The Epiphany of the Lord (Homily)

January 03, 2021 11:30 am  · Father Sergio Muñoz Fita

Homilies, Christmas & Epiphany

As I have mentioned on other occasions, the Gospel of this Solemnity of the Epiphany that we are celebrating today, is undoubtedly one of the most beloved pages of all Sacred Scripture. I admire these Magi who launched into the unknown to follow a hope, a light in the dark. In the past, it was said audaces fortuna iuvat, fortune favors the bold. These were words of men who had not known Christ and those we can apply to these men from the East. God smiles at the brave: at those who risk everything, at those who launch into the unknown without human security. Their journey was more than a risky adventure: it was a true madness that for many made no sense. A reasonable person would not have left home with so many unknowns and without any certainty. In the Christian life, sometimes all we have is an inspiration, a prompting that could come from God, but whose origin we are only able to know while we are journeying toward it. They may be dangerous inspirations, because they could shake up our whole life and turn everything upside down.

The Magi had the courage to follow the star that many saw up in the sky, but whose truth they did not know how to interpret. That light led to God made flesh, led to the Child who brought salvation for all men in history.

Last week I invited married couples in the parish to contact me to share their spiritual concerns and needs. Thanks to all of you who have written to me and telling me so many things. Reading these has done me a lot of good. Please feel free to keep contacting me in the following weeks. On this feast of the Epiphany, I am thinking in a special way about the role of men as the heads of their families and their communities. Don't you think that the Lord is inviting us today to follow a path like that of these Kings of the East? Many have the feeling that they are stuck in their spiritual life, that they cannot move, that they have even regressed and grown cold as time goes by. Let's confess it: we are afraid. We don't want to get out of our comfort zone. Leaving where we are means embracing sacrifice, facing our fears, distancing ourselves from everything we are attached to. To go out into the unknown, virtues such as courage, humility, strength, the spirit of sacrifice, faith, simplicity, and trust are needed - virtues we are short of.

Looking at the pilgrimage of the Magi, we can understand today better that to receive the salvation that God has offered to all of us, we must make a path, we must progress, we must move through the night of life under the light of faith. We must also overcome difficulties, discouragement, and people, like Herod, who do not intend to help us.

The Magi also teach us that we cannot walk alone, that the Christian life requires brothers and sisters with whom to move forward together, laugh together, suffer together. People to give us strength when we feel weak, to make us happy when we are sad, to catch us when we are about to fall.

Let us ask God that men will open the doors of their hearts to the salvation that is announced today to all nations, that we will learn from the Magi to follow the stars that sometimes pass only once through the sky of our existence and lead us to Christ. May we overcome our fears and insecurities with the confidence that God never abandons us in the desert of our life, that the men of St. Anne understand that they cannot remain where they are, that for the good of their families and communities, they must get on the road. May they find travel companions with whom to embark on the adventure of the Spirit. May they finally meet Jesus, and adoring him in the mystery of the Eucharist, return home by another path: along a new path of holiness, joy in the Lord and the good news of the Gospel.