Category Archives: Year C

When we read the Scriptures as Christians, it’s easy to see striking parallels between the events described in the Old Testament and what we believe to have been revealed by Jesus in the establishment of the New Covenant. In fact, we believe that the Old Covenant was a preparation for the coming of Our Lord and points to Him, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that there is a direct parallel between the Passover in Egypt and the Eucharist which Jesus established before His death on the Cross.

For the Jewish people, the celebration of the Passover is the high point of the year, so much so that, as we see in the first reading, the month in which the Passover occurs is the first month in the traditional Jewish calendar. For those who are Jewish, Passover is not merely a time for celebrating something that happened thousands of years ago, but is renewed year after year. Through the blood of the sacrificed lamb smeared on the doorposts, the Israelite people were spared from the slavery of Egypt and the death which was brought down upon the Egyptian firstborn. To this day, the Passover represents the unique relationship that the Jewish people have with God in being the people He chose as His own.

As Christians, we also have a Passover celebration, but instead of partaking in a sacrificed lamb once a year, we partake in the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God through our celebration of the Eucharist. Every time the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered, we are not merely remembering Our Lord’s death on the Cross, but are once again a part of that Sacrifice, united with all those in the past, present, and future who participate in this Sacrifice. By the Blood of Our Lord, we are spared from the slavery to sin and death that all humanity suffers under, and unite ourselves to the New Passover by receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord in the form of bread and wine.

Just as the Passover from Egypt marked the Israelites as God’s Chosen People, our participation in the Eucharist also makes us part of the Chosen People of God. As members of God’s Chosen People, we follow Our Lord’s commandments, but also are called to follow His example. Before sacrificing Himself on the Cross, Jesus humbled Himself to serve His disciples by the most menial of tasks: washing their feet. We may not be comfortable with foot washing today, but it would have been worse in Jesus’ time. Most people wore very basic sandals and walked along dusty roads which had also been used by animals. Foot washing would have been essential upon arriving at a destination, but was reserved for lower servants, if the household had any.

By Our Lord washing the feet of the disciples, he showed that he was not only their master, but also came to serve. He challenged them to serve others as He served them; He also challenges us to do the same. Washing others’ feet may not have as much importance today, but it shows us that we need to be aware of opportunities to humbly enter into service of others, especially those we may consider less than ourselves. Our participation in the Eucharist should lead us to emulate Our Lord without concern for ourselves, and bring us to a greater concern for those who are less fortunate than we are.

This Sunday is obviously a rare exception to the usual Sunday Mass routine, as we have heard from two Gospel passages: one before the procession with palm branches, and the second with the proclamation of the Passion of Our Lord. Between the two, we can see a great contrast between the Earthly honor which was given to Jesus as He processed into Jerusalem, and the Heavenly honor given by God when Our Lord hung on the Cross.

When looking at these two Gospels, people who are steeped in the mindset of the world would say Our Lord came into Jerusalem heralded as a king and died as a humiliated and despised criminal. He was raised high by the shouts of the people, and he was shamed by the shouts of the people. He traded the power and prestige of earthly rule for the rough wood of a Cross.

To Our Heavenly Father, the earthly honor that Jesus received upon entering Jerusalem is nothing compared to the Heavenly honor He received upon His death on the Cross. Instead of being seated upon an earthly throne made of wood, stone, and precious materials, Our Lord was seated on the Heavenly throne more precious than any material on Earth. Instead of relishing the earthly honor, as St. Paul points out, Our Lord “humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a Cross.” Our salvation, and the salvation of Israel did not come through earthly power, but through His humiliating act on the Cross.

Not only did Our Lord humble Himself by taking on the Cross, but His very presence on Earth was the greatest act of humility. St. Paul reminds us that Jesus “was in the form of God”. As the Second Person of the Trinity, Our Lord is far greater than anything in all creation, yet He humbled Himself to become part of creation.

The humility of Our Lord shows us that humility here on Earth will lead us to our Heavenly reward. As a result of Jesus’ humility on Earth, St. Paul says that “God greatly exalted [Jesus], and bestowed on him the name which is above every other name.” While we will not be exalted as highly as Our Lord, for we are mere creatures, we as Christians are called to follow His example of servant leadership. We are not called to lead others for our honor, as politicians seem to do, but for the honor of God and for the good of those we serve.

Going forward, whenever we look upon the palms we’ve received today, may we be challenged to humble ourselves, as Jesus did, and humbly serve those around us for God’s glory and their good.

If you’re like me, you probably forget a lot of things. It seems like the more important something is, the easier it is to forget. Sadly, however, it seems to be nearly impossible to forget past mistakes that we’ve made: bad decisions, poor choices of words, errors of judgment and so on. Sometimes we might forget some of our past, but remember very clearly a grievance or grudge against someone else for a mistake which they committed.

One theme we see in today’s readings is a call by both the prophet Isaiah and St. Paul to forget the past. Both encourage us to look to the future, seeing that God is “doing something new” and “straining forward to what lies ahead.” St. Paul takes this further, telling us, “I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.”

What is this goal, this prize of which St. Paul speaks? He is speaking of the righteousness of Christ, through which we receive the mercy of God. We see this when St. Paul tells us that he does “not [have] any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God”.

In speaking of the “righteousness from God”, St. Paul is saying that what has brought him into right relationship with God is not following the Mosaic Law of the Jewish Covenant, but entering into and following his faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ. In effect, St. Paul is describing for us the difference between how the scribes and Pharisees approached the woman caught in adultery, and how Jesus approached her.

When the woman was brought before Our Lord, the scribes and Pharisees wanted to put Him in an impossible trap. In response to their statement “Moses commanded us to stone such women,” they wanted to force Him to break either the Law given by God the Father to Moses, or the Roman secular law that reserved the death penalty to the Roman authorities. Either way they could denounce Him as either a false prophet and Roman sympathizer or as a revolutionary who sought to overturn Roman rule in the Jewish Promised Land.

Our Lord obviously saw through the test, and showed them a better way. Instead of condemning the woman, as the scribes and Pharisees wished, He offered her mercy and forgiveness of sins. By doing so, He showed us that the path to salvation no longer comes through strict observance of the Law, but through the mercy of God.

It’s important to remember that God’s mercy is not something we need only once in our lives, but needs to be sought and received constantly throughout our lives. St. Paul speaks of the resurrection from the dead, which we receive through God’s mercy and love, saying, “It is not that I have already taken hold of it or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it.” If St. Paul, who had been called by Christ personally after Our Lord’s resurrection was still in need of God’s mercy, how much more are we in need of that mercy.

The problem with human nature is that we still have the desire to test God’s mercy. Now, it’s not like we’re trying to trap Jesus as the scribes and Pharisees did. No, we test Him when we put off seeking His mercy, as St. Augustine did in his famous quote, “Give me chastity and continency, only not yet.” We test Him when we allow ourselves to sink deeper and deeper into sin without seeking His mercy.

Instead of avoiding God’s mercy, we need to seek it and desire it with all our hearts. One theme that kept coming up throughout the conference this weekend in Billings was the power of the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Through this prayer, which can be prayed very quickly and is easily memorized, God’s mercy floods the world, filling the souls of those who pray it and those for whom the Chaplet has been prayed. It is a simple prayer, but one of the most powerful for asking God to “have mercy on us and on the whole world.” I would encourage all of you to learn this prayer, if you don’t know it already, and to pray it daily, especially with your families.

As this Lenten season quickly approaches its conclusion and we prepare for Holy Week, may we seek God’s mercy in abundance instead of testing Him as the scribes and Pharisees did.

Do we have an awareness of how sin affects us and others? Do we even know what sin is? When we look around us at our culture and nation, sometimes it’s easy to wonder if anyone actually believes in sinful actions any more. About the only things that seem to be considered “sinful” are polluting the environment, not recycling your trash, and speaking against a politically-correct world view. Sinful actions that were considered unthinkable even 30 years ago are now considered accepted and some are even considered a normal part of life.

While our culture has developed a distorted view of sin, we as Christians are still called to a higher morality, where sin is a fact of our daily lives. During this season of Lent, we need to remind ourselves once again that we are sinful beings in need of reconciliation with God. Every sin we commit is like placing a barrier between us and God, preventing us from receiving the gift of His grace that He wishes to bestow upon us. Like a dam in a river, sin prevents those graces from flowing freely into our souls.

We can see this in the actions of the Prodigal Son in today’s Gospel. The younger son, wishing to living a life of sinful excess, cut himself off from his father, squandering his share of the father’s estate in another country. Of course, the only time we worry about someone’s estate is after their death, so requesting half of the estate is like the son telling the father, “As far as I’m concerned, you’re dead.”

While I think most parents would be offended if their children said to them, “Give me my inheritance now, because you’re dead to me,” and rightly so, we are in effect saying that God is dead to us every time we commit a sin in words or deeds. Even the smallest venial sin can restrict our openness to God’s grace, and can eventually completely block us from God. Every mortal sin we commit cuts us off from the flow of God’s grace as completely as turning off the kitchen faucet. This is not a state that we want our souls to be in when we die, as it will have eternal consequences.

We are not without hope, however, that sin will have a hold on us forever. According to St. Paul, God “has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation.” Like the father in the Gospel who forgave without even allowing the younger son to finish his confession of guilt, God is ready and willing to offer His forgiveness if we but approach Him and ask for it.

Our Heavenly Father wants to reconcile us with him, removing the blocks of sin and restoring the flow of graces into our souls. God created us to spend eternity with Him in Heaven, and He wants to give us every opportunity in this life to receive the inheritance that He promised us. This is so important to God that, as St. Paul says, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who did not know sin,” that is Jesus, the Son of God, “so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Through His Death and Resurrection, Jesus took on the punishment for our sins so that we can enter into the Kingdom of God when our lives on Earth are over.

Notice, however, that the father in the parable did not go out seeking the younger son, but waited for the son to come to him. In the same way, we need to have true sorrow for our sins, as the younger son did during his time tending the swine. The younger son then returned to the father and asked for forgiveness. We too need to turn to God in our remorse and ask forgiveness for our sins.

We need to be careful that we don’t fall into the erroneous mindset that all we have to do is be “really sorry,” ask God to forgive our sins, and we’re good to go. I’ve heard many non-Catholics and even some Catholics state this idea or something similar. Jesus established the Church to be the normal means that God uses for our salvation. For that reason, He has given us the Sacrament of Confession as the normal way by which God provides his forgiveness and reconciliation, hence “Sacrament of Reconciliation” as an alternate name for this sacrament.

I know I’ve talked about the Sacrament of Confession before, but it needs to be said again and again. Our Heavenly Father really is waiting for us to return to Him with contrite hearts, but we have to be the ones to take that first step. Through the Sacrament of Confession, we can return to God, and hear Him say, to paraphrase the father of the Prodigal Son, “You were lost, and have been found.”

Our Scripture passages today seem to be a continuance of last week’s readings. If you remember from last week, we saw the Transfiguration of the Lord, during which Our Lord’s Passion was seen as His “exodus”. This theme is continued in our first reading today, with the calling of Moses, but the second reading from St. Paul and today’s Gospel provide some warnings for those of us who follow Our Lord on His exodus.

As I said last week, Israel’s Exodus which freed them from the slavery of Egypt is a foreshadowing of Our Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection which frees us from the slavery to sin. The first reading from the Book of Exodus today shows the promise of God that He will fulfill the covenant He made with the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If the Israelites are willing to follow Moses, whom God has sent, they will enter into “a land flowing with milk and honey.”

While all the Israelites received the gifts of food and drink from God to sustain them during the Exodus, St. Paul reminds us that many of the Israelites were not faithful to God. These unfaithful Israelites were not allowed to enter into the Promised Land, perishing in the desert. Even Moses himself was only allowed to view the Promised Land from afar, dying before the Israelites set foot within the land.

For those of us who profess to follow Christ, we also have been given the promise of “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Unlike the Israelites’ Promised Land, ours is an eternal reward for being faithful to the New Covenant that Jesus established here on Earth. When we were baptized, we entered into that covenant, following Christ through His new exodus.

Just as the Israelites had to remain faithful to God throughout their Exodus to enter into the Promised Land, we too have to remain faithful throughout our exodus. St. Paul tells us that what happened to the Israelites “happened as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things, as they did,” and “have been written down as a warning to us.” We need to look at the example of those Israelites who were unfaithful to God’s commands to understand what will happen to those who are unfaithful to His commands today.

Those of us who are faithful do not have reason to gloat over those who may have fallen from following God’s path. St. Paul reminds us, “whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.” We need to be constantly aware of our own sinfulness and not think of our salvation as a one-time-good thing. Even if we are regularly doing the “right” things, we need to make sure that we don’t become prideful, but allow the graces of God to work through us to change our sinful desires.

There was an idea running throughout the history of the Jewish Covenant that God will curse in this life those who are unfaithful to His covenant. This is most clear in the Book of Job when his friends were sure that his sorrows had to be caused by sins Job had committed. We also see this idea in how people at the time of Jesus reacted to the deaths in Galilee and Siloam, thinking them as punishment for their sins.

Jesus very clearly rejects this idea, stating that those who died were no worse sinners than those who were listening to Him speak. He tells them, “If you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” We need to listen to these words as well, and need to repent from our sins. We may not be punished in this life if we do not, but Jesus is clear that we will be punished in the next for failure to repent.

How do we repent from our sins and ensure that we are following God’s commands? Our Lord gave us the tool that we need: the Sacrament of Confession. When we confess our sins sacramentally, we will receive the forgiveness of God and make true repentance for our sins. In order to properly use this tool, we must daily examine our consciences, finding those sins which have the most effect on our lives. We also must make regular confession – at least once a month – a part of our routines, and ask God for the grace to dig the roots of sin out of our souls.

When we are faithful to repentance for our sins throughout our entire lives, we will enter into the eternal Promised Land at the end of our exodus on Earth just as the faithful Israelites entered into their Promised Land.

Today we are presented with the Transfiguration of the Lord, in which Jesus appears to His disciples in a foreshadowing of His glorified body, speaking to two of the greatest figures in the Old Covenant: Moses and Elijah. In this event, we see the divine nature of Our Lord, which is reinforced by the voice of God our Heavenly Father speaking from the cloud, but it also gives us a foreshadowing of what our glorified bodies will be like at our resurrection at the end of time.

Apart from the descriptions in Scripture of the Transfiguration and images of Heaven, we don’t have an understanding of what a glorified body looks like. A glorified body is one that has been freed from sin, and is filled with the grace of God. God’s glory and majesty is so powerful that it becomes visible as a bright light. The light is so bright that the Sun pales in comparison.

One day, when we have been freed from the shackles of death and our bodies have been raised up following the final judgment, those who died in the state of grace will have their bodies glorified as Our Lord’s was after His resurrection. We know this from St. Paul, who tells us that Our Lord “will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables Him also to bring all things into subjection to Himself.” We will share in the glory of God, and our bodies will be purified and raised up.

Sadly, however, that day is yet to come. We on Earth are still affected by sin, and our vision has been darkened by sin. We do not see the radiant glory of God, and would be stunned if we did experience that glory, as Peter, James and John were in the Gospel today. It’s been said that if an angel appeared before us in all it’s glory, we would not be able to tell that it was merely an angel and not God Himself. In fact, St. John in the Book of Revelation had to be told several times by the angel that appeared to him not to worship the angel, as St. John was awed by the glory of God shining through it.

As we look at the account of the Transfiguration given to us today, it’s interesting that St. Luke chose to describe Our Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection in Jerusalem as his “exodus”, while Our Lord was speaking to the one figure in the Old Testament who is most well known for Israel’s Exodus from Egypt. It’s striking that the Exodus that freed the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt parallels the suffering, death and resurrection of Our Lord that frees us from the slavery to sin.

In both cases, a difficult journey with great suffering had to be made in order to gain this freedom from slavery and enter into the Promised Land. Moses had to lead Israel out of Egypt and suffer through the desert for 40 years so that the people of Israel could enter into the Promised Land, which Abram (later known as Abraham) was given by God. Our Lord had to undergo the suffering of the Roman and Jewish authorities, be crucified, die, and rise again so that we might enter into our Promised Land of Heaven.

It’s important to point out that “our citizenship is in Heaven,” as St. Paul tells us. Just as the people of Israel were estranged from their homeland when living in Egypt, we are estranged from our Heavenly homeland during our lives on Earth. When you read the account of the Exodus, many in Israel were attached to the things of Egypt, making the Exodus difficult for the Israelites. Sadly, we too are attached to our land of exile, often caring more for the things of Earth over the things of Heaven. As St. Paul once again says, “Their minds are occupied with earthly things.”

To overcome this desire for earthly goods, we need to place our faith in God, as Abram did in the first reading, and as the people of Israel who entered the Promised Land did during the Exodus. When we put our faith in God instead of in the constant concern for earthly things, life won’t be without challenge, as the Exodus was not without difficulty, but it will be “credited” to us “as an act of righteousness,” just as it was for Abram. When we are “righteous”, which means that we are in the friendship and grace of God, we too will one day enter into our Promised Land: the eternal joys of God’s presence in Heaven.

As we go through our lives here on Earth, we join our exodus through the pain and sorrow that accompany this life to the pain and anguish that Our Lord suffered during his Passion and Death. May our exodus end at the Promised Land of Heaven, just as the Israelites’ Exodus ended in their Promised Land.

When we look at the Gospel passages of the Temptation, such as we heard in today’s Gospel reading, I think we feel a little bit of comfort that we can share with Our Lord the fact that He was tempted the way we are tempted. At the same time, this passage is very instructive for us because it shows us the sins that the Devil uses to snare us.

I’m taking much of this from a former professor of mine at Mundelein Seminary, Fr. Robert Barron. For a couple of years now, he has been doing a series of brief videos on the Internet called Word on Fire. In these videos, Fr. Barron explains some aspect of the Catholic faith, or takes an aspect of the secular culture and explains it through the eyes of the Catholic faith.

Fr. Barron’s most recent video focused on the Three Temptations of Our Lord, which we read in the Gospel passage chosen for this First Sunday in Lent. The point that Fr. Barron made in his reflection on the Temptations is that we can see the sins that the Devil tries to trick us into committing in order to ensnare us.

The Devil’s first temptation of Our Lord was to turn the stones that surrounded them in the desert into bread. This temptation is to make sensate pleasure the center of our lives. This would be excessive use of physical pleasures, such as food and drink, to the point that they replace the focus that we should have on God. There’s no room for God in our lives because these pleasures have filled them up.

The second temptation of Our Lord is being taken up and shown all the kingdoms of the world. The Devil temps him, saying, “All this will be yours, if you worship me.” (Luke 4:7) The temptation is for glory and power, making Jesus the most powerful person in the world.

For many people, this is the strongest temptation. They may be able to handle the physical pleasures, finding little or no temptation in them. Give them power and glory, however, and they will fall for the Devil’s trick every time.

Third temptation finds Our Lord on the parapet, the highest point, of the Temple. The Devil tries to tempt Our Lord to throw Himself off of the parapet, quoting from the Scriptures that the angels will guard and protect Him. First of all, this is a temptation to put God to the test. Secondly, by putting Our Lord on this high place in the temple, which was the center of the society, the Devil was putting Him on the top of society, bringing Him honor and esteem.

Again, for some people, this may be the most dangerous temptation. These people may not want the pleasures of the world, they may not want power, but they seek honor and esteem from those around them. Give them this honor and esteem, and they’ll fall for the trap.

So, how to do we resist these temptations? In the first two readings, we see that we need to confess our faith in God. The first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy is a confession of faith of the Israelite people as they are entering into the Promised Land and reaping the first fruits of that land. Confessing their faith that God has lead them to this Promised Land, they turn over their first fruits to Him in gratitude and thanksgiving.

In the second reading, St. Paul tells us that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) This brief statement shows us what we need to do to overcome the temptations of the Devil. We must believe in our hearts the promise of Our Lord that we will be saved and confess that belief publicly through our words and actions in order to overcome the snares and tricks of the Devil. We must also be like the Israelites in the first reading, giving the first fruit of our gifts over to God in gratitude and thanksgiving.

During this Lenten season, may our hearts be open to believing in the promises of Our Lord and may our lives confess that belief, so that we may be saved and help free others from the snares of the Devil.

This week I preached off of an outline instead of a full script. Here’s the outline for the week:

• Do we understand what it means to be a prophet?
  • Guy standing with “End is near” sign
  • Prophetic speech
    • Idea that prophesy is telling the future

  • Prophet appears throughout our readings
    • Jeremiah’s call
    • St. Paul “prophesying partially”
    • Our Lord “prophet without honor in his native place”

• 2 purposes in the OT for prophesy
  • Call to conversion
    • Israel kept falling away from God the Father
    • Prophets called them back

  • Point to future coming of Jesus
    • Show fulfillment of covenant
    • “Partial will pass away”
      • Revelation in Jewish Covenant was partial
      • Jesus is the fullness of revelation
        • “The perfect”

• We are called to be prophets
  • Through baptism we share in Christ’s ministry
    • CCC 436: “Jesus fulfilled the messianic hope of Israel in His threefold office of priest, prophet, and king.”

  • What does it look like to be a prophet?
    • Not foretelling the future
    • 2 purposes
      • Call to conversion
        • Need to do this first in our lives
          • Lead others by example

      • Point to Jesus
        • We need to live our lives by following Christ
        • Allow our witness and example to bring others to Him

      • Priest assembly
        • Example of priests = vocations
        • Example of dedicated Christians = more followers of Christ

• We are all called to be prophets through our baptisms. Are we willing to answer that call?

It seems like we are all on a never-ending search for happiness and contentment, yet it also seems that we never truly find the key to a joyful life. We might find brief periods of happiness in a relationship with others, in some possession, or in a hobby or other activity that we enjoy, but that happiness always seems to be fleeting and brief.

With all our searching, we never seem to think that following Our Lord could ever bring us any joy. In fact, the stereotypical image of a Christian who devoutly follows Jesus is someone who is very dour and bitter, almost austere in their life. Joy seems to be the last thing on their minds, yet the readings today bring us a different picture. They show us that we live truly joyful lives when we use the gifts of the Spirit that we have been given by God.

Today’s passage from St. John’s Gospel reminds us of the first miracle that Our Lord performed when he began his earthly ministry. It wasn’t a healing, or raising someone from the dead, or casting a demon out of someone. Instead, it might seem to have occurred at an insignificant event: running out of wine at a wedding. Our Lord used this occasion to show the joy God our Father wishes to bestow on us by not only producing some wine to continue the party, but producing an astounding quantity of the best wine.

Again, it might seem strange to us that God wants to bestow joy upon us, especially when it seems like our lives are one difficulty after another, but look at the first reading. The description of a newly-freed Israel is one of the joy felt by newlyweds, the buoyant, almost giddy feelings that accompany an important, joyful event in our lives, such as a wedding. The language isn’t one of sorrow and pity, but of rejoicing: “as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.” (Isaiah 62:5)

This is the joy that will come to us when we follow the spiritual life and exercise the gifts that we have been given by the Holy Spirit. Yes, this once again might be hard to believe, but the Holy Spirit has given each of us gifts that are for the benefit of ourselves and those we meet every day. St. Paul tells the Corinthians, and us, “to each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit,” (1 Cor 12:7) following up with a list of some of the gifts which the Holy Spirit bestows upon us. This isn’t a complete list by any stretch of the imagination, but helps us to understand the Holy Spirit has given us gifts, “distributing them individually to each person as He wishes.” (1 Cor 12:11)

The difficulty we face when practicing the gifts we’ve been given comes when we’re trying to figure out what they are in the first place. For some, the gifts are quite obvious, such as someone with a beautiful singing voice or a natural talent with musical instruments. Most of us, however, have to discern where those gifts lie and figure out how best to exercise them. In most cases, we need to work with those gifts once we’ve figured out what they are, developing our understanding of the gift and improving our familiarity with it.

When we do exercise the gifts we have been given, we can find a great joy in seeing those gifts used successfully. This might not happen at first, and may take many years to fully develop, but when we use the gifts of the Holy Spirit for the honor of God and to help our neighbors, we can truly find the joy that we are searching for. This joy far exceeds the happiness that we can ever receive through the things of this world. This joy is but a small taste of the joy that we will experience in the next life when we are in perfect union with our Heavenly Father.

In our search for happiness on Earth, may we seek the true joy that comes from finding and using the gifts of the Holy Spirit that reside within us.

The prophet Isaiah in today’s first reading gives the Israelite people a message of great hope. Instead of being a small nation which has been regularly conquered and stepped upon, one day they would be mighty people that all the nations of the world would come to honor and exult. This was a prophesy of great hope for a downtrodden people, one that would be fulfilled in a way they never expected.

The magi who came to find Jesus were wise men, learned men who were familiar with the stars in the sky and whose job it was to look for signs in the stars. They also would have likely been familiar with the Jewish longing for a Messiah, and would have recognized immediately that the star was leading them towards the land of the Jewish people. It would have been no surprise to them that the star was leading them towards that promised Messiah, the long awaited King of the Jews.

What would be a surprise for the Jewish readers of St. Matthew’s Gospel is the willingness of these Gentiles to make the journey from Persia, in modern-day Iran. Here is the first sign of the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy. These magi even brought two of the gifts mentioned in the prophesy: gold and frankincense. The visit of the magi were a sign to the Jewish followers of Our Lord that the Gospel message wasn’t reserved to Jews alone, but to all the nations of the world. St. Paul tells us that the blessings to be bestowed on all nations, as promised by Isaiah, come through our sharing in the promised salvation of Christ.

Notice how Our Heavenly Father led the magi to Our Lord. Their occupation was to observe the night sky for any significant phenomena. God used their roles as astrologers who could interpret the signs in the sky to lead them to Our Lord. Through their work, they were drawn to Our Lord.

On our part, God is still calling us through our occupations to follow Him. In fact, He is constantly calling us to follow Him in our daily lives, every moment of every day. We just need to be open to the signs. Sometimes a sign is a coincidental occurrence that allows to act on His grace. Occasionally, it’s a prompting that helps us to make a major decision in our lives that can be used to better serve Him and His people. No matter how these signs appear, we need to be aware of how He is working in our lives.

Once we are aware of God’s call in our lives, are we willing to respond as the magi did? They knew that the King of the Jews proclaimed by the star was a newborn, and yet they were willing to travel long distances to find and honor Him. They didn’t bring simple gifts to lay at His feet, but gave Our Lord the best gifts they could.

Are we going to allow our gifts to be used in the service of God, as the magi did, or are we going to give as little of ourselves as we can? We may not have to travel as far or with as much difficulty as the magi faced, but we still need the same commitment to Our Lord. Instead of giving a little time and effort, say once a week to attend Mass, we need to be willing to commit our entire lives and everything we have and are to follow Jesus and proclaim His Gospel to the whole world.

This is the challenge of the Christian life. It’s one thing to say we’re Christians, it’s something completely different to live as Christ commands. When we pay homage to Our Lord and lay our gifts at His feet, as the magi did, He will use us in a way that will bring us greater joy than we can ever imagine. As the star called the magi to follow, Our Lord calls us to follow Him every day. May we hear His call and answer.