The Epiphany of the Lord

Click here for the Epiphany of the Lord Readings.

Today we celebrate when salvation came to the Gentiles. We may ask, “Did Christ suffer and die on the cross once for all? Then wasn’t salvation given to all people? The answer to the question is yes but with a caveat.

When Abraham heard the voice of God and submitted to the will of the Father, a great nation of believers was formed from a tribe of nomads wandering in the desert. Abraham was no different in his appearance as the many tribes the occupied the middle east at that time. But Abraham was different because he accepted the invitation from the one true God.

God deemed that salvation should come from the Jews and Jesus was born into a Jewish household. Jesus was raised in the traditions of the Jews and the Mosaic law and worshipped in the Temple on the Sabbath.

We may also ask, if salvation comes from the Jewish people and they rejected Jesus, then how can they be the source of salvation for all people? But In reality, the early Church fathers on which the foundation of our Church was built, were Jewish as were many of the early Christians. The first martyr, Stephen, was a Jew as were the first bishops. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, was also a Jew.

If the Jewish people are not Baptized into the Catholic Church, do they have salvation? This question was answered by Pope Benedict when he instructed the faithful that the Jewish people who have not accepted Christ are still participants in the original covenant God the Father made with Abraham and are granted the gift of salvation. So, yes, the Jewish can go to heaven, and furthermore, Benedict instructed the faithful that the Jewish people should be accepted as brethren and should not be evangelized for the purpose of conversion. John Paul II referred to the Jewish people as our “elder brethren” in matters of faith.

So, what does this mean for us today? I believe that we can easily forget our roots and think of ourselves as more favored by God than people of other faiths and religions. However, we also believe that all people are loved into existence by God and at the moment of their conception are intrinsically good. We believe that Jesus died once for all and because of His suffering and death, all people in all generations are afforded the gift of salvation.

We are called to be tolerant of people who believe differently than we do and find common ground where we can celebrate our differences. We need remember the gentleness of Jesus when conversing with the woman at the well or with Nicodemus the concept of being born again. Jesus planted the seeds of faith and allowed His listeners to come to Him freely and of their own free will. We need to do the same.

The great tragedy in our age is the number of people who profess to be Catholic but rarely participate in the sacramental life of the Church. Experience tells me that only about 20-30% of Baptized Catholics participate in the life of the Church. Amazingly, a large number of Catholics do not believe in the real presence of Jesus, body, soul, and divinity, in the Blessed Sacrament. We are very much in need of a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our Church and the grace of conversion to the many lukewarm Catholics, especially, among our young people.

The feast of the Epiphany is the day that we remember we were once no people and through the prayers and evangelization of many over the centuries, we became God’s people. At the end of Mass, we are told to “go forth”. This is the call to evangelization. We gather as the Body of Christ on Sunday, we are renewed in spirit by the Word and Sacrament, and we build community. But the task is not complete. For so many, Epiphany has not arrived in their lives and yet they still hunger for oneness with God and us, knowingly or unknowingly. And each of us is called to “go forth” and proclaim the good news. We need to ask ourselves, “Are we ready”.

May God continue to bless you and may the New Year bring us many opportunities to proclaim the good news and the grace to fulfill our calling from God.

Deacon Phil