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Post date: Jan 05, 2021 3:1:53 PM

January 3, 2021 Homily by Fr. Karl Schray

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany. In the early Church it was a more

important feast than Christmas. In the Eastern Church it still is.

How come?

The word epiphany comes from the Greek which means to ‘show forth’,

‘to manifest’. The meaning of the Feast is the glory of God showing forth,

manifesting itself, breaking through in the Baby Jesus.

It is the Savior being revealed to the whole world. It is the King of Kings

inviting all people, Jews and Gentiles to be his subjects.

The three wise men offered our Lord three gifts—gold, frankincense and

myrrh. Well, I cannot afford that. I cannot compete with that.

I would like to offer him just one and I invite you to do the same.

The gift I offer him is the gift of gratitude.

I want to thank him not just for showing himself as such but

for actually being our Savior. And we need a Savior so badly.

During the past year, a number of families in the parish

have been shattered by financial worry or sickness or death

(3 of our parishioners have lost their spouses this past year).

Christmas and Epiphany, of course, usually help.

The Word was made flesh and was manifested to us in the flesh.

This means that God is not in outer space; he is in the middle of things,

in the thick of things, in the very depth of the human experience.

It means God is embedded in our human situation and

can never get out of it. —Does not want to get out of it.

So the husband or wife, or child or mother or father, or brother or sister you

may have lost in the past year is linked to Christ by flesh and blood,

life and destiny.

The promise of today’s feast is the promise of universal salvation.

Epiphany then, presents us with our Savior.

It also presents us with a question. Is Christ my personal Savior?

Do I recognize him as my King? Am I fully prepared

to surrender to him as his subject (as his daughter or son)?

If I find myself holding back, then the Wise Men are presenting something

to me as well. They are presenting me with a challenge.

They are saying, ‘Set out again in search of your Savior, follow his star’.

The three gifts I will bring to my Savior are Gratitude, Trust, and

a promise to spend more time with Him.

Because I felt I was losing touch with him myself,

I set aside a little time every day to be with him, to talk with him.

I needed it at first—I still do, I always will.

But now I look forward to it as well. It is precious time,

not just with my best friend

but with my Savior in this life and in the life to come.

Do you think you need to spend more time with Him yourself?

Just a little time each day in the stable with the Three Wise Men.