Ok friends, here we are in the New Year, 2024!  Religiously, or maybe better, spiritually, we gather today on the final, official, last day of Christmastime, but the beginning of a time, “to shine our own personal lights” in a world that we probably would all agree holds a great deal of darkness, needing the “light” that we all have to bring.  Let’s leave that for a bit and look at the feast we have come to celebrate today. 

   Officially, Church-wise, we name this feast, “the Epiphany,” a Greek word meaning, “showing forth.”  In everyday language, most of us think of this feast as the coming of the “Three Kings.” 

   As the story goes, these “kings” were astrologers who watched the stars for what these heavenly bodies could tell them. It was thought that when a new, even grand star appeared, it would have an equally grand “manifestation” on earth.  Thus, when this new heavenly body appeared, the astrologers followed its “journey” to its destination, which we believe to be Bethlehem. 

   The Wise Men, as they were also known, were aware of ancient writings –Scriptures that foretold, “a child being born” one who would save the people… To start out on such a journey would require a great deal of faith, not knowing what they would find at its end, but it was a journey that they felt compelled to make.

   Now whether the visitation of the three astrologers, who were perhaps kings, who visited from a far land, and returned there to proclaim what they saw and experienced, happened as the holy book says or not, the idea that when we experience “light” in our lives—some might think of as a miracle, we are meant to share it with others. This idea is one that I feel we should hold onto.  That having been said, I have no problem believing that these Three Kings did arrive in history—that they did experience something wonderful and that they did return to their home country and share the “good news” with others. 

   Now we can get caught up in the fact that we never hear about these royal visitors again, or we can simply hold onto the truth that they did arrive, along with many others, over time, to confirm for Jesus’ parents that their baby truly was the gift from God that they believed him to be.  And if we only stay on the surface of the story, it is a good story! 

   But, as I always tell you, and Jesus our brother told all who followed him, always go deeper to find “the pearl” that the surface story only suggests. 

   The prophet Isaiah, in the 1^st reading today, foretells what the Epiphany really means: “Arise, shine, for your light has come!”  In the beginning of this homily, I make mention of the fact that there is much “darkness” in our world.  Isaiah continues: “though night still covers the earth, and darkness, the peoples, [remember], “your light has come!”  Going deeper friends, means that we don’t just “see the light,” but we allow it, to “show us the way,” to what we need to do. 

   The “manifestation” that the Three Kings should represent to us, is our call to “shine our [own, personal] lights” too, in our world, so in need of that light.  I am always saddened when I hear so-called religious people trying to unite the Incarnation of Jesus at Christmastime, with the Crucifixion, not even waiting till his death is remembered in the sequence of the Church Year, but in effect saying by this connection that the only reason for Jesus’ coming was to “save us from our sins!” 

   If we were to believe this fact, then what is our purpose in having a human experience? Do we honestly believe that our God put us here with so little expectation for us as to allow us to live for a while our “imperfect human existence,” and ultimately be “shamed for our imperfection, with Jesus “riding in on a white horse” to save us?  If that is the case my friends, then I feel that I don’t need such a God! 

   So here is perhaps a better story.  What I believe the Three Kings did when they returned home was to share the miracle they experienced in the face of a child and his poor parents—what that was exactly, we don’t know, but we do know that they wished to protect the baby by helping to keep him safe, so that he could, “grow in wisdom and grace” and do all that was expected of him. 

   Each of us too friends, as followers of our brother Jesus are expected to live as he did, showing us the way.  The psalmist today encourages the same, basically telling us that “we aren’t there yet,” if the poor, the lonely-sad, the homeless, and the abused are still among us. 

   Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians reminds us that, “all are welcome” in the family that our brother Jesus started, and as in all good families, the invitation, “to be part” comes with the expectation, “to do our part,” “to shine” and bring “light” to our world.

   Anna Quindlen, one of my favorite authors, in A Short Guide to a Happy Life, says it like this of the expectation of doing her part to make her world better, “I show up, I listen, I try to laugh.”

   The Three Kings, in the gospel from Matthew today spoke their truth, “We [saw] his star rising.”  And as the story goes, they followed the star, and when they found what the heavenly body represented on earth, they shared with others what they had found! 

   Martin Luther King Jr., in all his tireless work fighting against racism in our country said clearly, “Darkness cannot put out darkness, only light can do that!” These are profound words as we contemplate war in Ukraine and in the Middle East in this New Year. Another thought that came across my desk the other day comes from Charlie Munger, long-time business associate of billionaire, Warren Buffet, who said, “Stay away from all that is toxic!” –we Catholics used to call these “occasions of sin!”

   So my good friends, with a new year upon us, as we strive again, “to be our best selves,” shining our personal lights in the way that only we can do, don’t be easily discouraged by all that seems, at times, impossible to change, or fix, but keep your focus on one good thing, at a time, and believe that the good will win out. Amen? Amen!