Rise up in Spendor! Your Light Has Come

The word Epiphany means a showing, a manifestation. Our thoughts go back to the feast of Christmas. There we commemorated God the Father giving himself to us in his only Son. St. John the Evangelist  put it so beautifully in his Gospel, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life.” So everyone of us, every single member of the human race, was in danger of perishing, of eternal separation from God, from the life of the Blessed Trinity and and separation from heaven. And so God, in his infinite love, gives up his only Son. So we are reminded over and over again about the infinite love of God for each and every one of us, whether saint or sinner, whether Jew or Gentile, God shows no partiality. It is the will of God that everyone should be saved. Everyone without exception. God wants everyone to come to know him, to come to enjoy the abundant life, to enjoy that eternal life which we can begin here and now. Eternal life means participation in God’s very life. And eternal life does not mean that we have to wait until we die to begin to experience God’s life in our hearts, in our life, in our minds. 

So we are reminded of that gift of God. And as with every gift, there is also a task. Everyone who has been given a gift has also been entrusted with a task, a mission. So love of God is both a gift and a task. It is a gift and a talent. We have been given the gift of Christ. We have been given the gift of faith. We have been given the knowledge of God’s unconditional, unending love for each and every one of us. So we are reminded about our task, about our mission. 

God sends us a wake-up call. Isaiah says, “Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem.” Let us insert our name here. “Rise up in splendor, Sally!” “Rise up in splendor, Sam!” He is calling each one of us. “Rise up in splendor! Your light has come!” Do not be sleeping! Do not hold onto the gift you have been given! Do not keep it to yourself! Rise up in splendor! Your light has come!  Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount, “You are the light of the world. So let your light shine before men and so that seeing your good works they may give glory to God.” So we who have been given this gift of Christ, who carry this gift of the light of Christ, are called to shine this light wherever we are placed. In the workplace. In our homes. In our schools. On the national level. Every Christian has got this commission to shine the light of Christ. So rise up in splendor! Your light has come! The glory of the Lord shines upon you. 

And sometimes we forget that. At times we think that we are too simple, too unworthy for the Lord to shine through us. But Isaiah tells us that darkness covers the earth, and why is that? Why this urgency to rise up in splendor? Because darkness covers the earth. Thick clouds cover the people. Look at the world. The world is filled with lies and corruption. The world is immersed in the darkness of sin. God wants to make you an instrument. And he wants to make you a conduit of his grace. And a conduit of his salvation. He is calling you to be a light in the world which is covered in darkness for upon you the Lord shines and over you appears his glory. 

Someone who understood this call was St. John Paul II. He understood this call to rise up in splendor. Isaiah says, “Nations shall walk in your brightness and kings by your shining radiance.” We must realize the gift of God that we have, that we have been entrusted with. And if you and I were to cooperate with God’s grace, then nations shall walk by our light. John Paul II’s life and testimony was such that nations walked by his light. 

As Pope,  John Paul II made a visit to his native Poland and on the last day of his visit, there was an outdoor Mass. Approximately 2 million people attended that Mass. In and during the Mass St. John Paul II extended his hands over everyone there and he quoted Scripture. He said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Over 2 million Christians gathered together and he quoted Christ, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Jesus said, after his resurrection, to the apostles, “Peace be with you. Receive the Holy Spirit.” And he was gone.  

I now quote to you from St. Paul, “Do not quench the Holy Spirit. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit.” My dear brothers and sisters, be strong! You must be strong! You must be strong in this strength that your faith gives you! Do not be discouraged. Never detach yourselves from Christ. St. Paul reminds Timothy, “I exhort you to stir into flame the gift that you received at the imposition of my hands.” This is what St. John Paul II did during his Mass. He stirred into flame the gift of God that those people had. It was not the gift of fear or timidity that the people received but the gifts of power and love and self-control. These are the gifts that you and I have each received. So we need to revive and turn into flame these gifts. And we do this by quoting Scripture. We should read Scripture every day and then we will see the Scriptures come alive and will begin to transform our lives. “Rise up in splendor! Your Light has come! Stir into flame the Spirit you have received. Go out and bring light into the darkness.”

--Father James Kumbakeel