The Lord of All Peoples

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, bestow on me “the gift of inclusiveness” and help us recognize our oneness in You. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We gather today in this season of Christmas joy to celebrate the manifestation of the Lord to all the peoples of the earth. The three wise men paid homage to the Christ child by presenting Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Our celebration of this feast becomes meaningful only when we approach Jesus with the “gift of inclusiveness”.

The homily given by a young priest near the end of the film “Chocolat” may well illustrate this gift of inclusiveness. “I think we can’t go around measuring our goodness by what we don’t do”, he says, “by what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude. I think we’ve got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include”.

The solemnity of the Epiphany or the Manifestation of the Lord is about who we include. It celebrates the wondrous revelation that Christ’s coming was intended not only for the Jews but for all the peoples of the world. It rejoices that this child of Bethlehem is also the Lord of all nations and all peoples. It is, in this sense, the quintessential “catholic” feast.

The church has always a strong tendency to exclude those who are different from us. This instinct to exclude must be continually confronted by the truth of the gospel. This solemnity seeks such confrontation.

Usually the power of this feast is reduced by historicizing it and focussing only on the arrival of the magi. What is more appropriate is to find ways to highlight and celebrate the actual diversity of the parish. What about having people in their own ethnic dress included in the entrance procession? Or having people of different nationalities carry banners or flags representing their heritage? What about using music drawn from different traditions and using different languages, at least for simple responses that all can learn easily. Let this day be a day to celebrate the diversity that the parish embraces. Let us pray for all those that people consider “different”, and pray for the grace to recognise our oneness in Christ.