Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord
To give a person a good gift, one has to know the person. For example: last Monday my grandfather turned 90. There are lots of thoughtful gifts that one can get a 90-year-old: maybe precious metals, mementos, etc.,. My grandfather didn’t want any of it. He simply wanted to eat together as a family and spend time with each other. So all four of my uncles, even the two from Arizona, came together with my parents and we ate out at a restaurant. However, disregarding my grandfather’s instructions that there were to be no gifts, I bought him something we joke about all the time, something I was sure he would use: bologna. He loved the gift, and it caused a good amount of laughter.
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| My grandfather, seated next to my grandmother, with their 5 children behind them |
I also recently asked some of the kids at Powers that I know who are dating what they got for their significant others. The students I spoke to talked about getting jewelry (especially for the girls), clothes, and other sentimental items. Some of them took their boyfriend or girlfriend out to dinner, or gave them gift cards. Talking with the students, it reminds me why I was glad I never had a girlfriend in high school for whom I had to buy things.
We hear today about the gifts that the magi brought Jesus: gold (for a king); frankincense (for a god); and myrrh (for burial). We of course know that these gifts were very fitting for Jesus (as well as very pricey), as Jesus is the King of Kings, True God, and the one who suffered death and was buried for our salvation. The gifts of these three wise men were the perfect gifts.
The gift that Jesus wants is the gift of our lives. He wants all of us, not just some of us, but all of who we are, and He wants that gift because in giving ourselves to Him, we end up finding true happiness. This is one of the paradoxes of our faith: it is only in giving ourselves away to Jesus that we actually find who we are meant to be and how we can be happy. In this new year, people do all sorts of things to try to better themselves and give themselves happier lives. In reality, the only way we truly better ourselves is by giving our mind, heart, body, and soul to Jesus. Loving God and loving our neighbor is a gift even better than gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
What is interesting is that, as we come to Mass each Sunday to adore the Christ, just as the magi did two millennia ago, some, maybe even many, of us come not wanting to give a gift, but wanting to receive one. Mass has become to some, or maybe even many, “what do I get out of it?” Perhaps the words that priests least want to hear on a Saturday evening or Sunday is: “I don’t get anything out of Mass, Father.”
Of course, we do get something out of Mass. We get to hear the Word of God; we get to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus; sometimes we get a good homily; we get the opportunity to unite or lives more closely with Jesus. If we feel like we don’t get anything out of Mass, we have to ask ourselves: is the Word of God and the Body and Blood of Jesus not a good enough of a gift for us? But the real problem is not what we get or don’t get out of Mass, but thinking that we go to Mass to get something in the first place. Just as the beginning of cultural changes are hard to pinpoint, so the beginning of this phenomenon of going to Mass to get something is also hard to pinpoint. When did we first start thinking: Mass is only as good as when I am moved emotionally, or like the music, or like the homily? I don’t know, but that approach is a poison that is drawing people away from Jesus.
Don’t get me wrong: people do sometimes have great emotional experiences during the Mass, or the music helps them to pray and unite their lives to Jesus, and on rare occasions they even get good homilies. And that is something for which we can give thanks. But each time we come to Mass, we come to give, not to get. Coming to Mass to get something out of it is like the wise men arriving at the home of Mary and Joseph and Jesus, and saying: “Thank God we found the newborn king! What can you give us?” No doubt, the magi did receive something for seeing Jesus, and recognizing in Him the newborn King. But they did not travel from afar to get something, but rather to give something.
If we come to Mass because of what we like, or the experience we want to have, we are coming not so much for Jesus, but for ourselves, and we are missing the point of Mass. We have the opportunity each week to come and adore the same Jesus the magi worshipped. We have the opportunity each week to give Jesus the gift that He wants: not so much gold or frankincense or myrrh, but the gift of who we are, so that He can truly make us free and happy. The wise men followed the star from afar to come to Jesus in Bethlehem; most of us don’t even have to use OnStar to get to St. Pius X. But in the Eucharist God becomes flesh once more, and we can do Him homage. If we put ourselves into the Mass, then we will likely get something out of it. But even if we don’t “get anything out of it” (beyond hearing God’s Word and receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus), then we don’t need to get worried or leave. At those times Jesus invites us to give more deeply of ourselves and unite even the things we don’t like to the cross of Jesus, so that He can transform us more powerfully into His disciples. Jesus desires the gift of all of who we are. Did we come to get or to give?