At Hand

At Hand

Monday After Epiphany

Beloved: We receive from him whatever we ask because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us. Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit whom he gave us.1 John 3:22-24

From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 4:17

Piety

Study

As the meaning of the Christmas season manifests itself in our minds, our hearts, and our souls, today we see what is made possible by the baby who was born on the outskirts of Bethlehem 2019 years ago.

Jesus came because God loved us too much to leave us to our own ends. No matter what our mistakes might have been yesterday, what they are today, or what they will be tomorrow, God did not want to leave us to the ends which we would choose. Out of his love for us, to wipe the proverbial slate of sin clean, he sent his Son to teach us and redeem us.

None of our sins were going to be obstacles for God or Jesus to carry out this plan. Herod may have just executed John the Baptist in the story passed down to us from St. Matthew, but that was not going to stop Jesus. He wanted to go away to a deserted place and rest – and pray for a while. But the contemplative prayer had to wait as the crowds gathered. As much as Jesus would prefer to grieve for his cousin when he saw the crowd assembled, he was moved with pity and grief for them as well. Without John, they had no one to follow – for they were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus stepped up to the position he was destined to occupy.

Matthew does not tell us much of what Jesus said that fateful day when his public ministry really began but he really showed what Jesus did. Teaching.  Proclaiming.  Curing. 

Jesus comes out into the light and picks up preaching right where John the Baptist left off…in fact with the very same words John used in the desert: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Matthew 4:16-17

There, too, is the prefix “re—pent.”  When we “repent,” we consider an action from our past with regret.  The root in Latin for this word is rēpere which means “to crawl or to creep.”  When we repent, we get on our knees and feel sorrow or regret for what we have done.  Once we repent, we can stand up again and walk in a different direction and act in a different way. 

This also connects us to what happens when we “see a great light.”  When we go to bed in the darkness, we lay down and close our eyes.  In the morning, as light streams through the window, we wake up and get up and walk around.  Light leads us to get up on a daily basis.  Mourners also sometimes sit around in the darkness until their sadness passes into acceptance and they get up to go back about their daily lives.

Once we are in the grasp of the Lord, it is up to us to open the eyes of the blind, to free those who are imprisoned by society and sin, and to light the world with virtue.  When we do that, the heavens will open and the voice will proclaim that we, too, are beloved and pleasing to the Lord.

An article appearing in U.S. Catholic magazine by Jim Forest recounts the lessons he learned from Dorothy Day.  “We feed the hungry, yes,” she said. “We try to shelter the homeless and give them clothes, but there is strong faith at work; we pray. If an outsider who comes to visit us doesn’t pay attention to our “prayings” and what that means, then he’ll miss the whole point.”

In these days of the extended Federal government “furlough,” while I feel sidelined, Forest reminds me of this important fact:  “…Dorothy Day taught me that justice is not just a project for the government, do-good agencies, or radical movements designing a new social order in which all the world’s problems will be solved. It’s for you and me, here and now, right where we are.”

Action

What are you called to do? What situation is God placing before your eyes today?  Are you willing to accept that assignment with the humility and obedience that Jesus exhibited? Are you willing to follow Jesus to a deserted place and any hour of the day or night, ignoring any personal cost to your comfort and security?

As Dorothy Day said, “We are here to celebrate him through these works of mercy. Christ has left himself with us both in the Eucharist and in those in need. What you did to the least person, you did to me.”

Where will you find the face of Christ today? On the Metro?  In the car weaving in front of you on the Beltway?  In the emergency room or the birthing room? 

Remember the Ideal talk on your weekend.  Our Ideal is reflected in how we spend our time, talent and treasure.  As Jim Forest reminds us in his U.S. Catholic article, “Change begins not in the isolated dramatic gesture or the petition signed but in the ordinary actions of life, how I live minute to minute, what I do with my life, what I notice, what I respond to, the care and attention with which I listen, the way in which I respond.” 

How will you respond to today’s “epiphany” revelation and realization? Don’t be a furloughed Catholic. The work of Christmas begins today!