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_{Feast of the Epiphany
January 6, 2008}

        One day a rancher in Oregon felt moved to leave the house and do some meditating.  Getting into his pickup truck, he drove slowly across his ranch, reflecting as he went.  At one point in his meditation, he said:  "God, I know you love me, but it would be nice...if you would tell me so."

        Shortly after speaking those words, he entered a wooded area of his ranch.  Suddenly, he noticed a shining object under a tree some distance away.  Stopping his pickup, he got out and went over to check it out.  As he got closer, he saw that it was a Mylar balloon that had landed on his ranch from who knows where.  Then he noticed it had writing on it.  He bent over and picked it up to see what it said.  There, surrounded by red roses, were the words "I Love You."

        Whether that story is simply about a strange coincidence, or just one of those rare sweet surprises, that rancher will never know.  I, for one, don't believe in coincidences.  Someone once said a coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.  I believe that.  Regardless, this much is certain:  the story of the Oregon rancher makes a beautiful parable of what it is that we celebrate on the Feast of the Epiphany.

        The word epiphany means "manifestation."  The Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the "manifestation" of God's love for the human family, as expressed in the birth of Jesus among us.

        Historians tell us that about the time of Jesus' birth, something strange began to happen, both in the Jewish and the Gentile world.  A widespread longing and expectancy developed among the ordinary people.  Centuries before, the great God of Israel manifested himself to Moses and rescued their ancestors from oppression in Egypt.  Now there was a growing longing and expectancy that the great God of Israel would manifest himself again and rescue them from Roman oppression.  And so in both the Jewish and the Gentile worlds, there was a mysterious expectancy of some great epiphany.

        Think back to the story of the Oregon rancher for a moment.  His prayer for some kind of epiphany was simply an echo of those prayers expressed by people in ancient times:  "God, I know you love me, but it would be nice...if you would tell me so."

        It's against this background that we must read today's Gospel.  It tells how Magi from the East saw; shining in the midnight sky, a bright object, much like the one that rancher saw shining in the woods.  And like the rancher, they too, decided to check it out.  The Magi, who studied such things, knew that it could signal the birth of some great new king.  And so they set forth to investigate.

        The rest of the story, we all know.  It is this story that we celebrate on the Feast of the Epiphany.  It is the story of a marvelous manifestation of God’s love for the human race, in the birth of Christ the King.  This brings us to a practical application of the Magi story to our lives.  Like the Oregon rancher, many people today crave some epiphany of God’s love. 

        We Catholics are called to be that epiphany.  We are called to be a star in the darkness of our world, pointing the way to God and God's love.  St. Paul coined this very image in his Letter to the Philippians (2:15):  "You must shine like stars in the sky."  And Jesus used a similar image in his Sermon on the Mount, saying to his followers:  "Your light must shine before others that they may glorify your heavenly Father." (Mt 5:16)

        And so the Feast of the Epiphany invites us to inventory how well our lives are serving as stars pointing the way to God and to God's love.  Concretely, what does this mean?  It means that every time we forgive someone who has hurt us or treated us unfairly, a star lights up the darkness of our world, pointing the way to God.  Every time we open the door of our hearts to the lonely and the homeless, a star lights up the darkness in our world, pointing the way to God.  Every time we reach out to the poor and needy, a star shines through the darkness, pointing the way to God.

        This is what the Feast of the Epiphany is all about.  It is not just the story of a star that lit up the midnight sky centuries ago.  It is also the story of how God calls us to be stars lighting up the midnight sky of our modern world and leading other magi to Jesus.