GIFTS AND MYSTERIES
Epiphany of the Lord
I like preparing Christmas gifts
for my friends long before the season.
And I delight in receiving gifts from thoughtful family members and
friends. Some people are afraid to
give gifts because they do not want to be bothered by the purchasing and
wrapping and sending. But gifts
are part of Christmas as the story of the Magi tell us today (Matthew 2:1-12).
Among the gifts I received this
year was a very large package that surprisingly revealed a beautiful painting a
friend of mine made just for me.
It fit well on a vacant wall in our rectory where now it hangs. Then I received the smallest but
nevertheless precious gift of a tiny stamp – the commemorative stamp for the
canonization of our new Filipino saint, St. Pedro Calungsod.
The amazing thing about a gift is
that it is more than just an item. A gift speaks and conveys something that
warms the heart. It reveals something from the sender to the receiver. A gift expresses the love, esteem, joy,
good wishes and best intentions one has for a friend. Even if you do not say anything, the gift says it all for
you!
Christmas is the season of gifts
because in this season we hear about gifts. The Magi brought gifts to the Christ Child. And God gave the world the greatest
gift of all – his only Son, specially wrapped in swaddling clothes, the symbol
of our humble humanity.
The birth of Jesus is God’s gift
to a people covered in darkness and shielded by a thick cloud, as Isaiah (Ch
60) describes. God desires the
liberation of his people and his great design to make them a radiant light for
the others. For a long time, all the people knew was slavery and shame. This time, God transforms Israel’s
poverty into the riches that is the envy of her neighbors.
The Letter to the Ephesians
explains that the gift of God is a mystery, but not one that is unknown. Rather it is a mystery that is
revealed, unfolded so that people may understand the love of the sender. God’s love is a mystery slowly
unwrapped until it fully manifests in the person of Jesus, his Son.
The Magi in the gospel brought
their gifts to Jesus but when it dawned on them that Jesus was the greatest
gift of all, their lives were transformed forever. God now leads them to another route, different from the one
their lives took before they encountered the God who is now part of the world’s
history.
As we slowly say goodbye to this
joyful season, as we carefully tuck away every gift we received, let us beg the
Lord to reveal to us the love and concern of the people behind the gifts so
that we may truly appreciate them. Most specially, let us humbly ask the Lord
that we may understand the significance of his own gift of his Son so that as
the personal meaning of Jesus for us is made known, we may carry him in our
hearts as we walk the way of freedom and light.
Let us thank the Lord for gifts
and for the mystery of love behind each of them.
