Corpus Christi Blog

Seeking and Encountering God

01-04-2015HomiliesFr. Chad King

Today is the last Sunday of the Christmas season.  Next week we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord which is fitting as it is the beginning of Ordinary Time, I say it is fitting because the Sacrament of baptism is the start of our life in Christ. 

Today’s celebration is the Epiphany of the Lord.  Epiphany means manifestation.  We celebrate the amazing gift of God who reveals himself, or manifests himself in Jesus Christ.  God, who becomes human, is manifested to all the nations.

In our Gospel, the Christ child is manifested to the Magi- the Magi are the wise men or astrologers who followed the bright star seeking the the Christ.  This story has an important lesson for us today, in how God interacts with us.  I want to relate the journey of the wise men and the meaning of the Epiphany to a specific practice of seeking found in today’s culture. 

You are probably aware of a certain train of thought or philosophy prevalent in people today, namely the option to be spiritual rather than to have faith.  This philosophy is held by those who claim that they are not religious, but spiritual.  Some of these people state that they hold this belief because there are so many different and diverse religions today that no religion is true and so isn’t really necessary at all.  But these are still good people who are genuinely seeking and want to find God in their own spirituality.  And so instead of subscribing to one of these particular religions these individuals seek the “God” or spirituality that is behind the religions rather than follow a particular religion itself.  These people see themselves spiritual but independent rather than a member of a Church.  They operate out of what their spiritual seeking says to them, whatever spiritual truths which make sense to them from their own perspective.  BUT their perceptions won’t reach the fullness of God’s mind and His purposes- they won’t reach God himself.   Unfortunately, these spiritualties and seekers lack a real connection with a personal and living God.  

Notice too that it is these individuals who are doing the seeking.  That we are in the active role and God is some distant being to be found or discovered in this journey of life.  And if we are honest with ourselves, isn’t it easy and perhaps desirable for us sinners to turn God into this distant or abstract force,  too distant to tell us what to do.  Remaining in the background the God of spirituality doesn’t make a demand or personal appeal on our lives.  We can treat God as if he is someone from a distance or from the outside.  And seeing them from a distance, the understanding we have of that person come from the categories we put them in.  We might read things about him or her, we can hear people talking about that person, and from our own point of view, from our perspective we think we know who that person is.  And we can be content with our knowledge of that person, because it is safe, it doesn’t demand anything from us.   But what if then, that person actually comes and talks to us, and reveals him or herself to us.  Then our understanding and conclusion would have to be adjusted; once the person reveals themselves and our knowledge is first hand instead of from third person then our conclusions, our perception and understanding must change also.  Do you know God from what you’ve heard about Him, or do you know him personally?

Now let us look more closely at the Magi portrayed in our Gospel.  These wise men or astrologers were seeking spiritual understanding, they were seeking to make sense of and bring order and meaning to what they knew.  But all they really knew was to follow the star, believing the star would lead them to God.  But it was not until the chief priests and scribes, the experts of the religion, told them about the prophecy that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem in the land of Judah did they have a fuller understanding of the where God was to be found.  The wise men used this new found knowledge to continue their search for God.  Finally, their seeking had come to fulfillment, the triumph of all there studying and searching has come to an amazing climax.  They discovered and were able to truly encounter the Christ child. They found God, all their learning and searching, the meaning of it all came to completion in this encounter with the living God who had come so that they could know Him.  And, how did the wise men respond?  They gave of themselves in worship and homage to God. They gave great gifts to God out of their fortune.  And after they soaked up the amazing encounter with Christ they allowed the experience to change their life.  They listened to the angel’s guidance and went home a different way, for no one can truly encounter Christ and leave the same way they came. 

And so my brothers and sisters, the Christ Child came into the world out of love, so that we can know the living God.  God is not a distant force, but a personal loving God who acts in history.  Our Loving God comes to us, He is the great seeker of us.  God is someone who seeks us, who reveals himself and reveals his own mind and purpose to us.  Our God initiates a relationship with us.

And like the Magi, when we encounter God we must give ourselves, including from our treasure, in adoration and worship to Him.  And through giving of ourselves, we allow him to bring order, to bring understanding and meaning to our lives. And like the Magi we must never leave an experience with Him the same way we came.  This means, we should expect changes to our lives every Mass, because during the Eucharist we encounter him intimately.  Our loving God has come to us and so wants to reveal himself to us.  May we ask him now to reveal himself to us in a deeper way in this Eucharist.  Yes we should seek God, but above all we should rejoice because God has first seeked us.  God searches for us.  Will you let yourself be found by this personal and loving God who wants to reveal himself to you?  

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