It seems that the Christmas season is flying by. Just yesterday we celebrated the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, and already today, the liturgical calendar presents us with the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord.
As temperatures plumet outside, there is now a thin blanket of snow (which fell overnight). Was this meant to remind us that Christmas is not quite over yet? With snow on the ground, it might be difficult to imagine what it might have been like for the Wise Men to have been trudging through sand and desert heat, but that's what today's Feast is all about. Here then is my reflection for today:
The season for gifts
The Christmas season is about gifts. For the child within each of us, there's a certain excitement about gifts received, and for the adults in all of us, there is an equal excitement about gifts given. The age-old question is whether it's better to give or to receive. In order to understand how we should answer this question, let's look today at the bearers of gifts who came from the east to visit the divine child.
Tradition numbers the Magi as three, and even names them: Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar, but little else is known about them. That they came from the east would appear as a fact of history, although how far exactly we're not sure. They were prepared by prophesy for the coming of a Saviour, and they were guided by a star to the place where he was to be found, but nothing could ever have prepared them for the circumstances of his birth. The Magi were wealthy men. They had to be to make such a journey. They had to be to bring such expensive gifts. Their rich backgrounds and their exalted concept of kingship must surely have raised their expectations. Instead of a court though, they found a cave; in place of a throne, they encountered a manger; where they expected grandeur, they discovered poverty.
Struck by these circumstances, lesser men would have carried on, believing that their true treasure was elsewhere, but these were truly wise men, not because they brought a lot of knowledge with them, but because they were able and willing to set aside preconceived notions in order to grasp the truth of the situation. They were wise, not because their heads were full but because their hearts were open. The true wisdom of these men from the east is not found in their outward appearance; it exists rather in their ability to kneel in adoration.
When I was a child, I used to think that the encounter between the child Jesus and the Wise Men from the east was a one-sided affair, an occasion for presenting gifts to the Holy Family in recognition of this blessed birth, but the gift giving goes both ways, and I'm convinced that the travelers came out on the winning end of that exchange. The Epiphany is sometimes referred to as 'Little Christmas' but in the Eastern Church, it is celebrated with greater importance than Christmas. The word 'Epiphany' means 'a showing forth' and so today we celebrate Christ's presentation of himself to the whole world. The King of kings invited not only the Jews, but all people, Gentile and Jew to partake in his love, his grace, his joy.
The Magi visited with a baby, but that baby was God. They gave him their faith, and received hope and love in return. They gave him their hearts and received in return a gift that even God himself couldn't better - the gift of himself. Saint Paul told the community at Ephesus that we are coheirs, members of Christ's body and copartners in the promise announced to us in Christ Jesus. In your life and in mine, this truth has not come about in a one-time epiphany, but rather in varying degrees as we have continued to grow in our faith. As we grow in our faith, each one of us, like the Magi themselves, presents our gifts of faith, small as they are, and in return we receive the infinite grace of divine friendship. This friendship is the source of our hope because it bears with it unfathomable hope, founded in love.
Christmas is indeed a season for gifts both given and received.
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