EPIPHANY: Asking for God's LIGHT

Reflections on 1 John 3:22–4:6  /  Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25
By Frank Savadera, SJ

This New Year, we begin our reflection on the first line of the First Letter of John which says:  WE RECEIVE FROM HIM WHATEVER WE ASK?  We can interpret this of course to mean:  YOU WONT GET ANYTHING IF YOU DON’T ASK for it?  OR AT LEAST EXPRESS WHAT YOU WISH FOR YOURSELF for the New Year.  Thus ... during this time of the New Year ... aren’t we almost FORCED to express our usual wishes and desires.   I want to be leaner and sexier.  I wish to be friendlier and meet new people.  I wish to be less agitated and less stressed.  I hope to have more time for exercise and sleep.  I wish to be more forgiving and compassionate, etc.  We receive from him whatever we ask?  Are we even asking?

But more than our usual needs and requests ... and more so during this time of the New Year ... can we simply ask for something more than the mundane and ordinary.  MY SUGGESTION:  CAN WE ASK FOR LIGHT?  LIWANAG! Or if you wish ... ENLIGHTENMENT.   In the first place, this is what the feast of the Epiphany is about says Pope Benedict XVI.  The Epiphany, he said, is a FEAST OF LIGHT and light is given to everyone who wants it.  Do you wish to have LIGHT ... LIGHT ... LIGHT in your life in 2013.   

Benedict XVI in his homily on the feast of the Epiphany gives us a description of how the WISE MEN from the East sought LIGHT at all costs.   He says:  “They were, as we might say, men of science, but not simply in the sense that they were searching for a wide range of knowledge: they wanted something more. They wanted to understand what being human is all about.” (MEANING OF HUMAN LIFE).

“They were men with restless hearts, not satisfied with the superficial and the ordinary. They were men in search of the promise, in search of God. And they were watchful men, capable of reading God’s signs, his soft and penetrating language.  (ACQUIRING A DISCERNING HEART)

“But they were also courageous, yet humble: we can imagine them having to endure a certain amount of mockery for setting off to find the King of the Jews, at the cost of so much effort. For them it mattered little what this or that person, what even influential and clever people thought and said about them. For them it was a question of truth itself, not human opinion. Hence they took upon themselves the sacrifices and the effort of a long and uncertain journey.  (GRACE OF COURAGE AND SELF-GIVING/ GENEROSITY)

And what did the three wise men discover for themselves?  LIGHT!  The baby Jesus ... the God of Light nestling on a humble and simple manger.  This is the light that dispels all forms of darkness.  The light that proclaims the kingdom of heaven ... the light that offers relief to those who are sick and in pain.  The light whose influence spreads beyond borders and gathers people to itself.  WE RECEIVE WHATEVER IT IS THAT WE ASK FOR!  CAN WE ASK FOR THIS LIGHT?

For us who are determined to live a more meaningful existence in 2013 ... for us wish to acquire a more discerning heart ... for us  who seek the grace of greater courage and self-sacrifice ... LET’S ALL COME NEAR THE LIGHT ... the light which is Christ our Lord ... our vision of whom much like how the WISE MEN may affirm ... makes every JOURNEY VERY MUCH WORTH ANYONE’S EFFORT.