A reflection upon the solemnity of the Epiphany, and the gifts of the three Wise Men.
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00:00 It's time to move your figures of the wise men close to the baby Jesus in the manger
00:10 scene because this Sunday is the solemnity of the epiphany when the wise men come a long
00:19 distance from the east following the star to worship Jesus Christ, God made flesh in
00:26 the incarnation in the arms of Mary.
00:31 Why do they come?
00:33 Because if you think about it, what a huge risk it was for these men to dare to follow
00:40 the star to, they didn't know where, but they came because they were looking for something
00:48 more in their life.
00:50 I don't know about you, but I am always looking for that epiphany, the word means manifestation.
00:59 I'm looking for something that will manifest to me the deepest, truest meaning of my life.
01:08 I don't want to stop at half measures, I want to live deeply and truly and with the greatest
01:15 virtue and the greatest holiness that I can, but when I look inside myself, I don't find
01:22 what I need to manifest that meaning.
01:26 I have to look outside myself as the three kings did, the Magi, and to follow what God
01:34 places on our path to lead us to him because the meaning that we seek can only be found
01:42 in God and in his son Jesus, who has been made incarnate, become flesh for us.
01:52 And then we respond by doing what the Magi do.
01:57 They open up their coffers and they offer to the newborn Jesus their gifts of gold,
02:06 as if to say, "The most precious thing in my life is the one that I'm looking at right
02:12 now.
02:13 It's not gold or any other thing, it's you.
02:18 And so I want to empty myself of everything so that I can love you and value you and make
02:27 you the center and the priority of my life, that all of the meaning, all of the worth
02:33 of my life, I find in you."
02:36 And also it's frankincense, which is used for worship, as if to say that if I want to
02:44 live a meaningful life, then I have to worship and adore the one who is before me because
02:51 God leads me to Jesus precisely so that by loving him and worshiping him, praying to
02:59 him, I can become the person I'm meant to be, because it's that prayer and worship that
03:08 gives us our truest, deepest self.
03:11 And myrrh, which is used in the preparation of a dead body at death, as if to say, "I
03:20 know life is going to be difficult, involving suffering.
03:23 I know that all of us eventually are going to die, but I don't live in dread, I live
03:29 in hope.
03:31 I know that even the sufferings of my life, because I'm united with you, even the sufferings
03:38 of my life have meaning and lead me to my meaning.
03:43 And so I want to live deeply united with you now and as you approach your death."
03:50 And we do this with so much great confidence.
03:54 Even if God doesn't put in our lives a spectacular, glorious star in the heavens, there's going
04:00 to be something on our path, maybe little, maybe very meager.
04:04 It could be just the flickering of the candle of the vigil light next to the tabernacle,
04:10 but it beckons us and it says, "Come, come away from all the confusion.
04:16 Come and find the meaning, the truth of your life.
04:20 Come close to me, to my presence.
04:23 Come let us adore him and find the meaning manifest in the face of Mary's little boy."
04:30 - Jesus Christ, the Lord is with you.
04:31 - Matthew 5:23
04:32 -
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