and tree trunks - then cushions.... “Wait, instead of walking further down forest trails, let’s sit and talk. Let’s finish the story?" ["Or argument?”] Guess chairs improved once people settled down - and stopped being migrants. Chairs! Chairs! Chairs! Sit down and tell me all your stories - all you heard late and deep into the dark night.
connecting. We're making just comment jabs, at least it seems that way. We're speaking words that seem to be sliding by - bye, bye, bye.
Wait a minute - that comment
you made the other day really cut me. It stuck right in my
middle - right in my gut. And sorry to say, it seems, better, worse, I think that’s what you intended to do to me - but sideways - on the sly. Come on now, let’s talk face to face, eye to eye.
The title of my homily is, “Epiphanies! There Are Moments
and There Are Moments.”
As you know the word, “epiphany” means a moment we see
differently. It’s a “showing” - a “revealing” - an “appearance” - a becoming aware of something that we were not seeing.
In theology, it’s seeing the presence of
God - seeing the miracle of God's creative power in everyday realities - like the shining from shook foil in the words of Gerard Manley Hopkins in his poem God's Grandeur.
In Christianity, it’s today’s feast - when the Magi - see
the Christ - in a baby - when the world changes because of the coming of Christ
in the flesh.
As everyone knows, a baby can change everything.
WE’VE HEARD
PEOPLE USE THE WORD “EPIPHANY”
We’ve all heard people use the word “epiphany”. Here are
a few examples - a few stories I’ve heard along the line.
“It was a moment. It was an epiphany - a moment when I
knew, when I was sure, absolutely sure that God
was aware of me - and I was aware of God.”
“It was a moment - I was stranded at the airport - my
flight was cancelled. I knew I wouldn’t get home in time for Christmas. It was
my fault. It was the weather’s fault. It was nobody’s fault. I sat there on a vinyl
chair at the airport and heard people screaming at airline staff people at the
counter. I saw people - lots and lots of people - on their cellphones - talking
to people at a distance - using gestures. Lots of gestures. I was seeing an epiphany.
This is life. This is my life. I want to be with - really be with my family at
this moment and I can’t. I guess the unexpected hard, the difficult, the
problem, teaches us much more than the easy - the expected. I now know once
again that family and being there for Christmas is a top 5 value. I guess
drawbacks show us how to find drawbridges. When things are out of control, I
guess it’s then I try to control life and it’s then I find myself even more out
of control."
“It was an epiphany when our first daughter was born. Wow. I began to realize this is what
it’s all about. Up till now I never saw these moms and dads walking through our
streets - at the park - pushing a baby stroller - or a kid on a swing. Now it
was me. Wow.”
“It was at my 5th rehab for my alcoholism. I
failed every time. I had done the first 5 steps in AA 4 times - thinking this
was the time I would make it. It wasn’t
till I heard myself and my excuses and my lies to myself about myself that I had an epiphany. I got down on my knees - close to the floor - and said to God. ‘I
just realized you’re at the bottom of everything - and I guess I have to really
hit bottom to realize you are you and I am I and I can’t do this by myself. I
surrender. I had that epiphany 11 years and 4 months and 16 days ago - and I’m
still taking one day at a time. Hey, you never know.”
“It was in Vermont. We were on vacation. We were
backpacking as a family on The Long Trail and it rained every day for two weeks
in June. It was miserable. It was cold. It was wet. Looking back, it was the
best vacation we ever had as a family. We didn’t know it then, but we realized
a few years later, it was an epiphany. We played cards in our big canvas tent
every night. We laughed. We celebrated. We cursed the rain drip, drip, drip, as
it hit, hit, hit on our tent - all through the night - drip, drip, drip.”
“I was walking down the street and I saw someone coming
out of this small church - so I walked in. It was quiet, dark, empty in the
afternoon. I sat down. The candles were flickering. No sound of ambulances -
trucks - what have you - from the street came through those walls and stained
glass windows and as I sat there, I began to pray and I had my life’s
epiphany.”
THERE ARE
MOMENTS AND THERE ARE MOMENTS
The title of my homily is, “Epiphanies! There Are Moments
and There Are Moments.”
We know not all days are same, not all moments are the
same.
Isn’t that what makes life such a gift? Isn’t that why we
turn on and tune in to the evening news?
Isn’t that why we say to each other, “What’s new?” or “How was your
day?”
I was visiting a couple I had married. They were showing me their small apartment.
They didn’t have much furniture yet. In fact they had a fold up card table for
their dining room table. But in their bedroom they had a nice big king sized
bed and on a nice dresser and on the mirror of that wooden dresser was a
picture of a baby. I said, “Who’s that?”
The answer came back from both of them: “That’s what we’re aiming
for?” I got changed and didn’t visit
them for a few years. They had a dining room table by then and also a son. I’m
sitting there and little Charlie is at the window - holding onto the window
sill - and standing on the metal radiator below - making lots of noise - and
grasping at something coming through the window. I asked, “What’s he doing?”
And his mom said, “Oh he’s trying to grab the light.” Then she added, “Oh he does that all the
time.”
THE READINGS
We come to church to grab some light - to see better in
our darkness.
The readings for this feast of the Epiphany were grabbed
to tell us about the light - revelations - a star that points to Bethlehem.
In the first reading from Isaiah, it happens in Jerusalem.
Clouds breaking open and light shines through. Darkness disappears. Wasn’t it
nice to see sunlight on Friday after 5 or 6 gray days. So Isaiah tells us in
that first reading about the economy coming to life - business is great. Ships
have arrived in our ports. Caravans of camels have arrived packed with gold and
frankincense.
In the second reading we have the radiant light that happened in the mind of St. Paul.
In the gospel it happens to the magi from the East and
the new born baby in the crib.
In this homily I’m asking you when has this happened to
you: when you saw the light.
The title of my homily is, “Epiphanies! There Are Moments
and There Are Moments.”
CONCLUSION
This weekend - this week - this beginning of a new hear
take some time to look at the times in your life - when you have had epiphanies
about yourself, your parents, your family, work, health, the meaning of life,
God.
