A Vigorous Search and a Willing Heart

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

We celebrate today the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, and I want to illustrate the deep meaning of this great feast through the lives of two remarkable people:

In 1774, a little girl was born who would be raised in the upper crust of New York society. She was from an educated and cultured Episcopalian family, and she married a wealthy young man from a similar background when she was 20. They were deeply in love, and in the years ahead she would give birth to five children.

In 1811, a boy was born in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). His was a devout family in a devout age, and he felt called to the priesthood. He studied industriously in the seminary and at the University of Prague to prepare himself for this holy goal. He finished his studies and prepared for ordination.

Let me pause both of their life stories at this moment… a moment when in both cases their vocational journey seemed to be settled, Elizabeth in a happy marriage, and John in the diocesan priesthood. In both cases, circumstances beyond their control were about to break into that apparent tranquility, and God was going to offer each of them unique invitations and graces.

Our feast today is called Epiphany, name that comes from a Greek root that means Manifestation. The Church focuses our attention on God and His grace bursting forth in His Creation in unexpected times and places. We are invited to see clearly and notice Him at work, if we have eyes of faith with which to see. He has worked this way many times, and He continues to work in this way.

God entered His world at the moment of the Annunciation when the baby Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He became visible, less hidden, on Christmas Day, the moment of His birth. God’s Incarnate Presence in the world, Jesus Christ both God and man, then began to be more fully revealed, more fully manifest. Mary knew, and then Joseph, and then Elizabeth and the tiny St. John the Baptist in her womb. At the moment of Christ’s birth this circle of awareness began to grow. Who came first…the shepherds, the lonely stinky outcasts. It’s not quite what the Jewish people expected! It wasn’t the wealthy and the powerful, the well-fed and content who heard and responded to the angels’ Gloria! Now, today, with Epiphany, we mark the arrival of the Magi, or Three Kings. These men were not Jews… they were foreigners, and pagan astrologers to boot. They were not the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! Nearly a generation later, as Paul writes to the Ephesians, you can still hear his surprise:

It was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Notice that these strangers were seeking God, active in the pursuit of wisdom, but also docile to His promptings and guidance. That’s not such a common combination, but exactly what we should aim for: actively seeking God’s will, but responsive to God’s plan when it is shown to us!

Let’s go back to our two friends. Elizabeth’s family’s business went bust, and then her husband died of tuberculosis while they were in Italy hoping for a cure. She encountered the Catholic faith firsthand there, and to the astonished dismay of her family and friends, she entered into full communion with the Catholic Church back in New York in 1805. After her sister-in-law also converted to Catholicism, the boarding school she was running to support herself and her family was shut down and she was essentially run out of town. In the years ahead she would found the Sisters of Charity and engage in heroic missionary endeavors all around the eastern United States.

John, too, found himself in a pretty pickle, because just as he finished his theological studies and petitioned his bishop for ordination, that very same bishop put an embargo on new ordinations because they had too many priests in Bohemia! After cooling his heels for a while, inspired by the missionary letters of our very own Bishop Baraga, he decided to come to the United States as a missionary, and he was subsequently ordained a priest in New York City. He eventually joined the Redemptorist order, and then was made Bishop of Philadelphia.

Neither St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born American to be canonized, nor St. John Neumann, the first American bishop to be canonized, could possibly have imagined the path their lives would take, nor the amazing work that God did through them, and indeed continues to do through them. However, like the Magi, they were both actively seeking God’s will, and responsive to that surprising will when it was revealed to them. Out of their graced willingness to leave their own good plans behind, God did amazing things.

This abundant and yet unexpected grace is how God works and has always worked. Listen again to the words of our first reading:

Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the LORD shines, and over you appears his glory.

These words were spoken to the Jewish people just as they were embroiled in war, exile, faithlessness, and failure. And, yet, in that struggle, God offered them true and enduring wealth, joy, and peace… His Word and His Will. In our own time, too, thick clouds cover the peoples… the clouds of selfishness, individualism, and faithlessness. Yet, even into our empty and despairing popular culture, God longs to pour out grace and truth, through us! Then… if we will respond… well, Isaiah said it best:

Then you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow, for the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of nations shall be brought to you.

God has entrusted enormous wealth to us, the infinite abundance of His grace. Just as He unexpectedly called the shepherds and the Magi, and revealed great wealth to them, God in the Flesh; just as He called St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. John Neumann out of the apparent wreck of all their hopes; God continues to manifest Himself to us and through us. This is what we celebrate on Epiphany… and this is what we are offered at this Mass. Will we seek God’s truth, His infinite grace offered to us on this altar? Will we respond like Mary and Joseph, like St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. John Neumann? It is to this joyful response that we are called by our feast.

+ A. M. D. G. +