January 04, 2015
Epiphany
I have caught two episodes of “Sacred Journey.†The program chronicles people or wayfarers (and their stories) who venture on a spiritual quest or pilgrimage. On PBS I watched millions of Hindus going to bath in Ganges River in India and Catholics going to Lourdes, France to be immersed in the cold spring water and process at night with candles. I was such a pilgrim. The Magi or Wise Ones from the East see a star. It is a manifestation or epiphany (external and internal) that beckons them to journey to Bethlehem to find Mary and Jesus. They “bow†in reverence and then present gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Pilgrimage entails both movement and stillness as we see the divine light and hear the gentile whispering sound of God’s voice in our hearts. We are all on “the way.†We are a pilgrim people. I sense it vividly: persons on a path of grief, of searching for a job, of caring for a loved one, of searching for meaning in life, of coping with sickness, of being alone, of forgiving. Wise ones still follow the star that leads them to discern the light of God’s compassionate love in Jesus Christ. When we come to the end of our pilgrimage we realize that God is with us at the beginning and along the way. Like the Magi we must return home by a different route. Something is changed in us.
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Mary, Mother of God
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2nd Sunday Ordinary Time
