Redefining Boundaries

In this time of increased nationalism, erecting barriers, and labeling others as threats or enemies, this feast calls us to a powerful counter-message. Our field of vision and inclusion must be much larger than that of the status-quo. It must have been shocking to learn that God’s love extended not only to the Gentiles, but to the whole world. It may be equally shocking to realize that our boundaries are also too narrow. This feast is an epiphany about God’s will for Christ’s impact and ours on the world.

SOURCE: National Catholic Reporter: Cycle A Sunday Resources feature series. View the full series.

Embracing the World

The celebration of Epiphany, meaning “manifestation,” is like a second Christmas. It is, in fact, the Christmas of the Eastern Churches. It proclaims that the child Jesus belongs to and is given to the whole world as its Savior. With the magi, the world brings to him its variety of gifts: its culture, its many facets, its different identities. And we here, like people from other nations, bring him the gift of ourselves: our faith, our fidelity, our love, as we meet him in prayer and in people, especially in the poorest.

SOURCE: Bible Claret Liturgy Alive

Jesus Came for All

We celebrate today the great feast of Epiphany. Originally it was the Christmas feast of the Eastern part of the Christian Church. In the West, the stress of Christmas was and is on the birth of Christ as a little human child. In the East, the stress is more on Jesus coming as the Lord and Savior of all. This is the reality the liturgy stresses today: Jesus came to save and bring life to all. No one is excluded, no one is a stranger to him. May all come to know Jesus, alive here among us.

SOURCE: Bible Claret Liturgy Alive