Epiphany - 4 Jan 2015

Link to today's readings

Isaiah 60:1-6 + Psalm 72:1-2, 7-13 + Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6 + Matthew 2:1-12

Click here to listen to this homily
Given at Holy Spirit Catholic Church on January 4, 2015

The magi from the east know things about the newborn babe in Bethlehem. This knowledge has propelled them on a long and dangerous journey so they might properly adore this newborn King.

Their gifts show how well they know who this baby is lying in the manger. The wise men bring gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh,

each gift revealing something about this child of Mary. Gold, a gift for his humanity, a gift befitting an earthly king. Frankincense, a gift for his divinity, fragrant grains burned in prayer before God. And myrrh, an ointment used to prepare the body for burial, a gift pointing ahead to the gift of his saving death.

By their gifts, the magi show that they know who this child is: the human embodiment of divine love.

Gift-giving on the highest level happens when one person is carried into the other by means of the gift given. The gift becomes a symbolic expression of knowing and being known, of loving and being loved. Gift-giving at its very best connects two hearts as one.

We all have experienced the giving and receiving of gifts. Hopefully we have all given or received a gift this Christmas which symbolized a flow of love between us and another. This is a “perfect” gift. But we have also received or given other types of “gifts.”

For there are those gifts that we give or receive as objects that are only valuable, or not valuable, in and of themselves, that do not represent the heart of the giver. We do not really receive such gifts when they are given---we rate them. When we receive such gifts, they are simply objects and nothing more. These gifts do not connect our heart to the heart of the one gifting us with the object.

We have no qualms about “re-gifting” such a gift. Or we may simply store it away and forget about it. But a gift that comes from someone who knows us and loves us, and who we know and love, such a gift has special power and meaning. Such a gift makes visible an invisible reality, a flow of love connecting 2 people, something beautiful and powerful and radiant.

A story exemplifying this kind of redemptive gift-giving is O. Henry’s “Gift of the Magi.” It is a story about a married couple named Jim and Della. Although they are poor, they each have a proud possession. Della has beautiful long hair and Jim has “The Watch.”

As Christmas nears, Della cuts her hair, sells it, and buys Jim a “platinum fob chain” for his watch. When she gives it to him, Jim reveals that he has sold his watch and bought her a set of “pure tortoise shell” combs for her hair. Della and Jim are the wisest in the world of gift-giving. Jim and Della are wise because although their gifts are objectively useless, they carry both of them into each other.

The gifts strengthen their relationship, assuring them they know and are known; they love and are loved.

Or take my experience this past Christmas, when I spent a couple of hours with a family I have known for many years. The parents, and their children, and their children’s children, sat in a huge circle,

taking turns as each one opened a gift. One of the young granddaughters, about 9 years old, squealed with delight when she opened a gift from her grandmother, a simple looking blue sweater. 

She yelled out, “O Grandma, it’s beautiful.  You know my favorite color is blue.” She skipped away to her room and came back wearing the sweater, dancing with delight, her eyes sparkling with gratitude and love. She ran to her grandmother and threw herself into her grandmother’s arms.

Gift-giving on the highest level happens when one person is carried into the other. Gift-giving at its very best connects two hearts as one.

God knows us better than we know ourselves, and loves us more

than anyone can ever love us. With such wisdom and love, God gives us the greatest gift ever given, the gift of His Son. The invisible flow of love from God the Creator to His Creation becomes visible in Jesus. Divine love becomes concrete in Jesus. The Son of God in the flesh as the child of Mary makes visible the Father’s love

for all his children. Jesus of Nazareth, God-in-the-flesh, is the greatest gift ever given to the world.

God knows exactly what we need, and so God gives us His Only Son.

God knows we cannot save ourselves, so God gifts us with a Savior.

God knows we often become lost in the darkness of this world, so God gives us the One who is the Light of the World. God knows we hunger for divine life, so he gives us His Son, born in a feeding rough, as the Living Bread come down from heaven.

The Almighty God, the source of wisdom and life and from whom every good gift comes, knows us not just in a generic sense as members of the human race, but also knows what we specifically need as individuals. So the Lord Jesus comes to each of us in a very personal way, aware of our unique fears and worries, knowing what gives us the most joy and delight. The Lord Jesus, the human embodiment of divine love, knows the particular demons that torment us, the struggles that are unique to each one of us,

and he comes as God’s gift to us in a very personal way. He knows us and loves us and wants to help us in matters big and small.

What will our gift to Jesus be? How about giving him the gift of our very self by coming to know him better? By daily spending time with him in prayerful conversation. By coming to know him better as the Divine Word made Flesh by immersing ourselves in the divinely inspired words of Sacred Scripture, especially the Gospels. By coming to know Him, who in and through all things are created,through the beauty of Creation, especially through the pinnacle of Creation, human beings made in God’s likeness. By loving him present in the least ones among us. In all these ways, and many others, we can give the Lord Jesus the gift of our very self, and we receive Him, and then slowly but surely, His heart and our heart beat as one. 

Fr. Joseph A. Jacobi