Following the Star

“And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.”

Matthew 2:9b

Today the Church celebrates the solemnity of the Epiphany, when we remember the arrival of the Magi or the Wise Men and their presentation of gifts to the Infant Jesus. On a deeper level, the Epiphany is the day when God was made manifest to the people — not just to the Jews, but to all people and all nations, as symbolized by the visit of the Magi from afar.

In that little manger held a most fragile infant. A baby born without the luxury of post-natal care or other medical care. A baby born in a filthy stable and laid in a cold manger wrapped only in scraps of swaddling clothes. This is the way God chose to be made manifest to us: in weakness, in vulnerability, in rejection, in poverty, and in adversity. Our God is a God who stands with us and chooses to be with us in our weakness and trials. Even as the Infant was being born, His life was sought after already by King Herod. From the very moment of the Infant’s life to His final moments, the Lord’s life was at stake and was sought after. God was made manifest in a way that encapsulates the depths of human suffering and the trials one might and must endure in life. In every way, God became man. God became man to tell us that He is truly Emmanuel, “I am with you in every way, every step of the way.”

It was the star that led the Magi to the Infant Jesus. As learned men, they would have seen countless stars, yet this one was different. So different that they were willing to leave their homes, their places of comfort and security, to set off for a long journey to a distant place to see where this star would lead them. They knew at the end of their journey the would find something and someone amazing, Someone to whom they must bear gifts. They also know they would walk away from that encounter changed, where life would never be the same. Brothers and sisters, when we choose to leave behind in comfort what is familiar we will always be led to what is greater, and that to which we are led, we will come to possess: God Himself.

Are we aware of the stars that surround us? What are those stars that we look upon and follow? Do they lead us to Christ or do they lead us away from Christ? Let us identify those stars in our lives — people, places, things — (among them the Church) and allow them to lead us to the Infant Jesus who is God made man, who is God made manifest to us, reminding us that He is with us, in our joys and sorrows, health and sickness, sufferings and trials.

Brothers and sisters, let us look up at the sky and the nature that surrounds us today and may we be reminded of the Creator who created and placed all those things there for our joy, the same Creator who was wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid sleeping, fragile, and vulnerable in the manger. God has made Himself manifest to us. Will we journey to the depths of our hearts, to the spiritual Bethlehem’s in our brothers and sisters to find Him?

Watch my reflection for the Epiphany below.

Importance of Family

“And over all these put on love, 
that is, the bond of perfection.”

Colossians 3:14

The Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph is usually celebrated on the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, which is today. (Side note: An “octave” is an 8-day celebration in which every day of those 8 days is celebrated as the day of the Solemnity, in this case, Christmas. So what that means is that for 8 days, every day is Christmas Day! This will be the same in Easter.) The Holy Family is a model which we should all emulate; I mean it is the HOLIEST of families out there! If you were to ask me to sum up what we ought to emulate from the Holy Family, it would be: the obedience of Jesus, the receptivity of Mary, and the righteousness of Joseph.

The author of Hebrews reminds us that “Son though He was, [Jesus] He learned obedience from what He suffered” (5:8). Yes, Jesus is the Son of God, but He was also the Son of Mary and taught by Joseph. Jesus learned everything from His parents, Mary and Joseph. Jesus learned how to pray from His parents. When He was 12 and stayed behind at the Temple after Passover, Joseph and Mary went all over the place looking for Him, and when they found Him, He gave a seemingly disrespectful response, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But what did He do afterwards? He went home with them and was “obedient to them” and “Jesus advanced [in] wisdom and age and favor before God and man” (Lk. 2:51-52). It was in His obedience that wisdom came to be. We can see in Jesus’s public ministry the many times He suffered and turned to His Father in prayer, and in obedience continued to do His Father’s will, all the way to the Cross. Jesus’s obedience to His Father is the foundation upon which His entire earthly life was built.

From the moment the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Son of God and she replied, “I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” we know that Mary’s primary position was one of receptivity, receptivity to the will of God. Because Mary received God’s word with joy and openness, the Word was made flesh, and Jesus entered into this world, bringing about our salvation. But in order for Mary to have made such a response, there first must have been a foundation of faith. If Mary did not know who God was or if she did not acknowledge the truth of God’s love and providence, she would not have been able to say “yes.” Of course we are told that Mary was “full of grace,” and so yes, she was pre-disposed to saying “yes” to God, but it also required an act of faith, one that came from gift of free will. So, Mary teaches us to say “yes” to God, but even more so, how we are able to get to that point in life. We must first learn to receive God into our hearts and allow His every word to permeate our being so that all that we think, say, and do comes from a place of truth and love, leading us to say “yes” to God, and in doing so, saying “yes” to our neighbor.

We do not know much about Joseph, but we do know that he was a “righteous” man, which means that he was in right relationship with God. Like Mary, Joseph received the word of God whole-heartedly, and he acted upon it. He took Mary into his home; he traveled to Bethlehem; he protected Mary and Joseph and fled to Egypt. Because Joseph was in right relationship with God, he was able to say “yes” to God and to live out that “yes” where he put his family first, something that all fathers ought to do. If a man roots his “yes” in God and builds his life upon the foundation of right relationship with God, then he can be the best son, husband, and father. (Likewise for woman!)

The obedience of Jesus, the receptivity of Mary, and the righteousness of Joseph only makes sense within the context of relationship, and a relationship that is rooted in love. A family is only a family within the context of relationship, and only if love dwells there. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph show us the different dimensions of a family and the different roles that exists within a family, all of which are indispensable. To be a part of a family means saying “yes” to love, but love is not saying “yes” to everything, but rather saying “yes” to what is most important: God and our relationship with Him. Only when we learn to say “yes” to God will we be able truly love our families because love without God will eventually become enabling, and when we enable our families and friends in things that are harmful to them, we are not really loving them.

So, on this Holy Family Sunday, let us remember that faith truly begins in the family. It is within the family that we first learn who God is, and what it means to love. May we all today reflect upon our families and the role we have been asked to play in our families. Have we lived out our roles obediently, receptively, and righteously? Let us turn to the Holy Family today, asking them to intercede for us so that God might grant us the graces we need to say “yes” to Him and to our families.

Click below to watch and listen to my reflection on the readings for Holy Family Sunday.

A Manger God

“While they were there,
the time came for her to have her child, 
and she gave birth to her firstborn son.
She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Luke 2:6-7

Merry Christmas to you! The angels proclaim “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests!” Our God has come to bring us peace, may we do our best to receive it and to pass it along to others. Although the angels pronounced such a grand blessing, the manner in which our “God in the highest” was in fact the lowest and humblest of all — He was born in a stable and laid in a manger.

Can you imagine that? Of all the ways He could have made Himself known to us, the all-powerful, eternal God chose to do so by becoming one of us, and in the lowest and humblest of states, without even a proper room or crib at His birth — all to show how much He loves us, how He shares in our poverty, and to draw us to Himself, allowing us to share in His very nature. May we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share in our humanity. Those words the priest utters and prays in silence at every Mass as he prepares the offering of bread and wine. God became man and was born of a woman in a manger so that we might come to share in His divinity, participate in His divine life, and hope for eternal life.

On that very first Christmas night, there was no vacant room for Joseph and Mary to rest and bring Jesus into this world. But even when the world did not seemingly want Him or welcome Him, God chose to enter it anyways to save humanity from itself. Jesus entered into a place that did not want Him and where from the moment His existence was made known His life was sought after, yet God didn’t think twice about it. We are worth it in His eyes. We are loved so much that even when His life was sought after, He willingly entered into this world so that our lives might be saved. Will there be room in our hearts for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph this Christmas?

Click here to listen/watch my Christmas reflection.