The same sad and destructive attempts have been put before us, ever since the first encounter between the devil and Adam and Eve. They lived for a time sinless, because God had not placed within them the knowledge of good and evil, nor the tempting desire for human wisdom. It was the devil who placed that desire within them, and the conflict within began at that very moment, and the struggle continues to this day. We still seek to rely on our own “wisdom” rather than through faith to rely on the wisdom of God to carry us through. We seek to elevate ourselves through the arrogance of a self-perceived importance as beings who think we are wise beyond our means. If we look back at history, and even at our own lives, the pattern emerges, we are at our worst when we think that we know better how to handle things, and convince ourselves we are doing so for the right reasons. We still seek to make gods of ourselves, and this is the very nature of our sin on so many levels.

Even in our Gospel today, the same temptations are laid before Jesus, the devil wants Him to elevate and satiate Himself, and tries multiple times to get Him to do so. He uses the frailties of humanity to try to accomplish his goal. There is the temptation of food when Jesus is so hungry from His fasting, the temptation to see if God will really take care of Him when he is in danger, and lastly the temptation to lust for personal power and importance, and the worshipping of those false gods.

The situations we face every day, certainly leave us vulnerable to temptations. We perceive bodily needs sometimes in an out of proportion manner that can leave us vulnerable. Our own ego’s leave us vulnerable to placing ourselves much higher in the overall scheme of things than we really are. Our insecurities, leave us open to sometimes putting our Lord to the test because we let fear rule us. What God really seeks from us, is a bit of trust in His goodness. He created all, there is literally nothing He is not aware of, or that He doesn’t have a plan for. He does expect us to act prudently, but also to fundamentally entrust ourselves to Him for our overall wellbeing. This is sometimes easier said than done, our fears and doubts are powerful, and the tempter will use them to his advantage at every turn. This means we need reinforcement on a regular basis. It’s like anything else, if we are distant from our Lord, it will make placing our trust in Him that much more difficult. We can’t really then ask why it seems like He isn’t with us. How could He be, if we won’t allow that? Prayer, is our time to talk to Him, considering His teachings in scripture is our drawing closer to understanding of Him, and receiving the Eucharist brings us into intimacy with Him. We need all these things to survive the onslaughts of this world, and to allow us to one day join Him in the next.

Light is one of the things we treasure most as human beings. We are comforted by it, we are nourished by i’s effect, both directly upon us, and obliquely through the growth it promotes in our environment. We seek ways to generate light to illuminate the darkness, and allow us to see clearly, and at least as importantly to act within the bounds of its illumination. This last statement can be taken both literally (yeah, try to work on that leaking drain without a flashlight), and metaphorically – we can bring light into others lives by our actions.
The enemy of light is darkness, which it expels with its presence. This is particularly true of the light that our actions in following Jesus’ message bring as a unique and pure illumination that drives away soulful darkness and gloom as it rises within us and radiates to those we care for as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Jesus asked the question, if you have a lit lamp, do you place it where it is hidden, or do you elevate it so that its light and warmth can radiate to all. There is more to this question for us than initially meets the eye. Our response to this is sometimes a dismissive “duh” – of course you would put it on a lampstand and elevate it to make it’s light useful. Yet, from the standpoint of it’s deeper meaning, we seem to miss the point completely. We ARE called to be that light, and yet we often mask its illumination to others. We leave it under the bed as we ignore the needs of those around us, we smother our potential light under a bushel basket when we deny our role as followers of Christ and instead pursue our own ideas. This is the real question – are we giving of ourselves? Our Lord takes the metaphorical descriptions one step further when he tells us we are the salt of the earth, and then asks with what can salt can be rejuvenated with when it loses its flavor? If it has no flavor, it is good for nothing. So too with us, if we lose the flavors of the life we were meant to lead, we are wasting the precious gift of life that God has given us, and we make a useless mockery of our very existence – we are good for nothing but taking up meaningless space. Yet with God, all things are possible. You and I certainly cannot bring the flavor back to a mineral, but God certainly can – he created it to begin with. It is only through a reemergence of His action in our lives that we ask for in prayer, that any hope exists.
We need to take the time in our lives to stand tall, and illuminate those around us who are still blind and groping for something to believe in, and bring them Gods word. We need to impart the needed flavor and nourishment to them through the sharing of the scriptures that nourish us. We need to not fear our place as believers who are called to do these things for others, and instead embrace the mission. Only this will take us from being hapless flesh which craves dopamine hits from our interactions, because we are so lost that we have nothing left but our addictions, and turn us into the manifestations of the body of Christ that call others to Him. To Live, to Fulfill, to Give!

If there is one overarching message in our readings today, it is that God’s values and priorities are radically different than what we seem to think is important. He is not impressed with position, power, influence, or worldly priorities. It is especially worth noting that He is particularly unimpressed with those who boast of their standing.
In Saint Paul’s letter to the people of Corinth, he illustrates the disparity between what is seen as commendable in the world such as strength, wisdom, and social position, and how God views these attributes. He will use the weak, the unworldly, and those who are despised by society to lead and instruct those who would boast of their standing. The only sanctification and righteousness that God is concerned with is humble adherence to God’s will. If we are to boast of anything, it will only be that we boast of our reliance upon our God. This should lead us to what can be an uncomfortable question – when is the last time we boasted of our reliance upon our Maker in front of others? When was the last time we openly praised God to show our love and admiration for him in front of others? These things often seem awkward to us socially, yet as believers, we need to align with God’s values and not worry about what others may think of us so much. We need to turn our own conduct and values pretty much on their ear.
Jesus was incredibly plain in his description of what is truly important. He tells us to value things that we often interpret as weaknesses. Meekness, humility, hunger, mercy, and poverty of spirit. These are not the things we often view as personal strengths. We seem them through the lens of human priorities because we so often forget that our thinking needs constant realignment with God’s ways. He needs none of these things from us, because compared to His own strengths, ours are beyond trivial, they are positively laughable manifestations within us. What IS important is the ability to be so much less impressed with what we bring to the table, and instead focus on with great need, what God provides us with. To look upon others knowing they are in need just as we are, with meekness, mercy, compassion, cleanness of heart, and the desire to help them connect with the only source of all goodness – God. To seek to show them through our own lives the needs that we all share, and that only God can satisfy. To boast of our reliance, weakness, hunger, and thirst that search constantly for satisfaction through God, even though we often don’t recognize these desires accurately. The only way for others, and perhaps even ourselves, to really recognize what we are called to, is often through emulation. To see that it is desirable to be the merciful, the peacemakers, even the persecuted, as we offer these things up to God in our way of living. To be truly children of the Father, and to ask him for all that we need as we cry out Abba – like small children before our source of all love, giving, and protection. God be praised!

I’m always struck by the familiarity of todays Gospel with our own situations at times. “The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light”. This describes us perfectly when it comes to our own darkness that exists before we come to have a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, and also when we sometimes allow it to take a back seat to other parts of our life. Without Christ – we truly exist in darkness.
Saint Paul understood this keenly, as he addressed the people of Corinth. He asked them plainly – who but Christ has died, and risen for you, that you might claim to be followers of theirs? Obviously, no one. This statement truly paints the picture for all of us as well – there is nothing else that we can believe in, that illuminates, brings peace, or draws us close to what we all seek, than a relationship with Jesus. He is the ONLY way.
When Jesus called Simon, Andrew, and James and John, it is noteworthy that their reactions were as decisive as they were. No questions were asked. These men were all fishermen, who owned their boats and gear, as probably some of the most significant investments of their lives. They and their families literally lived or died based on the success or failure of their labors. To walk away from all that without so much as a question is extraordinary. Yet this is exactly what they did. Why? Simply put, it was because they could innately sense that in Jesus, they would find the sustaining presence that would support not only their needs while here on earth, but far beyond that, into eternal life. They knew that this was He whom they had been waiting for their whole lives.
When we engage in, or maintain a strong relationship with Jesus, there is a certainty that comes into our own consciousness. It supplants the usual cares and concerns that sometimes otherwise consume us. It does not mean that we don’t maintain our own efforts at work, or within our families, but it does mean that these things now come into perspective in a radically new way. They are now compartmentalized within a scope that is subservient to what is most important to us – drawing close to Christ. Things can still go wrong, concerns still sometimes exist, but they no longer are all consuming. They are put into proper perspective in light of an ultimate goal of seeking eternal life with Jesus. If we really digest this, there is a peace that comes with this view of everything else taking place in our lives. Things become more manageable, peaceful contemplation of everything going on around us becomes possible, and all of this is illuminated by the light of Christ to be visible without the harsh glare of this world. Peace, light, and love can now pervade us when we let Him be our focus. God Bless

Having a purpose in life is one of the key things we seem to search for at times. We seek meaning for our existence. Some do so through self-contemplation, others search for the answers in literature or lectures. The thing is, while these pursuits can be admirable to a point, the only one who really has any idea why we were placed on this earth, is the Creator himself.

In our readings today, we hear about Jacobs call. He was given a new name – Israel, and with that change came a purpose, more than one actually. He would not only raise up the tribes and restore the survivors of Israel, he would become a light to the nations, so that God’s salvation would be proclaimed throughout the world.  

John the Baptist was also someone whose true purpose was not immediately revealed to him. He came baptizing others with water for repentance, but it was not util he baptized Jesus in the Jordan river and saw the Holy Spirit descend up Him and remain there, that he understood fully that he was called to be the herald of, and to serve the Son of God.

The situation with each of us is very similar, as we make our way through life, God’s purpose for each of us will be revealed over time. We must never tire of looking for the signs or messages that will show us our path and how we can serve God. As we do this, prayer is a hugely important element of our pursuit. We can’t simply stumble blindly through life and expect God to show everything to us, He needs to know we’re even listening. Like any relationship, the best way to achieve this is through communication. We seek, but we also speak, and ask God to reveal to us what is His will for our lives.

Today we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord, and our Gospel message lays bare for us some insights that we should take to heart from its lessons.

The first of these is the stark contrast in those who sought the Christ Child. We have on the one hand a powerful earthly ruler who seeks the ruination and death of the child to ensure his own continued place of power. On the other side of things, we have three men who have travelled far from all they know, because they are open to the message of hope that they innately know comes with the signs they have observed.

Even the approach to communicating speaks volumes of the two separate approaches that are being pursued to seek out the Christ Child. Herod seeks to shield his words by calling the Magi secretly, the way all people who practice deceit do. Not because he was actually afraid of others being able to do something about them, but simply because all those who speak words of deceit are innately afraid of their own words because of what they harbor. They know their guilt. In contrast, the Magi approach the king publicly and proclaim what they know to be true, and state their intentions plainly. Their hearts are free of any guilt or fear of their own message because it is one of peace and honesty. They have no need of being shielded from fear of what their own words contain.

When we approach Jesus, we need to ask ourselves, how true and open is our own message that we bring before Him. Are we being honest with Him in our thoughts, our words, and our prayers? Or are we going through the motions, and presenting a carefully sanitized version of what we really need to be talking to Him about because our own situations scare us. Do our actions and words stand up to the scrutiny of being stated in the light and in open discourse? If the answer to these questions is no, we need  to think about what it is that we fear, and is causing our conversations with our Lord to be left incomplete.

It is my hope for each one of us, that in this coming year, we are open and brave enough to be willing to pursue His star, so that when we see it at it’s rising, we too will seek to do Him homage. To pray and to worship Him in the completeness and honesty that He deserves. It is more than just a reckoning of our own actions, it is the path to peace, and interior contentment that so many of us seek, and that seems to be so rarely found these days. The fact is, there is only one path, and it leads us over sometimes rocky ground, to a gate that is very narrow, but that also opens into the vastness of Gods kingdom and love. It is worth any trials, pains, and work that it takes to achieve an open and honest relationship with Jesus Christ and to only then place the gift of ourselves before Him.