Happy New Year!

Yes, we survived the end of the Mayan calendar. Our civil calendar  year 2013 has caught up with the  Catholic Church's new year which began with Advent.  Our Orthodox brethren wait for January 14 to celebrate by the old Julian calendar.  Now, we wait for the Lunar New Year in February 10, which begins the Year of the Snake.
But we missed the Muslim year 1434 which began already on November 15, Ras as-Sanah, not to be confused with  Jewish New Year 5773, Rosh Hashana, which began on September 16.
If this sounds like trivia to you, consider that in different parts of Jerusalem they have to be aware of five of these calendars (plus the fact that some use Daylight Saving time, and others do not!)

But enough trivia. Happy New Year to all.
I started this blog last year as an experiment. A couple months ago I got stuck, and as happens with procrastination, the longer I delayed the harder it got to return. Soooo....
My single New Year's resolution is to restart this blog.
I have a clearer focus this time: one, I will share my weekly homilies, which is a feature many people liked. Two, I will share poems on an occasional basis, as the spirit moves. Third, I will share my reflections on a topic which has always occupied my interest, but now more so than ever: the relationship between religion and science. I think of this as an ongoing class, and hopefully a discussion.

So stay tuned.

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Epiphany 2013

Homily

for Epiphany  January  2013

Where is God? In heaven? In your heart? Here in church? Everywhere?

(Note: I really DO ask the question, and ask people in church to answer it !! )

This is a very important question, which most people ask many times during their life. We truly believe that God became human, we celebrate it at Christmas, we profess it at Mass every week, yet we often struggle to recognize God present in our everyday lives.

Today, in Epiphany, this second great feast of the Christmas season, the Church gives us a guide to help us answer this question.

We are coming to the end of the Christmas season, and what a season it is!

Even people who don't go to church, who don't believe in God, get into the Christmas spirit for a few weeks, smiling at strangers, showing charity toward the poor and needy, being generous and kind. Christmas truly celebrates the birth of a child in our world, and most of us are carried along by that joy and happiness.

The feast of Christmas shows God's presence in our world in a very clear and striking way. It reminds us that sharing, that giving and receiving love, is indeed the most powerful force in our world.

But, as adults, we know that Christmas cannot go on forever. So for that reason the church gives us other feasts to help us understand better the mystery of God become human.

Even though we celebrate the birth of a child, we know that the child's life began much earlier. When?

People answer, Conception, the Annunciation)

Correct, the Church gives us the feast of the Annunciation to remind us that this great mystery began long before Christmas. Mary received the Word of God in her womb and the Great Mystery took place. And then what happened??  NOTHING.  Nothing special. What did Mary do the next day? She got up, cleaned the house, fixed a meal, washed dishes -- did the chores. Her daily routine. Nothing special.

Oh, yes, she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Was that special? Did Mary sit on a throne and wait for Elizabeth to wait on her and sing her praises? No. She did housework.

For every joyful, festive Christmas day there were nine months of waiting. Working. Routine. Morning sickness. Pain. Fatigue. And not only that -- Mary also suffered in unusual ways. She was an unwed mother, a shame and embarrassment to everyone. She was not to give birth at home, surrounded by family, but alone, in a stable. Yes, she certainly suffered.

Think of it -- for every Christmas day there are nine months of hard preparation. God gives us this example so that we can understand the routine and painful times of life. When this happens in our own lives, we can feel not only the pain and suffering, the routine and the loneliness, but we can also feel the Word of God growing inside us, as the Word grew within Mary. If we feel only the suffering, we are lost; but if we feel God's Word growing and developing inside us,we will be ready when the wonderful moment of birth and new life arrives.

So what about today's feast? What do we celebrate today? What are these Magi doing? Why did they leave their homes? What were they following?  A star?  Yes.

But think about it. Who else saw that star?  Everyone. It was not a secret. Anyone could have followed that star. But only a few did. And they persevered, and arrived, and presented their gifts.

So this feast gives us a third way of appreciating God's appearing in the world as human -- the Incarnation. God appears not only in secret and in ordinary ways, as with Mary. God appears not only as a sudden burst of light and joy, as in Bethlehem. God also draws us from afar, like the Magi, following a star. Each one of us has a star. Each one of us has that pearl of great price, that treasure more valuable than anything else on earth. If we follow, if we are faithful, we will find God, not in a palace, but in a stable. And we will offer, freely, the gifts we have to give.

Notice that the Magi had problems. They needed help. They got lost. The heavenly star was not enough; they asked for directions. They trusted evil people like Herod. But through their faithfulness and purity of heart, they found God made human.

These three feasts -- the Annunciation,  Christmas, and Epiphany -- show us three different ways in which we experience the miracle of the Incarnation. May God's Holy Spirit guide us as we recognize and accept God's love entering our hearts.