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Come – Follow Me!
What is the Epiphany? The Epiphany celebrates the revelation of God incarnate as Jesus Christ in which there are three: Jesus’ birth with the shepherds worshiping him; the Magi’s visit to do homage to the newborn King; and Jesus’ baptism.
It was the Christ star that led the Shepherds and the Magi to Jesus where they did him homage. These events in the Gospel always reminded me when I was in Second grade at Our Savior’s Grade School in Jacksonville, Illinois. Our Savior’s was taught by Dominican Sisters with Sister Noel as my second-grade teacher. I can vividly remember her asking us questions from our Baltimore Catechism. She would call on us, we would have to stand and recite the answer as she would be right next to us with her stamp and stamp pad to give us some stars in our book based on our answer. My question that day! What did the star say to the Shepherds and the Magi? Holy cow! What a question to ask a second grader. I do not remember reading or discussing this in class or at home. Somehow, I have come to believe the Holy Spirit whispered in my ear as I remember very slowly saying “The Star said Come Follow Me!” Bingo!! Sister Noel was so impressed with my answer that the stamps started to fly and by the time she was done the entire page was covered with stars. I think I even had a few on my forehead!
At the Baptism of Our Lard, we come to the end of the Christmas season. We are also witnessing the third great ‘epiphany’ or showing of God in the human person of Jesus.
Let us fast forward 30 years for the third epiphany. Jesus is now an adult. We are at the banks of the River Jordan somewhere north of Jerusalem where John the Baptist, a cousin of Jesus, is living out in the desert. He has made a name for himself as a man of God where large numbers come out to hear and be influenced by his teachings. John is a bright star proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins by water. John’s act of baptism with repentance requires an inner change. Repentance is metanoia (metanoia) in Greek that implies a change in the way we look at the meaning and purpose of life and how we live that life. It calls for much more than just ‘repentance’ which we normally understand as ‘being sorry’ for something we have done. It calls for a total restructuring of one’s attitude of forgiveness for sinful or hurting behavior such as, “will you forgive me” vs “I am sorry”.
In St. John’s Gospel, Jesus walks towards John the Baptist. John says, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). Jesus needs no repentance but came to be baptized and be identified with sinful humanity. A sinful humanity that needs repentance of more than just being sorry, but one of “Father, will you forgive me”. We affirm Jesus sharing in our humanity at each Mass during the preparation of the gifts. As the water and wine are mixed, the priest or assisting deacon quietly says, “by the mystery of this water and wine, may we share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” The divinity of Jesus to share in our humanity and show us the way to repentance, to forgiveness through baptism with receiving the Holy Spirit.
And, in sharing with our humanity, we see the Christ Child’s star rising and becoming brighter and more spiritual at Jesus’ birth, the visiting of the Magi and at His baptism.
Many times, we ask God for a sign and need to be ready and unafraid to follow it. One sign is the Christ’s Child star bringing repentance and forgiveness by the Holy Spirit in following Jesus.
Come Follow Me – the Christ Child’s star was present at His Holy birth and led the shepherds, guided the Magi, and preceded Jesus to be baptized by John. And it is through following that star to Jesus that a second grader in Sister Noel’s class, and all of us today, being sealed with the Holy Spirit through our baptism, may share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity. May Christ’s brilliant star always lead us to Him and never fade from our hearts. Blessings – Dcn Jim