Saint Frances Cabrini Parish

Father Kleppner - January 4, 2009

As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, I share with you the reflection of Patricia Datchuck Sanchez on the meaning of this feast and its implications for our lives.
Darkness or Light
Born in northern India in 1889, Sadhu Sundar Singh was raised as a Sikh until converting to Christianity in early adolescence. After his baptism, he dedicated himself to preaching the Gospel in word and in work. Convinced that God’s saving plan was universal, and despite the caste system of his native land, Singh extended himself to everyone without exception. His conviction that all believers in Christ are to do likewise is illustrated in this, one of his many stories.
In the cold mountainous regions of Northern India, travelers warm themselves by placing burning coals in small vessels. With the vessel wrapped in a cloth, travelers can carry their own personal “fire” with them on their way.
Three men were traveling equipped with such vessels on their way to the holy place, Amarnath. One traveler saw several pilgrims suffering with the cold and he took the fire out of his vessel and lit a fire so that all could warm themselves. Everyone survived the cold that night and lived to journey another day.
That evening, as it grew cold and dark, the second man took out the fire in his vessel and lit a torch so that everyone could walk along in safety. At this, the third man scoffed. “You are all fools,” he shouted. “You have wasted your fire for the sake of others.”
In response, the travelers said to him, “Show us your fire!” When he broke open his vessel, there was no fire, no light, no warmth – only ashes and dead coals. One person had given warmth with his fire; another had given light. But the one who kept the fire only for himself was, in the end, left in the cold and dark of his own making.
Singh’s story speaks eloquently to the significance of today’s feast of the manifestation of God to all peoples. In his initial coming among us, Jesus has lit a fire of love and compassion, peace and justice. Through his suffering, death and resurrection, Jesus has made this fire available to all who will welcome it into their hearts in faith. Until his return, those to whom Jesus has entrusted this fire are to share it fully and freely with all others.
Today’s feast, with its universal character, affirms the realization that unless the fire God has given us is made available to all, then it will burn for no one. Like the third person in Singh’s story, who hoarded the fire and the warmth for himself, those who insist on a monopoly of God’s love and blessings will find that, in the end, they will enjoy neither.
Through today’s Gospel narrative of the magi who were drawn by the natural light of a star to Jesus, the evangelist affirms that there are many different ways of coming to God. At times, these varying ways may challenge the preconceptions and poke holes into the parochialism of those who claim to have found the only true path to God. Nevertheless, there are as many routes to God as there are pilgrims, and God, who made us all, respects the point of departure and the itinerary of each of us. God also lights the way of every human traveler so that all may eventually arrive at their intended destination with God.
In today’s first reading, Isaiah describes that universal journey toward God as a cavalcade of nations. God has put nothing in the way of these diverse travelers. In fact, God intended that the people to whom God was first revealed would be the light for others. Through them, all the people of the earth were intended to venture forth from the darkness and clouds of human sin so as to come to God and to grace. Israel’s vocation of being the light by which others may find their way has been extended to include all those to whom Jesus has revealed the light of God. As Jesus’ disciples, we carry this light in the fragile vessels of our own humanity. When these vessels become the means by which the light of God is shared, then God’s plan is furthered and we are ennobled by our service. When the light of God in our care is extinguished, then the darkness bears bold testimony to our selfishness. As in all things, the choice is ours – to be darkness, to be light. Which do you choose?

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