Manifestation

Feast of the Epiphany (Sunday, 6 January 2019)

Isaiah 60:1-6. Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13. Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6. Matthew 2:1-12. (Please click the following link for the above readings http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/010619.cfm.)

“For we observed the star of the king of the Jews at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”

The feast of the Epiphany, with its colourful story of the magi, captures our imagination with its rich mixture of mystery and intrigue. It is the completion of the fairy tale called Christmas. Into the Holy Family’s humble home come some wise men (magi) from the East dressed in majestic robes and bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They travel from unknown lands following a star and experience the deviousness of King Herod before they are filled with delight in finding the new-born Child. After paying homage they leave for home by a different route.

But at the centre of this story, is none but Baby Jesus himself. A helpless, poor Infant. All our awe, wonder, adoration is due to this central figure who manifests himself to the wise men from the Eas and to all the world, not just the church.

Christ is not just for Christians, he is for all. Christ is all. He is in all. As Christians, it becomes our duty to participate in this continuous theophany, manifestation of God. We need to witness to this God who is beyond all religions, beyond all human constructs. That's why Christianity can’t just be based on beliefs. It only becomes authentic and transformative through experience and practice, when head, heart, and body are all open and receptive.

The wise men represent us. The star stands for a purpose, and for light. It tells us that God will shed light into our darkness, make us new. Like the magi we are called to search, discover Christ's presence, though he is always and everywhere present. Christ can be encountered in all the usual, and all the unusual places.

After she founded the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was filled with an interior darkness for 50 years up until her death. She could not meet God in the chapel or in the convent, but only in the poor, beggars, leprosy patients, the dying, and the abandoned people. She saw Christ in the poorest of the poor. Make no mistake. Mother Teresa's wasn't a social concern, but Christ was at the centre. Christ was the one who gave her her specific vocation, “Come Be My Light.” He led her to unusual places: slums, holes, market-places, drains, dumping grounds. Mother Teresa became a light to millions of people whom she met, or inspired otherwise. She wants to continue her mission of light and darkness, presence and absence: “If I ever become a saint—I will surely be one of darkness. I will continually be absent from heaven—to light the light of those in darkness on earth.”

Today's feast of Epiphany of the Lord teaches us that He manifests Himself in unknown and unusual ways. We can encounter Him in any and every place. He even surprises us by showing up in all the "wrong" places. We can find Him eating and communing with prostitutes, tax collectors and sinners. We can encounter Him among the lepers, beggars, and the sick. We can discover Him in the shameful places outside the city-gates crucified with the criminals. We can see Him amidst the outcasts, least, lost and the last. We can recognise Him on the faces of our enemies and the least valuable people.

At His manifestation, the whole world becomes a temple. There is no "natural" world where God is not present. It is all supernatural. All the bushes burn if you have seen one burn. Only one tree has to fill up with light and angels, and then all the trees follow suit; then you will never see trees the same way again. Everything is holy for those who have learned to see.

Christ is all, and in all (Colossians 3:11).