This Sunday we celebrate The Epiphany (the revealing of Jesus as the Christ to the Gentiles) of the Lord. Our readings are:
Isaiah 60:1-6
Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
Matthew 2:1-12
I love this time of year, you know why? It’s not because of the holidays – too stressful. It’s not because my birthday is coming up – hint, hint.
Give up?
FOOTBALL.
35 collage Bowl games ending with the national championship. NFL postseason ending with the Super Bowl.
You're probably saying to yourself, great, but what does football have to do with my Catholic faith?
EVERYTHING.
Let me ask you this: Do you know of any other sport that has a play called, HAIL MARY? I have never met a priest that wasn’t familiar with Notre Dame, especially the Irish. There are so many similarities and references to our Catholic faith its overwhelming.
The reason I bring it up is because I was watching the Orange Bowl last night -- West Virginia (70) verses Clemson (30). 70-30???
That’s a basketball score, not a football game score. It was 49-20 at the HALF! Could you imagine what it what like in the locker room at halftime?
Well if your Clemson you know what it’s like to be a Jew in our first reading today. Isaiah is the coach and he is trying to encourage and give his people hope. They were doing the same thing then that the players last night were doing, navel-gazing, beating themselves up, being nostalgic and wanting to back in time. The football field was their barren wasteland and they just wanted to go home and hide under the covers.
Just like the coach, Isaiah and Paul tries to explain to their people that we need to do something different, maybe something unorthodox? Maybe just like the game, we need to look at this relationship with God through a new set of glasses and change our “game plan”.
Paul’s approach reminds me of the Sacrament of Confirmation. Where we were not made known, but now through the revealing of the Holy Spirit have been made known.
Once the Holy Spirit has revealed to us that Jesus is the Christ for everybody, we are able to understand why the Magi were “overjoyed at seeing the star and entering the house”.
This calls us to be evangelic not nostalgic. Be evangelic with us tonight!
Join us Thursday @ 7:00PM in Adoration of our risen Lord, then Bible Study following!
THE DUDE ABIDES Jn 15:4
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not want to understand, no explanation is possible.
Jim Krieger
Lay Mystic
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