At Hand
Piety
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. 1 John 3:22-23
From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say,
“Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17
Study
Are you surprised to hear about Jesus beginning his public
ministry in today’s Good News? He leaves
his boyhood home of Nazareth and moved to Capernaum-on-the-Sea. He starts
preaching right where John the Baptist left off – just like his Father expected
of Jesus.
Technically speaking, today is the twelfth and final day of
Christmas. Out of adherence to the
compromise in the liturgical calendar, Roman Catholics celebrated the Feast of
the Epiphany a day early. While January
6th is “Little Christmas” for Catholics, in the Coptic, Greek,
Russian, and other eastern rite churches, today is “Big Christmas.”
It might seem unbelievable that we reached the end of the Christmas
holy season today, especially given that the "commercial Christmas
creep" now begins as early as Labor Day in some shopping malls. But not until December 25 do we mark the
official start of the 12 days of Christmas. Today is the end of that period.
Some have proposed that each verse of the Twelve Days of
Christmas is analogous to lessons in Christian theology. The partridge in the pear tree, naturally,
represents Jesus Christ (either away in the wooden manger or on that old, rugged
cross). The rest of the verses have symbolic
parallels:
2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope, and Charity, the Theological
Virtues
4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament,
the "Pentateuch," which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying = the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the
seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the
Apostle's Creed
Several academics debunk such parallels. To them, I say, “So what!?”
The other part of popular culture that comes up when we
consider the twelve days is the Christmas Price Index – standing at $38,993.59. However, the total runs up to $170,298.03
representing the total cost for all the repetitive gifts.
The point is not to let the commercialism of Christmas make
us lose sight of the real meaning and the revelation of Epiphany. Like the three Kings, Jesus attracts us so
that we can search for and encounter him in all we meet in the world. Fr John
Allen Green, OFM, reminds us that the Magi and their gifts point us ever deeper
into the revelation, the revelation of the human face of God and the divine
face of humanity. The announcement of Love incarnated.[i]
Once we experience that encounter, just like Jesus, we have to be about the
Father’s plan of piety, study, and action.
Action
In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as man, God, and
King, is our hope of sharing in that life. When confronted by any situation,
how would Jesus act? When we know that
answer, we should act like Jesus.
How does that fact change our view of reality, our relationships
with others, and our way of living and interacting with the world? What are the
gifts that you and I bring into our communion with Christ and each other?
We are celebrating the Epiphany of the Lord all week. The feast reminds us that God makes himself
known to us. He sends stars or signs
that will be useful in our search. He
wants to make it easy for us to find Him.
He is still looking for us. Or as
we say in a Cursillo Closura: “Christ is counting on you.”
But the question is, divorced from the commercialism of the
12, or 30, or 90 days of sales leading up to the Holy Day, “Are we looking for
him?” Are you counting on Christ?
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