Epiphany of the Lord 2014

Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ: 2014 05-01-14 Theme: Light dispels Darkness 1st reading Is. 60:1-6 God’s light in Jesus will gather all nations. 2nd Reading Eph. 3:2-3 5-6 We are promised to be light of nations. GospelMt:2:1-12 Non believers respond to the invitation to worship, the Lord through the star. For us Christians the sign of the visibility of God’s plan is Epiphany. God appears to us in his son. We have accepted his invitation to be his followers. On our pilgrimage to follow him there are various hurdles. Though the three wise men who came from the East reached the expected Lord and King but still their idea of a king was in the palace of a King. When they enquire about this the king is perplexed. Though he is familiar about this prophesy he is not ready to receive him. He wants to do away with this unexpected usurper of the kingdom. He would be jobless. So he wants to secretly find from the wise men the whereabouts of the king. He invites them and seeks their cooperation to find the King of the Jews. They promise to return when they have found him. Eventually they find the star that led them to the king. They happily worship the Lord and king and offer him their humble offering of Gold, myrrh and frankincense. In our attempt to find the Lord in our pilgrimage we find many Herods on the way. Who will secretly seek our cooperation to find the Lord. Rather than discerning the right path we fall prey to the temptations of such Herods. These hurdles are blockades to our spiritual excellence. Have to become aware of these hurdles and blocks. It is because of God’s magnanimity he has chosen us to be his messengers of love. We have to respond to his invitation to be these good ambassadors. Let this Epiphany bring the needed grace to devote our lives to be light to people who wallow in darkness. We have begun a new year 2011 in our lives. This is an opportunity to us to be constantly ready to face the divine in our lives. With much love and prayerful wishes of happiness for the year 2011 Yours ever in the divine word, Fr. Juze vaz svd