WITH the celebration of the Solemnity
of the Epiphany of
Christ, we are actually left with an invitation that can very well be
a big challenge for us who profess to believe in Christ. This is none
other than the duty to show or reveal Christ, as he is, to others.
This is no mean responsibility to be carried out by us who
are his disciples. The ideal to aim at is to have those words of
Christ to his disciples said of us as well: “He who hears you hears
me, and he who rejects you rejects me. He who rejects me rejects him
who sent me.” (Lk 10,16)
Epiphany means to manifest or to reveal. It’s Christ
revealing himself as he is in all his Christological and
soteriological nature to the whole world. Making use of the visit of
the three kings to the child Jesus, Epiphany is the feast that reminds
us that Christ is not only for the Jews but also for everyone, not
only for a few but also for all.
It’s a feast that reminds us that Christ is the Son of
God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity who became man for our
salvation. He is actually everything to us. He is the way, the truth
and the very life for us. He is the very pattern of our humanity. How
we ought to be is defined for us by him.
So, this is the big challenge. How can we present Christ
to others as he is with our presence, words and deeds? A tall order,
indeed!
I remember that back in 2000, the Vatican issued a
document, “Dominus Iesus” (The Lord Jesus) that talked about the
“unicity and the salvific universality of Jesus Christ and the
Church.” It was penned by then Cardinal Ratzinger, later to become
Pope Benedict XVI, with the approval of St. John Paul II.
The purpose of the document was to show Christ as the lone
mediator between God and man, and “the real possibility of salvation
in Christ for all mankind and the necessity of the Church of this
salvation.” The aim was to show that the belief of the Catholic Church
in Jesus Christ is based on Christ as having the fullness of truth and
revelation.
Judging on the reactions and reviews of it, especially by
the secular press, the document did not make waves, indicating the
difficulty this effort of showing Christ to the world met.
I was not surprised by that development since even in the
story of the three kings, difficulties and dangers abounded their
effort to find Christ. Herod even attempted to trick the three kings.
And when he was frustrated by them, he went into a rampage of killing
the holy innocents.
This business of showing Christ to the world and finding
him is not going to be an easy task. We have to expect difficulties,
but remain calm and hopeful, since God does not abandon us. Yes, there
are a lot of skeptics, and worse, people who are hostile to the idea
of the spiritual and supernatural life, but God knows what to do with
them.
But the truth about Christ as the lone mediator between
God and us, and our duty to show him to the whole world, are not and
should not be undermined by these difficulties and dangers.
This task simply has to be done the way Christ himself did
it—quietly but consistently, with words and deeds, unafraid of
sacrifices and even death on the cross, all done in the spirit of
love.
Everything has to start with showing love and affection to
everyone, including those who may not love us, because that is how we
can be known to be truly Christian. Christ himself said: “By this
everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one
another.” (Jn 13,35)
This is the secret of tackling the Epiphany challenge. We just have to
show love and affection to everyone, doing it with consistency and
starting with little details of understanding and compassion. And from
there and making it a foundation of the other things we need to do,
let us undertake the bigger demands of love.
We have to do a lot catechesis and evangelization,
reaching out to more and more people. We have to humanize and
Christianize the different structures of society—political, economic,
cultural. Let us undertake personal apostolate, starting with the
family and radiating to ever wider circles of society. We have to
sanctify whatever work we do.
This way, we can manage to show Christ to all.
Christ, we are actually left with an invitation that can very well be
a big challenge for us who profess to believe in Christ. This is none
other than the duty to show or reveal Christ, as he is, to others.
This is no mean responsibility to be carried out by us who
are his disciples. The ideal to aim at is to have those words of
Christ to his disciples said of us as well: “He who hears you hears
me, and he who rejects you rejects me. He who rejects me rejects him
who sent me.” (Lk 10,16)
Epiphany means to manifest or to reveal. It’s Christ
revealing himself as he is in all his Christological and
soteriological nature to the whole world. Making use of the visit of
the three kings to the child Jesus, Epiphany is the feast that reminds
us that Christ is not only for the Jews but also for everyone, not
only for a few but also for all.
It’s a feast that reminds us that Christ is the Son of
God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity who became man for our
salvation. He is actually everything to us. He is the way, the truth
and the very life for us. He is the very pattern of our humanity. How
we ought to be is defined for us by him.
So, this is the big challenge. How can we present Christ
to others as he is with our presence, words and deeds? A tall order,
indeed!
I remember that back in 2000, the Vatican issued a
document, “Dominus Iesus” (The Lord Jesus) that talked about the
“unicity and the salvific universality of Jesus Christ and the
Church.” It was penned by then Cardinal Ratzinger, later to become
Pope Benedict XVI, with the approval of St. John Paul II.
The purpose of the document was to show Christ as the lone
mediator between God and man, and “the real possibility of salvation
in Christ for all mankind and the necessity of the Church of this
salvation.” The aim was to show that the belief of the Catholic Church
in Jesus Christ is based on Christ as having the fullness of truth and
revelation.
Judging on the reactions and reviews of it, especially by
the secular press, the document did not make waves, indicating the
difficulty this effort of showing Christ to the world met.
I was not surprised by that development since even in the
story of the three kings, difficulties and dangers abounded their
effort to find Christ. Herod even attempted to trick the three kings.
And when he was frustrated by them, he went into a rampage of killing
the holy innocents.
This business of showing Christ to the world and finding
him is not going to be an easy task. We have to expect difficulties,
but remain calm and hopeful, since God does not abandon us. Yes, there
are a lot of skeptics, and worse, people who are hostile to the idea
of the spiritual and supernatural life, but God knows what to do with
them.
But the truth about Christ as the lone mediator between
God and us, and our duty to show him to the whole world, are not and
should not be undermined by these difficulties and dangers.
This task simply has to be done the way Christ himself did
it—quietly but consistently, with words and deeds, unafraid of
sacrifices and even death on the cross, all done in the spirit of
love.
Everything has to start with showing love and affection to
everyone, including those who may not love us, because that is how we
can be known to be truly Christian. Christ himself said: “By this
everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one
another.” (Jn 13,35)
This is the secret of tackling the Epiphany challenge. We just have to
show love and affection to everyone, doing it with consistency and
starting with little details of understanding and compassion. And from
there and making it a foundation of the other things we need to do,
let us undertake the bigger demands of love.
We have to do a lot catechesis and evangelization,
reaching out to more and more people. We have to humanize and
Christianize the different structures of society—political, economic,
cultural. Let us undertake personal apostolate, starting with the
family and radiating to ever wider circles of society. We have to
sanctify whatever work we do.
This way, we can manage to show Christ to all.
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