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The Light of the World
We rejoice with all our hearts at the glorious destiny that is ours. We greet the star of faith
with hearts full of confidence, and we follow faithfully its light and its guidance. We rejoice
in our holy baptism, by means of which we were first united to Christ. We exult in our holy
Church, which is the house in which we “found the child with Mary, His mother.” With the wise
men of the East let us lay aside those comforts which the earth could offer us, and turn resolutely
aside from all that might detain us in our search for Christ, and hasten to meet Him that we
may lay our gifts at His feet. The gifts which we bring are the gold of our faith and devotion, the
incense of our veneration and adoration, the myrrh of our willingness to accept all manner of
discomfort, sacrifice, labor, suffering, crosses, and humiliations for His sake.
“We have seen His star in the east and are come to adore Him.” He unites the human nature
and the divine nature in one person, and, “as the Father hath life in Himself, so He hath given
to the Son also to have life in Himself ” ( Jn 5:26). One and the same life is possessed by the
Father and by the humanity of Christ. In the child to whom the star has guided us there resides
“all the fullness of the Godhead corporeally” (Col 2:9).
This fullness of divine life which is possessed by the child in the manger is to be communicated
to us and to all men upon the earth. The sonship of God, which is His by nature, He is
to extend to us by means of grace, so that Christ, according to the divine plan, is to be “the firstborn
amongst many brethren” (Rom 8:29). As He is the Son of God by nature, so we become
the sons of God by grace. This sonship we receive from Christ. Through Him and through Him
alone can we receive grace and eternal life. To be a Christian means to share the sonship of God
with Christ, the Son of the eternal Father, to whom we are united as members of a body are
united to their head. Only those who possess Christ, only those who come to Him, can share
in the life of the children of God, in the grace of God, and in the enjoyment of eternal life. It
is the star of faith that has led us to Christ. We have found Him, not by any effort of our own
nor because we were more worthy than others, but because of a gratuitous grace of the infinite
mercy of God the gift of faith was imparted to us. For this tremendous gift we are thankful, for
“by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor 15:10).
How rich we are in the possession of Christ, who has appeared to us! “That Thou wouldst
recall to the unity of the faith all those who are in error, and bring all unbelievers to the light of
the gospel: We beseech Thee hear us” (Litany of the Saints).
Prayer
O God, who by means of a star didst this day manifest to the Gentiles Thy only-begotten Son;
grant that we to whom Thou hast already made Thyself known by faith, may come at last to the
vision of the beauty of Thy majesty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Sunday within the Octave of Epiphany (1)
Today the sacred liturgy allows us to witness the first Offertory procession when she shows us
Jesus at the age of twelve setting out for His first visit to the temple at Jerusalem. He must “be
about My Father’s business.” He goes to make an offering of Himself to His heavenly Father.
Then He returns to Nazareth to continue His offering in the tranquil atmosphere of His family
circle. There He “was subject to them.” Twenty years later He will complete His sacrifice on the
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