The Epiphany of the Lord 2021

Lectionary: 20

You have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for your benefit, namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation. It was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed...

Saint Mark begins his gospel with a simple expression: "The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." His message was that simple; his mission that straightforward. He and his contemporaries announced the "good news," as they called it, to people who had never heard it. If there were similar stories of gods appearing in human form, and of humans who die and are resuscitated, they were only myths from a virtual, imaginary world. That first generation of the disciples proclaimed something the world had never heard and could not imagine, "The gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." 

When the Lord spoke to Saint Francis of Assisi twelve centuries later, and told him to "Rebuild my house which has fallen into ruin!" the Saint set out to rebuild a derelict chapel near Assisi. Only later would he and his disciples realize the ruined house might be the entire Church.

The word ruined implied jaded. Thirteenth century Europeans had heard the Gospel -- or supposed they had -- and had moved on. They knew all about Jesus, the Blessed Mother, the saints, the Church, the Eucharist, and so forth. Everyone was Catholic; nearly everyone respected the papacy, if not the pope. 

Our twenty-first century is quite different from the thirteenth century, but many of our contemporaries also believe they know everything they need to know about Jesus. Or they know nothing but that religion is a thing of the past. If long dead humans needed to believe in God or gods, in sacred objects and mysterious teachings, in judgement, eternal rewards and endless punishment, we don't need it today. 

If Christmas at one time celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ, it has reverted to its original meaning, the winter solstice. It's about cheering one another through the dark days of winter with gifts and parties. Those who have not antagonized their families beyond endurance may gather with them to refresh their acquaintance and renew the promise to attend one another's funeral. By early January, the secular world around has spent its celebratory energy; they won't want to hear about Christmas until next December. 

And so today, on this first Sunday of the new year, the Church quietly celebrates Christmas -- again. It's a more subdued observance of God's appearance in our real world and our real time. The word epiphany implies the revelation of something mysterious, important, and wonderful. We hear Saint Paul speak of it in his letter to the Ephesians, "...a mystery was made known to me by revelation. It was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed..." 

Our "collect" -- the gathering prayer of our Mass -- highlights Jesus's mission to all the nations. They are represented by the magi who came from someplace far away. The shepherds in Luke's account heard the heavenly angels -- who must be familiar with faraway places -- announce the Good News for all people. 

Saint Luke always preferred to emphasize the harmony of that first generation of Christians, and to downplay disagreement; but he could not paper over the intense debate about the mission to the nations. "Gentile Christian" sounded like an oxymoron to many devout Jewish disciples. If they had to be admitted into the Church they should be circumcised, conform to Jewish dietary customs, and not expect to change anything! 

But Saint Paul -- who was a Jewish as they come -- had a different understanding. He insisted, "that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel." They must be admitted to our religion, even if it means the formation of an entirely new religion. 

In our day, when many people despise the very notion of religion, preferring a vague spirituality as if a spirit can exist without a body, the Catholic Church invites all peoples to know Jesus through the sacraments -- those physical/spiritual symbols of our faith. They are so important and perplexing the word sacrament might be understood as mystery. The God who took to himself a human body through the maternity of a virgin, insists that we eat his flesh and drink his blood and come to him through the death of baptism. As the Jews came to know God through the ordeal of circumcision, so do we know Jesus by the materialistic mysteries. 

Every age challenges these customs but the Covid-19 pandemic represents a particular threat to our faith. Some people who were not allowed to attend church will decide that watching it on Youtube, Zoom, Skype, or Teams is good enough. They heard the word and suppose that's all there is to it. This plague has returned us to the pre-Vatican days of watching the priest mumble through the Mass as the congregation occupied itself with the rosary or other pious devotions. 

My Protestant colleagues in the VA chaplaincy have been dismayed and frightened for me that I insisted on visiting face to face and hand to hand with Catholic Veterans who are Covid+. I must anoint their foreheads with oil and place the Eucharist on their hands or their tongues. I can't do that with an electronic tablet. I put on all the PPE and exercise more than reasonable caution but as a "steward of God's grace" I must announce the Mystery which we have seen and touched with our own hands. 

The word sacrament connotes mystery and without the sacraments we cannot know the mysterious Christ. Without the sacraments we might consider him no mystery at all! We'd be like our neighbors who think they understand and have dismissed their faith and religious heritage.  

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 515, explains it clearly: 

The Gospels were written by men who were among the first to have the faith and wanted to share it with others. Having known in faith who Jesus is, they could see and make others see the traces of his mystery in all his earthly life. From the swaddling clothes of his birth to the vinegar of his Passion and the shroud of his Resurrection, everything in Jesus' life was a sign of his mystery. His deeds, miracles and words all revealed that "in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily."

His humanity appeared as "sacrament", that is, the sign and instrument, of his divinity and of the salvation he brings: what was visible in his earthly life leads to the invisible mystery of his divine sonship and redemptive mission.

For that reason I have regarded the Pandemic as a terrible punishment. Locking the doors of our Churches against pilfering drug addicts was bad enough; closing them is unbearable. We must pray that God will forgive us and gather us again into our chapels, churches, and basilicas to worship him with word and sacrament. 

Come, LORD Jesus.