Homily
Solemnity of the Epiphany
Christ the King Church Topeka
4 January 2014
Daily Readings
Are you more spiritual or more religious? Are you more of a seeker or more of a believer? Are you more scientific or theological? These are not mutually exclusive options. You can certainly be both. You should be both. Yet around us there is a dangerous popularity to being spiritual seekers over and against being religious believers. Science holds sway over theology, sometimes even in Catholic schools. But in today's Epiphany Gospel, we see the opposite happening. The magi were originally star-gazers, but end up bending their knees in worship. They trade some of their spiritual scientific seeking in order to enter more deeply into religious theological belief.
There are too many people today, unfortunately, who are headed in the opposite direction. Despite the Lord wanting all the nations to draw light and happiness and meaning from the specific revelation and grace that He has entrusted to the Catholic Church, Catholics are not only not evangelizing, they are falling away in record numbers. Just as once the Lord had prepared a people Israel to receive His revelation and then serve all other nations by sharing His light, but found that nation strangely unprepared and asleep, so also in Catholicism today we see not an evangelizing Church but a Catholic church that loses 10 adult members to non-denominational Churches or to agnosticism for every convert she gains. It is a scary realization to know the Lord has entrusted the light of the Gospel and the fullness of truth, and the means of salvation to reach all nations, and every mind and heart, through the evangelization of the Catholic Church, and we have responded with greater fear than ever before. Rather than allowing ourselves to be enlightened and sent by Christ, we prefer to be left alone and to keep our options open.
We have a Catholic Church today that plays defense not offense. We are afraid of losing faith rather than sharing it. She shies away from her dignity and destiny to be a light to the nations. We do this collectively as a Church because we are moving individually in the opposite direction of the magi. The magi were seeking the truth, but when they realized that the author of all truth was desperately seeking His people, and humbly wanting to show His power and to communicate His glory in the tininess of a human face, they went from being seekers to believers. They presented their gifts, and bowed down in worship, and allowed the Christ child to reveal to them the mystery of what it means to be a human person.
Sometimes we find ourselves moving in the opposite direction of the magi. God is desperately wanting a more personal, intimate and life-giving relationship with us. He is glad that we seek Him, but He is desperately wanting to communicate with us, and begs us to listen to Him, and to receive His revelation. That is the meaning of Christmas - that those who are open to God coming closer, making himself as small as He needs to to break through our fears and defenses, will find themselves in the face of the Christ child. It is great to seek God in the stars, but better to let ourselves be found by the author of the stars, who speaks through the humility of Christmas that authentic, natural, sacrificial, humble and fruitful love is the ground of all reality, and the reason there is a universe, and is the constant calling and full dignity of every human person.
Sometimes seeking rather than in receiving or believing, or trying to become more spiritual than religious, can backfire. We can end up not discovering truth, or God, but just ourselves. We see this, of course, when the sciences make us less human. Science is amazing, and anyone who tells you faith and science are at odds has his head in the sand. Occasionally, like in the case of Galileo, the Church which specializes in revelation not science, has difficulty getting on the same page in the collective search for truth, but this is the exception not the rule. The rule is that all advances in science depend on the science of theology, and a theological worldview that proposes that the universe is observable by an intelligence other than itself, and therefore intelligible. It is no accident that some of the greatest advances in genetics and astronomy have been made by Catholic priests, and every Catholic school and university has a robust science department.
Yet science does not deliver ultimate truths. We see often that revelation from God corrects and purifies science. Faith and science need each other, and the conversation is critical in the search for truth. Metaphysics and physics have to talk, for sometimes scientific knowledge used apart from philosophical truth or divine revelation can make us less human. Science can be used not to make us more humble, vulnerable, receptive and generous, but to dominate, control and be selfish. The revelation of the Christ child purifies the reason of this world, away from the prerogatives of adults and toward seeing the world through the eyes of the world's most precious resource, her children. The light of faith meant to go out from the Church to every corner of our dark world at Christmas, a light that the world needs more than ever, is the light that teaches us what it means to be a human person.
Herod was afraid of the tiny Christ child. He was afraid of the humility and vulnerability of religious belief. He represents the fear we all have in losing control, and what would really change in us if we bowed down and offered our very best to Christ. We would rather keep our options open. The magi had not only the courage, but above all, the humility, to make the conversion from spiritual seeking to religious belief. In doing so, they were enlightened by the radiant face of Wisdom itself, the true light of every nation and of every mind and heart. They give voice voice to our Church's ever more critical proclamation to the entire world at Epiphany - that wise men still seek Him! Amen.
Solemnity of the Epiphany
Christ the King Church Topeka
4 January 2014
Daily Readings
Are you more spiritual or more religious? Are you more of a seeker or more of a believer? Are you more scientific or theological? These are not mutually exclusive options. You can certainly be both. You should be both. Yet around us there is a dangerous popularity to being spiritual seekers over and against being religious believers. Science holds sway over theology, sometimes even in Catholic schools. But in today's Epiphany Gospel, we see the opposite happening. The magi were originally star-gazers, but end up bending their knees in worship. They trade some of their spiritual scientific seeking in order to enter more deeply into religious theological belief.There are too many people today, unfortunately, who are headed in the opposite direction. Despite the Lord wanting all the nations to draw light and happiness and meaning from the specific revelation and grace that He has entrusted to the Catholic Church, Catholics are not only not evangelizing, they are falling away in record numbers. Just as once the Lord had prepared a people Israel to receive His revelation and then serve all other nations by sharing His light, but found that nation strangely unprepared and asleep, so also in Catholicism today we see not an evangelizing Church but a Catholic church that loses 10 adult members to non-denominational Churches or to agnosticism for every convert she gains. It is a scary realization to know the Lord has entrusted the light of the Gospel and the fullness of truth, and the means of salvation to reach all nations, and every mind and heart, through the evangelization of the Catholic Church, and we have responded with greater fear than ever before. Rather than allowing ourselves to be enlightened and sent by Christ, we prefer to be left alone and to keep our options open.
We have a Catholic Church today that plays defense not offense. We are afraid of losing faith rather than sharing it. She shies away from her dignity and destiny to be a light to the nations. We do this collectively as a Church because we are moving individually in the opposite direction of the magi. The magi were seeking the truth, but when they realized that the author of all truth was desperately seeking His people, and humbly wanting to show His power and to communicate His glory in the tininess of a human face, they went from being seekers to believers. They presented their gifts, and bowed down in worship, and allowed the Christ child to reveal to them the mystery of what it means to be a human person.Sometimes we find ourselves moving in the opposite direction of the magi. God is desperately wanting a more personal, intimate and life-giving relationship with us. He is glad that we seek Him, but He is desperately wanting to communicate with us, and begs us to listen to Him, and to receive His revelation. That is the meaning of Christmas - that those who are open to God coming closer, making himself as small as He needs to to break through our fears and defenses, will find themselves in the face of the Christ child. It is great to seek God in the stars, but better to let ourselves be found by the author of the stars, who speaks through the humility of Christmas that authentic, natural, sacrificial, humble and fruitful love is the ground of all reality, and the reason there is a universe, and is the constant calling and full dignity of every human person.
Sometimes seeking rather than in receiving or believing, or trying to become more spiritual than religious, can backfire. We can end up not discovering truth, or God, but just ourselves. We see this, of course, when the sciences make us less human. Science is amazing, and anyone who tells you faith and science are at odds has his head in the sand. Occasionally, like in the case of Galileo, the Church which specializes in revelation not science, has difficulty getting on the same page in the collective search for truth, but this is the exception not the rule. The rule is that all advances in science depend on the science of theology, and a theological worldview that proposes that the universe is observable by an intelligence other than itself, and therefore intelligible. It is no accident that some of the greatest advances in genetics and astronomy have been made by Catholic priests, and every Catholic school and university has a robust science department.Yet science does not deliver ultimate truths. We see often that revelation from God corrects and purifies science. Faith and science need each other, and the conversation is critical in the search for truth. Metaphysics and physics have to talk, for sometimes scientific knowledge used apart from philosophical truth or divine revelation can make us less human. Science can be used not to make us more humble, vulnerable, receptive and generous, but to dominate, control and be selfish. The revelation of the Christ child purifies the reason of this world, away from the prerogatives of adults and toward seeing the world through the eyes of the world's most precious resource, her children. The light of faith meant to go out from the Church to every corner of our dark world at Christmas, a light that the world needs more than ever, is the light that teaches us what it means to be a human person.
Herod was afraid of the tiny Christ child. He was afraid of the humility and vulnerability of religious belief. He represents the fear we all have in losing control, and what would really change in us if we bowed down and offered our very best to Christ. We would rather keep our options open. The magi had not only the courage, but above all, the humility, to make the conversion from spiritual seeking to religious belief. In doing so, they were enlightened by the radiant face of Wisdom itself, the true light of every nation and of every mind and heart. They give voice voice to our Church's ever more critical proclamation to the entire world at Epiphany - that wise men still seek Him! Amen.
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