HOMILY FOR EPIPHANY SUNDAY – YR B

HOMILY FOR EPIPHANY SUNDAY – YR B

THEME: Shining in the Midst of Darkness

BY: Fr. Luke Ijezie

Isaiah 60:1-6;
Psalm 72:1-2,7-8,10-13;
Ephesians 3:2-3.5-6;
Matthew 2:1-12.

Today the Church celebrates the Solemn feast of Epiphany, which marks the manifestation of the newborn Jesus to the world. It is a celebration of light which shows the way in the journey of life. Success in life depends very much on how we confront the various challenges that we meet every day and every moment. Some of these challenges come with various forms of darkness that threaten to make us lose the way. As a matter of fact, many unknown and invisible forces are involved in our existence. We may ignore them but they are ever there. The feast of Epiphany makes it abundantly clear that God is involved with us. That’s what Epiphany really means: God appears, He makes Himself manifest. He is ever guiding us to reach heights we never imagine. But only those who follow His light succeed in making it. We find all these in the readings of today.

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1. The first reading from Isaiah 60:1-6 invites Jerusalem and her children to rise and shine. The people just returned from exile in Babylon, but the social and economic conditions they find themselves are miserable and discouraging. The prophet urges them not to give up striving and hoping, as God’s glory is now dwelling in their midst more than ever before. They must look up and dream dreams of better things as tremendous transformation is awaiting them. Their story is about to change. They only need to shine.
One can hear the same words in our contemporary context urging us to rise and shine. Despite the hard economic realities, despite the discouraging social conditions, despite the feeling of despondency and misery written on many faces, despite the immense forces of darkness hovering around, the message remains the same: now is your time to shine, now is my time to rise, now is our family’s time to shine. Our society must now rise and shine. The text of Isaiah 60 recognizes the inhibiting miserable conditions, but still encourages the hearers: “the glory of the Lord is rising on you, though night still covers the earth and darkness the peoples. Above you the Lord now rises and above you His glory appears” (Isa 60:1-2). What the text is saying is that our source of strength and reinforcement is the Lord, and with him we can run without tiring until we achieve our goal. No force of darkness can impede our success as long as His light is guiding us. Others will see our light and join in the success train.
2. The second reading from Ephesians 3:2-6 speaks of the hidden mystery that has now been revealed. The grace of being co-inheritors of God’s kingdom has been opened to all the nations of the world. The apostles and disciples of Jesus have been entrusted with the task of announcing the good tidings. Paul calls it the stewardship of grace. God has made us heirs in His Family, and so we can now share His glory. This means that our powers and possibilities of growth have been enhanced and are immense. If only we knew the type of glory to which we were called!
3. The Gospel text of Matthew 2:1-12 narrates the famous story of the wise men from the East who followed the star to discover where Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The star is presented as the guiding light that leads them to find God the object of their search. Because they followed the light of the star, they were able to change their story and the narrative of the birth of the Infant Jesus even when the powerful king, Herod, tried to mislead them. Every time we follow God’s ever shining light we succeed in changing our own story for better as well as the stories of those around us.
4. The feast of the Epiphany invites us to rise and shine so as to change the narrative of our individual and collective lives. The first thing is to have the assurance that God’s light is guiding us. God is ever with us even when all the factors around us appear to negate His presence. His presence is power. It is hope. It is passion. So we must get up and take control of our immense opportunities, knowing that, as the adage goes, “make a bold step and mighty forces will come to your aid.” There are tremendous possibilities of growth in every context, and the light continues to shine despite the continuing reign of darkness in various forms. We may see dark clouds hovering over our lives, over our families, over our country and over our larger society, but amidst all these God’s light which is His glory is shining upon us.
We pray that since God has given us the grace to begin this new year, He may continue to guide us with His light as we struggle amidst different forces in our daily journeys in search of life and the meaning of existence!
We pray that the trials and distractions we meet on the way and the different Herods that try to destroy our destiny and frustrate our desired goals may be vanquished by the superior divine light!
We pray that goodness and mercy shall follow everyone of us every day and at every moment so that we may have the power to effect the needed and better changes in our lives! Amen.

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