman to be the mother of God’s prophet; she and Zechariah were predestined to be the parents of the Baptist, “I knew you before you were formed in the womb.” For all things which exist do so first in the mind of God. “A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.” (Ps. 90:4) 

Six months after Elizabeth conceives her son, her cousin Mary also conceives a child under  different and joyful circumstances. Even this short duration of time has meaning and significance. Six is a number of man, the number of man laboring, and the number of the commandment “Thou shall not murder.” Elizabeth in three months will go into labor. Mary's son will identify Himself as the “son of man.” Both sons will be murdered by political authorities in Judea and Jerusalem. 

Elizabeth’s cousin is a young betrothed virgin with child.  Her name is Mary (Mariam) which means in Hebrew “bitter.” Her name harks back to Israel’s past when another woman named Mariam lived. That Mariam was Moses’ sister during a time when the people of Israel were living a bitter life under the whip of the Egyptian Pharaoh. 

The people of Israel now exist under another whip. Caesar Augustus,  Emperor of Rome,  rules over the Holy Land along with his petty kings and governors. With the naming of one’s daughter as Mary (Mariam), the people are asking God to fulfill a promise made through Moses, who foretold, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.” (Deut. 18:15) Interestingly, Mary will say these same words to several servants at a wedding feast in Cana, “Do whatever he

"Do whatever He tells you," His mother told the servants.

(my son) tells you.” (Jn. 2:5 ) Mary speaks like Moses and like God the Father, Who says to the apostles Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration, “This is my beloved Son, Listen to Him.” (Lk. 9:35)

Elizabeth represents the woman Israel who came out of Egypt and gives birth to genuine prophets — who receive a word from God and not men. This woman closes the pages of the Old Covenant. It is through this woman that God brings forth the final and greatest of prophets; one foretold through the lips of Isaiah “A voice of one calling: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’” (Isaiah 40:3) and through the lips of Malachi. "I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty.”(Mal. 3:1) 

John will be that voice in the desert,  and that  prophet, who comes in the power and spirit of Elijah, preparing the way of the Lord. The pieces are all beginning to fit together within salvation history. There will be no doubt among many in Israel that the messianic age has come upon them. Tragically, the child born of Mary will be the cause of the rise and fall of many in Israel. A sword will pierce the mother's heart so that the thoughts of many will be revealed. Many will openly resist the kingdom of God. A small remnant will persevere in the revelation which is given by Jesus Christ, the Lord’s anointed. 

Mary epitomizes the woman Israel who the prophet Isaiah identified as being clothed with the garments of salvation over whom the Lord God of Israel rejoices. (Isaiah 61:10) The garments of salvation are the flesh and blood of the Incarnate Word of God. The archangel

Gabriel gave to Mary this greeting: “Rejoice Mary, for you have found favor with God.” (Lk. 1:30) Israel in the person of Mary becomes a bride in the fullest sense for she is a virgin overshadowed by the glory cloud of God. She conceives in her heart and her womb the living Word of God. St. Luke writes, “In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. She ponders in humility God’s spoken word and seeks to understand it. She is the embodiment of faith seeking understanding. She will tell her cousin, “For He who is mighty as done great things to me and Holy is His Name.” (Lk. 1:49)

The angel says to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” This is a prophecy of wonder and sorrow. For in the background looms another revelation spoken to King David centuries before, “Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.” (2 Sam. 12:10) Mary will be reminded of this fact when prophet Simeon tells her, “And a sword shall pierce your heart.” (Lk. 2:35)

With great faith and trust, Mary gives the fiat (yes) to God’s Word — which was in the beginning with God and was God. Now God’s Word no longer will be comprehended solely within sacred scrolls nor hidden within an ark made of acacia wood, nor unapproachable within a temple made of stone — but at the moment of her yes, the Word was tabernacled amongst men.

Elizabeth’s unborn child is the fruit of her and her husband’s seed through a miracle of healing. Mary is a virgin who conceives in her heart and womb the eternal Word of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. Her child is the fruit of God and Mary’s seed (St. Ignatius of Antioch). Mary makes haste to visit her cousin.

St. Luke writes that Mary makes haste to visit her cousin traveling from Nazareth in Galilee to the hill country of Judea. She enters the house of Zechariah. When Elizabeth hears Mary’s greeting, she is filled with the Holy Spirit and the infant John leaps within the womb of Elizabeth. (Lk. 1:41) 

There is a cause and effect that Luke wants his readers to see -- that Mary’s words are anointed with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. She speaks prophetically. She is a living temple as described in Peter’s Letter, “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Pt. 2:5)

Mary brings the Child Jesus to Elizabeth and John. The movement of John in Elizabeth’s womb is evidence of both natural and supernatural life; John is reborn from above. It should be noted that the archangel Gabriel told Zechariah that his son would be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb. (Lk. 1:15) St. Ambrose explains that the prophecy of the angel is literally fulfilled when Elizabeth hears Mary’s voice. Through the love of Mary and Elizabeth, the unborn Jesus meets the unborn John.

The Holy Spirit inspires Elizabeth to say to Mary that through her faith, the Lord is in the midst of His people Israel.“How is it the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Elizabeth asks Mary. Mary again is no more than several

days pregnant. St. Luke the doctor captures in the Gospel, that human nature — composed of body, soul, and will — begins at conception. With Mary’s yes, the hypostatic union exists. Jesus is one divine person, with two natures (human and divine). Jesus to be truly God and truly man must be united to human flesh, spirit (soul), and will.

With the conception of man, a complete human person exists. In essence, Jesus becomes an embryo in His mother’s womb to redeem the human embryo. Jesus becomes an unborn child to redeem the human unborn child. Jesus becomes a baby, a child, a teenager, and an adult so as redeem every aspect of human life.

Again Elizabeth says to Mary, “How is it the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

Elizabeth’s spirituality is passed onto her son John who will one day say to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matt.3:14) Mothers — so it is said — do pass something more of themselves to their sons; fathers to their daughters. The Catholic Faith teaches that God the Father gave to Mary a pure conception. Mary in turn gave to Jesus a pure human body. What is love but the giving of oneself to another? The Son dwelling in the womb of Mary sanctifies the son dwelling in the womb of Elizabeth. John in return will baptize Jesus who will be anointed with the Holy Spirit by God the Father. John will give his life to Jesus and Jesus will give his life for John and all humanity. Mary under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit will proclaim how much her whole being magnifies the Lord. 

St. Luke writes that Mary stayed for three months in the house of Zechariah. After three months the baby John is born and named. Zechariah speaks and it is well worth the wait.  Mary returns home to Nazareth and even this is by divine providence.

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At The Heart of the Church from the Beginning: Mary Mother of God

Sermon by Rev. John Paul Shea

Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, Jan. 1, 2017

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Tucson, AZ

Today our Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. We rarely celebrate

this feast on Sunday, so it is normally a Holy Day of obligation. Now it falls on Sunday, so we celebrate the Mother of God in the Sunday liturgy.

This teaching has been at the heart of the Church even before it was declared official doctrine at the Council of Ephesus in 431. That Mary is the Mother of God can be seen in the writings of the early Church Fathers who recognized the sacred truth and great gift of divine maternity that was bestowed upon Mary, the humble handmaid of the Lord.

In fact, even the catacombs dug under the city of Rome -- where the first Christians gathered to celebrate Mass in times of persecution -- contain paintings titled "Mary, Mother of God."

In today’s second reading (Galatians 4:4-7), Saint Paul says that “[In] the fullness of time God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Therefore, Saint Paul tells us that by being born of a woman, under the law, the Son of God participates in the human condition. He is one of us because of Mary.

Mary, in a way, can be seen as a bridge between God and humanity. It is through her that the divinity of Jesus enters into our world so that we can share in the life of God. God

has come in the flesh -- in our humanity -- so that we can share in His divinity! It is through Mary that we have been given the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. If there were no Mary, we would have no Eucharist. If there was no Mary, no Christmas. With no Mary, we would have no salvation.

My brothers and sisters, as we come together for this Mass on this holy day of the celebration of Mary, the Mother of God, let us honor our Blessed Mother! 

Let us be reminded that as God used Mary to bring His Son into our world, so God continues to use Mary, the Mother of God, to protect us from harm and evil as we prepare for Her Son’s return in glory. 

Today we begin a new year. Therefore, today’s celebration reminds us that there is no better way to begin then by honoring our Blessed Mother and by seeking Her protection upon us and all humanity. As we enter into this New Year, let us be prepared for whatever may come because we are indeed living in dangerous and uncertain times! 

Our Blessed Mother, herself, has warned us about the difficulties in which we are living today. In fact, this year we are about to enter marks the 100th anniversary of our Blessed Mother’s apparitions at Fatima, Portugal.

"Men must amend their lives, and ask pardon for their sins. . . . They must no longer offend Our Lord, Who is already so much offended,” Our Lady warned.

She said to "pray much and make sacrifices for sinners [because] many souls go to hell because there is no one to make sacrifices for them. If men only knew what eternity is, how they would make all possible efforts to amend their lives [and that] mortification and sacrifice give great pleasure to Our Divine Lord."

Our Blessed Mother warned of difficult times coming upon this world if our world does not convert and that nations will even be annihilated because of the spread of sin. Our Blessed Mother taught us to pray the Rosary

for peace for the world. She said, “the Rosary is my Power…It is the weapon which you must make use of in these times of the Great Battle.” 

Fr John Paul Shea

My brothers and sisters, our Blessed Mother’s message of Fatima to pray the Rosary and make sacrifices is more important today than ever! Our world is facing many struggles today and, at some point in time, probably sooner than later, these struggles will reach a climax. We will reach the peak of the tribulation that our world has already entered.

Yet, we are promised that in the end our Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Heart will triumph. Therefore, let us look toward this day with hope.

As we enter into this New Year, let us keep our hearts focused on our salvation. Let us call upon our Blessed Mother Mary, Mother of God, to keep us faithful to her Son that He may protect us from all harm and all evil. Holy Mother of God, pray for us!

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