January 4, 2015
Dear Parishioners,
“Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.” [Matthew 2:11]
There was a different culture, a different language, an entirely different way of doing things. Although almost everything I encountered was a bit different, their way of doing things seemed just as good as ours, even though I’d always assumed that there was only one way of doing things, and that was the ‘American way.’ But even though I was only there for two weeks, I really came to like many of those seemingly strange customs of the Spanish people.
There was one Spanish custom to which, as a twelve-year old boy, I was completely opposed and to which I felt the need to register the strongest possible complaint: the Spanish people didn’t celebrate Christmas at all. There were no parties, no Christmas carols, no rush to the mall, not even Santa Claus! Worst of all, when I woke up on Christmas morning, for the first time in my life, there were no presents. No presents???!!! None at all!!! Not even a moldy orange!!!
As you might imagine, I made quite a fuss about this. You see, when you’re a twelve-year old boy, Christmas presents are definitely part of the agenda. It was explained to me that the way the Spanish see it, Christmas is not for celebrating, and having parties and presents, and eating too much—it’s much too serious for that.
The time of celebration for the Spanish is today’s Feast of Epiphany when the Kings bring gifts to the baby Jesus. It was on this day that, I am pleased to say, when I received my present.
The message of Epiphany is in the gifts that the Kings bring: gold to celebrate the wealth of God’s creation, frankincense to celebrate his power in the world, and myrrh to symbolize his approaching death.
Both the Magi and the Spanish remember that any genuine attempt to bring good, to bring God into the world—always, always, always—meets with opposition and with violence. That is why Herod wanted to kill the child Jesus. That is why we know that the Life, whose beginning we celebrated at Christmas, will end at Easter on Calvary with Jesus’ Death and Resurrection for our Salvation.
Let us pray: O Lord, you know our hearts even better than we do. You know the forces and the questions, the fears and the doubts, that plague our lives and seem to compel us forward no matter what. Come, Lord Jesus, and free us from all those things that would separate us from you and the life you have planned for us. Come, and be our God and our King, our Lord and our Savior, that we might become fully yours in 2015 and bow down to no other gods. Come, Lord Jesus, and set us free to be the people you are calling us to be. Amen.
Fr. Leonard+