{"id":2393,"date":"2018-01-07T12:39:40","date_gmt":"2018-01-07T17:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2393"},"modified":"2018-01-07T12:39:40","modified_gmt":"2018-01-07T17:39:40","slug":"the-epiphany-of-the-lord-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/the-epiphany-of-the-lord-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Epiphany of the Lord – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Epiphany of the Lord<\/a>
\nIsaiah 60:1-6
\nPsalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13
\nEphesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
\nMatthew 2:1-12
\nJanuary 7, 2018<\/p>\n

As the Babylonian Exile ends, Isaiah told the people, \u201cRise up in splendor, Jerusalem!\u00a0 Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 They have been set free by the Lord.<\/p>\n

The Israelites were a chosen people but were supposed to share the light with others, \u201cnations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 The light is meant for all, Gentile or Jew.<\/p>\n

Paul writes to the Ephesians of his mission to the Gentiles who are coheirs to the promise of the gospel.<\/p>\n

The Magi are drawn by a star to the newborn king of Jews.\u00a0 They are not Jews but Gentiles yet they are open to what is going on. \u00a0On the other hand, there is King Herod who is a Jew but it seems he is a Jew in name only.\u00a0 He sees Jesus\u2019 birth not for the grace it brings but as a threat to his power.<\/p>\n

Are we open to grace?\u00a0 Are we open to light of Christ guiding us?<\/p>\n

The Magi were guided by a star.\u00a0 Prior to GPS and modern maps, navigation by the stars was coming, especially at sea, but what wasn\u2019t coming was the star moving<\/strong> to guide them!\u00a0 Clearly, this was something very special.\u00a0 The Magi travelled some distance and brought gifts because they were open to what was going on.<\/p>\n

King Herod was not.<\/p>\n

Are you open to God guiding you?\u00a0 How much do you go about your life, finding your own way<\/strong> instead of asking God to guide you?<\/p>\n

What about our leaders?\u00a0 How many people in position of leadership do we wish to reject because they want to do their own thing?<\/p>\n

Do we pray for them?<\/p>\n

The first verse of our psalm says, \u201cO God, with your judgment endow the king<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 We must ask God to guide all<\/strong> leaders.\u00a0 This includes our government leaders who take the place of kings but it is not just our political leaders that we need to pray for.\u00a0 We should pray for all leaders, in government, in business, and in our church.<\/p>\n

What is it that we are to pray for our leaders?\u00a0 We might be tempted to pray that they do what we want.\u00a0 This might seem reasonable but it is not what the verse from our psalm speaks of.\u00a0 This verse asks God to endow our leaders with God\u2019s judgment.\u00a0 God is the one who knows what is best.\u00a0 We need to let God lead. \u00a0We need to pray for God to guide all our leaders.<\/p>\n

We can all have our own opinions. \u00a0Sometimes the different opinions are based on personal preferences.\u00a0 For instance, when I first got here it was summer and we were \u201csaying\u201d the Lord\u2019s Prayer at Mass.\u00a0 As we moved into Fall, some people asked when we going to start \u201csinging\u201d the Lord\u2019s Prayer again because they liked to sing it.<\/p>\n

Then, shortly after we started singing the Lord\u2019s Prayer, other people came to be asking if we could just say the Lord\u2019s Prayer instead of singing it.<\/p>\n

There are always going to be different preferences.<\/p>\n

Some things will always be a matter of personal preference but on things of significance, we need to ask for God who knows what is best and has a plan to show us the way.<\/p>\n

With this in mind, I encourage you to pray for our church leaders, for our pope, our bishop, as well as myself.\u00a0 Pray for all in leadership positions in our parish to follow God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n

Singing or saying the Lord\u2019s prayer seems pretty simple but there are bigger things we need to work on.\u00a0 For instance, we struggle to find volunteers and leaders for our parish festival.\u00a0 One might ask what does the festival have to do with God\u2019s work.\u00a0 It helps fund the ministry and it can build community.\u00a0 On Monday, we have a meeting about the future of our festival.\u00a0 Please pray for this meeting to be led by God\u2019s Spirit.<\/p>\n

In terms of funding ministry, there is also our parish deficit that we spoke about in our annual report in August.\u00a0 We will be offering a six-month update in the coming weeks but collections have not risen much.\u00a0 If you are able to increase your parish contributions, it would help.\u00a0 Whether you can contribute more or not, please pray for all to give within their means.<\/p>\n

As you pray for our parish, please also pray for more volunteers, not just for the festival but the rummage sales, and for our ministries to help poor and for new ministries if that is what God wants.<\/p>\n

Please pray for myself and all our parish leaders as we discern what to do with our school building.\u00a0 It\u2019s a big building that needs work and costs a lot to heat.\u00a0 Pray that God leads us.<\/p>\n

As we think about declining numbers in the parish, please pray that we follow God\u2019s lead to awake faith in more people.<\/p>\n

Many of these issues are not unique to our parish.\u00a0 Please for all our area parishes, that we might find ways to work together to strengthen our churches to bring the gospel to all.<\/p>\n

God led the Magi by the star to Jesus.\u00a0 May the Lord lead us as individuals, as a parish, as a diocese, and a universal Church to accomplish his will.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Epiphany of the Lord Isaiah 60:1-6 Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13 Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6 Matthew 2:1-12 January 7, 2018 As the Babylonian Exile ends, Isaiah told the people, \u201cRise up in splendor, Jerusalem!\u00a0 Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you.\u201d\u00a0 They have been set free by the Lord. The …<\/p>\n

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