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

Children of God

January 19, 2014

2^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 49: 3, 5-6

1 Corinthians 1: 1-3

John 1: 29-34

Now that all the partying is over, but while the aroma of the pine trees lingers in the air, let us leisurely ponder the awesome mystery we have been celebrating. Perhaps as we were cleaning up after the holiday, we decided to keep a particular greeting card because it touched us in a special way. We might even start humming a Christmas carol as we go through our daily routine. There is something totally mind boggling and captivating about the birth of the Eternal Word in mortal flesh. Through the eyes of the Babe of Bethlehem we have been allowed to peer into the eyes of God, eyes that have looked upon us in love since the beginning of time. The image of the infant in the manger reminds us that God desires to be sought and loved by us. The image of the Christmas star reminds us that He not only puts a spiritual longing into our hearts but also guides us along the path that leads to the Word of Truth Who gives eternal life.

In a world deafened by chatter and blinded by glitter and glitz, the Beloved Son speaks to the depths of the human heart and enlightens the eyes of faith so that all people might come to know their true identity as the Children of God, who were made in His image and likeness. Through Christ, God the Creator of the Universe shows His compassion and love for all the members of the human race. We just heard these words from the prophet Isaiah: “The Lord formed me as His servant from the womb” (Is. 49:5). God cares for the child in the womb and calls him or her by name. By His design, we have become the Children of God. Moved by compassion and unbounded love, He wants to free us from slavery to sin, heal our sickness and bring us to our heavenly homeland.

The first reading of today’s Mass was taken from the second “Servant Song” attributed to the prophet Isaiah. We are all familiar with it. We quickly nod our heads when we hear the words, “light of the nations” and then immediately apply them to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Today, I would like to suggest that we fight the urge to christen the text. For a moment, let us consider the passage in its literary setting. The unnamed servant knows himself to be called from the moment of his conception. Even before anyone even knew he existed, he was commissioned to bring exiled Israel home. Through the restoration of Jerusalem, all the people in the world would come to know the wondrous power of God. Now, let us apply this reading to ourselves. God has known us from all eternity and called each of us by name. He wants to remake us in the image of His only-begotten Son, cleansing us from sin and freeing us from guilt. Abiding in the light of divine grace, we are to live in the freedom of the Children of God. Our vocation is to lead people, who are trapped in physical, spiritual or psychological prisons, to freedom.

Any time we talk about redemption, it is important that we emphasize the fact that God is the One Who takes the initiative. We have the ability to respond in love to God because God has first loved us. Our response to this love manifests the presence of Christ in the world. The Christmas celebration reminds us that God offers us His love; that He calls us by name and because He respects our dignity and personal freedom, He awaits our response. Moved by the promptings of love, we are drawn into the communion of Love which is the Blessed Trinity. In order for us to enter into this loving relationship, it is important that we embrace and make our own the sacred Word that God addresses to us. It is in that embrace that we are reconciled to the Father and conformed to the Person of the Son. Being conformed to Christ, we are able to live in the image and likeness of God. This newness of life enables us to live in communion with God and with all the members of the human family. Perhaps this is why we enjoy the Christmas season so much – for 12 days out of the year we experience people acting out of their best selves. In Christ, we are called to be ambassadors of liberating joy and ministers of joyful liberation.

Redemption was not a whim on God’s part. It was not a game change brought about by some forbidden fruit. God preordained the incarnation before the world began. Christ came into the world full of grace, wisdom and the Holy Spirit, anointed with the oil of gladness to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom and the nearness of God to His people.  If we listen to the comments of our Holy Father, we would realize that he is calling, encouraging and challenging us to show this love and respect every day of our loves and in every situation we find ourselves. Borrowing from Pope Francis’ Epiphany reflection: “We are to become bearers of new hope, that nothing and nobody may extinguish; the hope of taking the road to salvation, that we are able to forgive and love even those who offend us or harm us.” Through baptism, we have been grafted to Christ and made members of the community of faith. We have been called to proclaim loudly and clearly that Jesus is the Lamb of God Whose death and resurrection is the source of new life for all peoples. Jesus, the Lamb Who was slain and rose from the dead is the cause of our childlike joy.

To round out the notion of childlike joy, I will quote a paragraph written by G. K. Chesterton in his book All Things Considered. “It is not only possible to say a great deal in praise of play; it is really possible to say the highest things in praise of it. It might reasonably be maintained that the true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground. To be at last in such secure innocence that one can juggle with the universe and the stars, to be so good that one can treat everything as a joke — that may be, perhaps, the real end and final holiday of human souls.”

--Father Jerome Machar, OSCO