Celebrating Mass on the Feast of the Epiphany, Bishop Deeley said we must look up at the star with hope
Bishop Robert Deeley continued the Church’s celebration of Christmas with a Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland held on the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, a feast that commemorates the arrival of the Magi at the manger.
“It marks the revelation of the great message of Christmas to the rest of the world as the three Magi come from the East seeking the Messiah and finding him in Jesus. The Magi represent all the people of the world. In their story, we acknowledge that the Christ Child came for all people. It is the special gifts they bring to the Child they adore that give rise to the custom of exchanging gifts in this feast of God’s abundant love for us,” the bishop said.
The bishop told those who filled the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland for the January 6th Mass that we can see in the story of the Magi, who saw the star and set out to follow it, a direction for our lives in the new year.
“The feast of Christmas invites us to look up at the star and live in hope. Do we ever ask ourselves what God wants of us? Do we look for God in our lives? The Magi were not content with just getting by, with just doing what they needed to do. We need to keep looking up. What is it that God wants of me? What is Jesus asking of me?” the bishop asked.
The bishop said that if we want to find Jesus in our lives, we, like the Magi, have to set out to find him, even if the journey proves difficult at times.
“Like any other hard thing, there had to be times when they wondered if they had made the right choice,” the bishop said. “They had excellent reasons not to depart from their native cities. They were comfortable and enjoyed the privileges of life. But the question of what they were seeing moved them to follow that star.”
The bishop said that the Magi teach us that we are called each day to seek out God’s will for us. He said that faith is a journey for us, just as it was for the Magi.
“We are ever in search of God and the way in which he wishes us to live our lives. We set out on the journey of our own lives each day. Jesus makes demands of us. Just as the Magi left their comfortable place so too does Jesus ask us to allow his word, his life, to change and form our lives. Following Jesus is not a Sunday morning exercise. It is taken up each day, and it can be difficult because it causes us to give of ourselves. But the beauty of the journey for us, as it was for the Magi, is the way to find ourselves and our true happiness.”
Because as costly as the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh were, the bishop said they can’t compare to the gift we all received with the birth of Christ.
“He, by his very birth in human flesh, gives totally of himself. That gift will see its climax on the cross from which will come the gift of eternal life for all who seek and follow him,” the bishop said.
The celebration of the Christmas season continues through Monday, January 8, when the Church will celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
