Spiritual Reflections

One of the most helpful concepts to enter our religious thought and vocabulary in the mid-’60s was “salvation history.” It dovetailed with the happenings of Vatican II, helping us understand we were part of an ongoing process by which God, through Jesus, was saving the world. Scripture was emphasized more than ever. In those writings we surface the beginnings of that history. So it was only logical when our new Lectionary came out in 1970 that the first of the weekend readings was usually from the Hebrew scriptures. If nothing else, those rarely heard passages helped us place Jesus more firmly in his historical, Jewish environment, an essential element in understanding God’s actions on our behalf throughout history.

The Sunday after Easter always has the same Gospel, one we should hear at least once a year.

It’s more than just a narrative about Thomas’ initial lack of faith in Jesus’ resurrection and his eventual conversion to that essential Christian belief. As in all Gospel empty tomb and post-Resurrection appearances, John the evangelist provides us with serious insights and implications of that Resurrection. This event isn’t just something that once happened to someone else, giving credibility to his teachings and lifestyle. If we’re imitators of Jesus, it affects the very core of our own lives.

Few of us form our images of Jesus’ passion and death from the four Gospel narratives. Most of us shape them from pious devotions, the Stations of the Cross, Holy Week homilies, or, for us older folk, from the old Tre Ore (Three Hour) Good Friday service. Encouraged to zero in on the suffering and pain our sins caused the Son of God, we’re led not only to experience deep sorrow for those sins, but also to resolve never to commit them again. Nothing wrong with such a process, but it isn’t what our four evangelists intend us to take from their Passion narratives.

During this holy season of sincere penitence, our focus often falls on sin, and rightly so. Sin separates us from God and one another. Were it not for sin, there would be no sadness, no struggle, no suffering to detract from the blessedness of being with God.

We can sense a palpable enthusiasm in the sacred texts today. When God called Abraham, the great patriarch immediately responded, “Here I am.” Then God asked the unthinkable! Immediately, Abraham’s enthusiasm for doing God’s will was put to the ultimate test. Nevertheless, when God called a second time, the answer was the same: “Here I am.” Even though he knew what was being asked of him, Abraham was able to maintain his fervor, and he was willing to surrender to an action that appeared to quash his hopes for the future.

An underlying joy can be detected in today’s first reading and Gospel, and the reason for that joy is forgiveness. In today’s first reading, Deutero-Isaiah assures the exiled Israelites that God has forgiven them. Their sins are no more. Nothing exists of their former transgressions; therefore, they should surrender their guilt and their sad memories in order to welcome the newness God has created in them.

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Do you see the glass half-empty or half-full? In today’s sacred texts, we will meet both kinds of people. Job, who is featured in the first reading, is bemoaning the very fact of his existence. He is a representative figure from whom many lessons may be learned, but at this point in his story, Job epitomizes the person whose contentment and well-being are intrinsically bound to his success as a patriarch of a large family, to his health and material wealth, and to his good name.

Inherent to the life and growth of all believers is our awareness of the constant need for repentance. We repent daily and are thereby converted to Christ and the Gospel. Through our willingness to accept repentance and conversion as our graced lifestyle, believers become witnesses who invite others to draw nearer to God as well.

Through the centuries, a variety of interesting legends have grown up around this feast of the Epiphany. Although the Magi from the east are not named, described or numbered in the scriptures, most legends agree that there were three of them. One particular legend, told to world explorer Marco Polo on a trip to Persia (Iran), described Balthazar as a young man, Caspar as middle-aged and Melchior as a senior citizen (The Travels of Marco Polo, or, the Description of the World, 1298).