Holily for Epiphany

HOMILY FOR FEAST OF EPIPHANY January 5, 2014 By Rev. Bob Johnnene OFD Mission Saints Sergius & Bacchus/ Franciscans Divine Mercy Independent Catholic Church of the Americas This week’s TV Reflection: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQBes0hcAd8 Link to All Reflections TV Shows; http://www.youtube.com/user/RevBobJohn Link to St. Joseph Cupertino Parish: http://stjosephcupertino.com/index.html Link to Mission Web Site: www.missionstsergius.org Link Divine Mercy Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/FranciscansDivineMercy?fref=ts Link to Franciscans of Divine Mercy Web Site: www.franciscansdivinemercy.org Link to the Independent Catholic Church of the Americas http://www.iccamericas.org/ The Dictionary defines EPIPHANY as; an appearance, to show forth, to manifest. All these meanings explain the feast we celebrate January 5th this year .rather than January 6th The Epiphany of Our Lord is the day in which we celebrate Almighty God’s eternal plan of Salvation. This particular feast is one of the oldest celebrated by the universal church. Often it is known as Three Kings’ Day As with most aspects of the Christian liturgical calendar, Epiphany has theological significance as a teaching tool in the church. The Gospel for this Feast day is from Matthew 2 verses 1 through 12 and reads like this: “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” The Wise Men or Magi who brought gifts to the infant Jesus were the first Gentiles, (non-Jews) to acknowledge Jesus as "King" and so were the first to "show" or "reveal" Jesus to a wider world as the incarnate Christ. The gifts they are said to have presented represented the Kingship of Christ (Gold), The Son of God (Frankincense used as an offering to God) and Myrrh which was used to dress the mortal body of those who died thereby proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus. This act of worship by the Magi, which corresponded to Simeon’s blessing that this child Jesus would be "a light for revelation to the Gentiles" (Luke 2:32), was one of the first indications that Jesus came for all people, of all nations, of all races, and that the work of God in the world would not be limited to only a few. This is a time of focusing on Christian brotherhood and fellowship, especially in healing the divisions of prejudice and bigotry that we all too often created separations between God’s children. God’s children are separated from the Sacraments and members of a family because they do not conform to the desires of others. It doesn’t matter that they live a good life not hurting others, being generous and forgiving of the hurts inflicted on them. Today many who proclaim to be believers of Christ’s teaching try to exclude people for proclaiming their love of God because they have been divorced or God created them with a homosexual orientation. They use passages from scripture to try to justify their positions. Unfortunately they use translations out of context. Nowhere in scripture did Jesus ever preach or say anything about homosexuality. In three of the Gospels we read these words; “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”(Luke 10:27; Mark 12:30;Matthew 22:37) which Jesus is said to have proclaimed. At this time of the Church year, we are called to reflect on the truths found in the teachings of Jesus. We are called to heal in the same way that Christ healed. In the last few years I personally have experienced the healing power of God in many ways, I have been cured so far of 4 diffenert forms of cancer and continue to be able to get around to visit nursing homes, hospitals, shut-ins and to celebrate Mass in spite of being diagnosed with acute stenosis of the spine, back, neck and shoulders. When one gives their life over to God with complete trust that God will provide and do what is best for you is when miracles seem to happen. Other aspects of living in accord with the teachings of Christ is the forgiving of those who have done us wrong, being generous to those in need, having compassion for those who are ill and reaching out to the homeless, unemployed and elderly who often are alone and welcome joyfully a visit from someone. As anyone who has ever undergone an operation knows, healing takes time, it does not happen overnight but if we work at it each and every day healing will occur. In today’s world, there are many ills that need to be healed. We need to address the separation between the haves and the have-nots. All around the globe, even here in the United States, people are going without proper nutrition because they cannot afford to buy groceries and their necessary medicines. In spite of this, some members of our government have voted to reduce Food Stamp benefits which have cost many a loss of enough funds to buy a couple of days groceries. These same people are trying to get rid of programs that allow the poor and low income people adequate affordable housing and medical care. These actions are not in accord with the teachings of Christ and for those who have voted this way and call themselves Christians; I want to tell them that they are not acting like Christians but like minions of the Power of Darkness. We need to look around and find those who need help, the aged, the parentless children, the struggling faith community that needs some financial assistance to develop programs or repairs or just to pay the rent on their worship space. All religious ministries require help in meeting their expenses yet many report a drop in donations which causes them to struggle to maintain. If we open our eyes and hearts we can all find a way of discovering, within ourselves, the message of this feast of Epiphany. We can put the message Christ’s taught us to work here on earth now, just by making some changes and becoming more aware of the needs of others and then giving a gift to the Christ child by gifting those in need. We learned in the Gospel of Matthew 25 that by doing for others we are doing for God; For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” By Baptism we have been called to be the hands, heart and soul of Christ, we are called to be copartners in His promise, we are called to be His disciples living and acting as Christ would act if he were here on earth. Let us begin this New Year by vowing that we will increase our commitment to the love of God and His beloved Son and Our Blessed Mother by living our faith not only in word but through our actions. I close with the alternative opening prayer from the liturgy of the feast of Epiphany. Father of light, unchanging God, today you reveal to men of faith the resplendent fact of the Word made flesh. Your light is strong, Your love is near; draw us beyond the limits which the world imposes, to the life where Your Spirit makes all life complete. We ask this through Christ our lord and savior. Amen.