God made Known: the star, the house and the detour

Solemnity of Epiphany: 3rd January 2016

Is 60: 1-6;  Eph 3 : 2-3, 5-6; Mt 2 : 1-12 

The Word became flesh and came to dwell among us; today the world gets to see its Messiah. The feast of Epiphany has three important symbols carrying three crucial messages for us disciples of Christ. 

The first symbol is the star : the guiding star which led the magi to the Lord. Everyone who claims to be a follower of Christ has to be a star that guides people to Christ. Are your thoughts, words and decisions shining enough to lead people to Christ?

The second symbol is the house: the star  might have been magnificent but it rested on a simple manger. The signs and events might have been grand but the Messiah was found in a stable. What we are and what we have does not matter as much as who we are. Whether simple or sophisticated, whether learned or ordinary, whether rich or poor... we are called to possess the Lord,  we are called to be one home that houses the Lord. People who come to us should be able to see, feel and experience the Lord and praise the Lord through and for us. That is true Epiphany.

The third symbolic event is the detour: the magi who came were asked to leave on a different way back. They had to make a detour. ..because they had truly seen the Messiah. Even we,  if we truly see the Messiah,  we would not be able to go back the same way that we came. We would have to make a detour for sure. That detour could be our sign of repentance,  our change of ways, our going out of our way for the sake of someone else, our new life because we have come to know the Lord.

God is made known... it is upto us to become God's guiding stars, true dwelling places of God and people who are ready to arise and shine!

WORD 2day: 2nd January 2016

The Misleading Messiahs

1 Jn 2:22-28; Jn 1:19-28

Just recently we have beheld the Messiah in the manger, and the Word today warns of the Misleading Messiahs the world abounds with. We are not unfamiliar with this phenomenon so common today: the flashy flexes, the facebook pages, the media menace, the crowd pullers, the miracle workers, the oracle givers, the soothsayers and the trumpet blowers... I am reminded of a witty statement from an atheist: you can trust a fellow who says there is no God, you can even trust a fellow who says there is God; but never trust a fellow who says he is god! At times things reach this sorry state: in doing the so called work of God, we forget the God of the work! Worse still, we slowly project ourselves as the gods of the little work that we accomplish!

I am not the one, declared the Baptist! Recognise the True Messiah, the only One who reconciles you with God, invites John. Right orientation as we begin the year and set off with our regular routine. May we never be misled by the self made messiahs and more seriously, let us never shape up ourselves to be misleading messiahs today!