8 January 2023
The Epiphany of the Lord
Today’s feast of the Epiphany celebrates the revelation of the Lord incarnate to all the nations. Prophesied by Isaiah as a time of splendor for all of Jerusalem, for Mary and Joseph it may likely have been an overwhelming sight to see men come from distant lands bearing lavish gifts and prostrating themselves in front of their newborn. If it wasn’t clear from everything they had heard and experienced thus far, it was now becoming crystal clear that this child’s mission, this child’s life, this child’s love was made for the many.
Today, the Holy Family can teach us how to love with open hands. Often, we may find ourselves with clenched fists, resisting love, pushing it away or clinging onto it (or the mere idea of it) so tightly out of fear that it may leave us. Of course, it is normal and good to desire love and its presence in our lives: that our parents would live forever, that our children wouldn’t grow up so quickly, that a relationship wouldn’t end, that a relationship would actually take off. The desire to love and to be loved should always be affirmed.
But perhaps as Mary and Joseph realized that day, we find that the love we hold and nourish in our hands will not always be for us or with us – at least not in the way that we would initially wish. In our impotence, we may realize that we are not sovereigns of a kingdom of love according to our wishes.
These moments of sadness, bitterness, frustration, are made sweeter when we spend them in the company of Mary, Joseph, the wise men, and so many others living and deceased who have found in this child a reason to believe in a love whose wisdom surpasses our limitations. His is the Kingdom, and when it comes to love, we will not be left empty-handed.
We just have to keep our hands open.