Today is Epiphany - the day when the three wisemen from the east paid homage to little Baby Jesus in the manger. As usual, I was busy jotting down the points of homily during mass this morning. I was filled with joy when I knew that the mass was to be celebrated by Archbishop John Lee. I'm always in awe with his homilies, knowing that it is a call to grow deeper with God. Last time I used to dread his homilies... Now I'm always anticipating his homilies... I guess the biggest impact Bishop had made in my life was the sermon he gave somewhere in July. I remember his question was simple, yet so difficult to answer - "What do you bring to offer to Jesus at mass every time you attend mass?" His explanation was exactly how the song "So You Would Come" by Hillsong is... "Come to the Father, though your gift is small, broken hearts, broken lives, He will take them all..." All we need to bring to Jesus everytime we attend mass is ourselves, our desperations, our disappointments, our joys, our happiness, our sorrows... Everything in our lives is what Jesus wants from us... Yeah, from that day onwards, I knew my life changed. Well, at least my perspective towards Mass changed.
... Many times we talk about ourselves attending pilgrimages. How many times did we also tell others about the quarrels, fights, criticisms, etc. right after the pilgrimages? Like us, the wise men from the East who went on a pilgrimage to find the little baby also have problems on their journey, yet they choose and try to see the signs and follow the star. When they entered the city of Jerusalem, the star disappeared. Being at loss, they went to Herod for help. Apparently, King Herod wasn't really the right person for help, because he didn't know much. At the same time, what Herod did when he heard about the birth of the new King of Jerusalem was to refer to the scribes who were the experts in scriptures. Based on the word of prophets, they predicted that the little Babe will be born in Bethlehem. Thus, the wise men followed the Word, left Jerusalem. Once they left the city, they saw the star again, and they were filled with great joy. When they met with the Baby, they fell down and worship Him. Only God will be worshiped in such a way. Besides that, the wise men gave him everything they have - frankincense, gold and myrrh. After paying homage, they went back to their countries using a different road after being warned not to return to Herod in a dream...
As Bishop continued... He disclosed that the lives of the three wise men were changed. In our current times, as he put it, "when we encountered God, our whole life is transformed and we don't go back to the old life again". We're on that journey, through Christmas, the feast of Holy Family, and now Epiphany... We pray that we can recognize Him and offer ourselves to Him.
Bishop's call to us was this: "Do I have anything to offer to Jesus today?"
He concluded that we should let go of our whole life to Jesus so that we can live in Him and Him in us...
I guess what really struck me hard was that our lives (the wise men) will be transformed after encountering Jesus (paying homage to Baby Jesus in the manger) and thus we should never return to our old self (returning to Herod) but to take a new route back to our home (alternative route back to their home country). It is very symbolic to me, the whole gospel reading, after listening to what Bishop said during homily. In fact, there are so much more in the homily which struck me, but this is what I would like to share with others at this moment. My life is no longer mine, but it is Christ who lives in me and I in Him... I think it is a verse written by St. Paul... It is really true to me now~
So, do you have anything to offer to Jesus today?
Thank and praise God, whose hands are in my life. Amen!
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