Homily for the Epiphany

There is a wonderful line in The Shack: Mack asks Jesus, “Do all roads lead to you?” He replies, “Not at all. Most roads don’t lead anywhere” – and then adds, “What it does mean that I will travel any road to find you.”
(Wm. Paul Young, The Shack)

I have Mass on Sunday, January 5th at St. Isidore @ 7:30/9:30 am

The 7:30 am Mass will be live-streamed. https://stisidore.church/worship-online/

frjoedailey@gmail.com

Transcript

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. 
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem saying, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage." 
When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet, and you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, since from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people, Israel." 
Then Herod called the Magi secretly, and ascertained from them the time of the star's appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search diligently for the child, when you have found him bring me word that I too may go and do him homage." 
After their audience with the king, they set out, and behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures, and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way. 
The Gospel of the Lord 

"Behold, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem."  The east is the direction of the rising sun. Ever since the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, the days have been slowly getting longer, but only in the evening. Dawn has been stuck at the same time each morning, but after January 6th, the traditional date of the Epiphany, the sun begins to rise earlier, for the first time. 
The mystery of the Epiphany is saying that God is perfectly hidden and perfectly revealed in the same physical place. God is shining forth in the most unwanted and unsuspected of places. In the midst of the collapse of Jerusalem, even as darkness still covers the people, Isaiah calls out, "Rise up in splendor Jerusalem, your light has come." 
The Magi followed a star, which means that they traveled at night. They journey in darkness. The story of the Magi is a story of pilgrimage. It is about being willing to leave that which is familiar in order to arrive at our deeper spiritual home. It's about seeking something we don't fully understand until we stumble upon it, where we least expect it, and coming home changed. 
There's a wonderful line in the shack. Mack asks Jesus, "Do all roads lead to you?" He replies, "Not at all. Most roads don't lead anywhere." And then adds, "What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you." 
That's a great description of the word Epiphany, which means "shining forth." Epiphany is an action word, so it implies an actor. Christ is not passively seen by us. He shows himself to us. In the Gospel stories of Advent and Christmas, God shows himself to us. The angel Gabriel is sent to the priest Zechariah and then to the Virgin Mary. Shepherds are summoned to Bethlehem by an angelic host. The Magi do not wander into town. They follow a star. 
Herod quizzes the Magi on the time the star appeared. This establishes a range of age that will set the stage for Herod's slaughter of the Innocents, a narrative that follows immediately after today's Gospel. 
Herod ascertained from them the time of the star's appearance. The word for "time" here is "chronos," chronological time measured by a clock. Chronos time is "business as usual time." 
Herod sends the Magi to Bethlehem on a covert mission to supply him with information about the child. He wants to worship him, he says, but, of course, he really wants to eliminate this rival king of the Jews. Lying and violence go together. This is "business as usual." 
The Magi receive a dream from God, which tells them to avoid Herod, and they go home by another way. The Magi are led and instructed by God. No more at home in “business as usual” time, their journey continues in God’s time.The other Greek word for "time" is "Kairos." Kairos time means the fullness of time, those moments when everything clicks, where past, present, and future merge into a moment of clarity and fullness. No matter what happens in Chronos time, we know we inhabit a life that is already full here and now. Kairos time is the opportune time,  the right time to do something. 
On December 23, in a moment that was anything but business as usual, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of all but three of the forty inmates on federal death row. Sister Helen Perjean, along with other Catholic leaders who oppose  the death penalty, praised the President's action. This historic decision advances the cause of human dignity and underscores the sacred value of every human life. 
Since the election, Catholic voices, led by Pope Francis, have called on America's second Catholic President to issue the commutations. The catechism of the Catholic Church, revised by Pope Francis in 2018, calls the death penalty "inadmissible" and "an attack on the inviability and dignity of the person." 
Pope Francis, in his December 8th weekly audience from the Vatican, had urged that the lives of death row inmates in the United States be spared. "Let us pray for their sentence to be commuted, changed," the Pope said. "Let us think of these brothers and sisters of ours, and ask the Lord to save them from death." 
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, spoke on behalf of the American Bishops, encouraging all lawmakers to continue to work toward the total abolition of the death penalty. 
The coming of the Magi at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel Is a hint to where the Gospel is calling us. At the end of the Gospel, Jesus commands the 11 disciples: “Go … make disciples of all nations” God will travel any road to find us.
St. Paul makes known this mystery that is now revealed. The Gentiles are co-heirs, members of the same body. But St. Paul goes further, and co-partners in the promise in Christ Jesus, co-partners, partners with us, and partners with Christ Jesus. 
God is sending us, the body of Christ, to travel any road to find the lost and bring them home. In the light of this truth, nothing can ever be the same. No more at home with business as usual, we, too, must journey home by another way.