Jan 2: God's Gift to the World

Hieronymous Bosch: The Adoration of the Magi
Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1510

The Epiphany of the Lord

Gospel: Mt 2:1-12

On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (NRSV, Mt 2:11).

Lord, the Solemnity of the Epiphany of your only begotten Son is ordinarily a very joyous celebration of your presence among us. Just as Jesus brought the wounds of his passion and crucifixion with him into the resurrection, today we are so terribly aware of the agony and suffering of so many tens of thousands of your daughters and sons, our sisters and brothers, killed in the tidal waves that surged through the Indian Ocean just a few days ago. So many dead. Untold others missing. Families torn apart. Grieving multitudes.

Today the magi from afar brought gifts for your Son but truly he is the Epiphany of the one gift that matters, the gift that you give us at every moment. He is indeed that very gift, become one of us. As all through the world, people of every belief and persuasion rush to bring gifts to the suffering multitudes to soothe their wounds, calm their anguished spirits, and take care of their bodily needs, we who believe realize that the Word, sent to live among us as a human being and to dwell within all those who will accept his Spirit, is the true gift who will empower all in pain to transfigure that suffering as he himself did on the Cross.

Father, you who brought the enslaved Hebrews out of Egypt, the captives home from Babylon, and your Son through his passion and death, now bring the suffering peoples of the Indian Ocean, so many who look to you through the words written by Mohammed, through their passion that, without forgetting their loved ones who have died and yet are always united with them, they may look to you who is their real future and rebuild their lives victoriously out of the rubble of apparent defeat.

May all peoples of the world stand shoulder to shoulder with them in their pain, their death and their resurrection here in this life and in the world to come.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.