The 2nd Sunday After the Epiphany and This Week's Inauguration

The Epiphany commemorates the manifestation of Our Lord to the world - Jews and Gentiles. Folded into the visit of the Magi, we recall as well Jesus in the Jordan River being publicly baptized by John, as well as the wedding feast at Cana when He performed the miracle of turning water into wine. Whether anyone at the time understood fully that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity we can never really know (although we may learn about this in the next life).

This manifestation of Jesus as Messiah sprung from Heaven and changed this world of ours irrevocably. His Presence in our lives was first manifested then. Ideally, with the help of His grace, our hearts and minds are open to the manifestation of His Presence now. As Catholics, we know that our recognition of the Messiah during our life on earth informs everything we see, hear, touch, feel, and think. This recognition is so powerful that nothing escapes it. 

Even our sins cannot stand apart from the Presence of the Messiah. We may think (or hope) they do. We may pretend that He doesn't or won't "see" our sins. But we're just fooling ourselves. Rather than fooling ourselves, we should simply acknowledge our failings, place them before Him and beg His mercy and forgiveness. 

Indeed, He gave us a Sacrament - a powerful source of grace - just for this purpose: Confession. And if, like me, it's difficult if not impossible to access this Sacrament at the moment in the midst of our current C-Virus Mess, we can sincerely pray an Act of Perfect Contrition. Doing so, with the resolution to amend our lives, obtains forgiveness instantly. And when we can finally get to Confession, all the better.

We, His creatures, those for whom He was willing to suffer and die, will enjoy salvation from those sins and happiness beyond our wildest imaginings if, by His grace, we learn to recognize our sins, confess them with sincere contrition and make reparations for all we have done wrong. Nothing in this world can surpass the happiness that awaits us in Heaven.

Compare this to this week's Inauguration of the President of the United States. So much drama accompanies it. A divided country either looks forward to it or, in some cases, dreads it. And yet, in the midst of all this, the Messiah has come, and remains with us. He will, as He always does, be with us through thick and thin. If He has come and remains with us despite our sins, including our indifference to His Passion and Death and Resurrection, surely He will stand with us during and after the Inauguration.

And as He struggled in the last moments of his Life, in crushing agony on the Cross, He gave us a Mother - she who was His Mother when He lived amongst us on earth. He gave her to us to be our Mother. And we, her children, can - and should - always seek her intercession, her counsel, her consolation, in any of the difficulties, temptations, and suffering we encounter throughout the day and night.

If the upcoming Inauguration represents something you dread, go to Him, go to Him through His Mother - our Mother. Don't face what you dread by yourself. Whether those around you agree or not that this Inauguration represents something terrible, you will have Our Lord and Our Lady.

For those of us who do not dread this Inauguration (although as Catholics, it's hard to believe we can be in any way happy about it), we too should turn to Our Lord and Our Lady. Whoever is President can certainly facilitate good or evil. But such people come and go. Our Lord and Our Lady remain in place, not matter who is our President.

I hope you've already thought about all this, that you've already figured out that all we should care about is "God's Will be done." If not, I hope this little meditation will help you to do so.  

In either case, let's all take the time we should on this Sunday to spend more time with God, Our Blessed Mother will help us to both make that time, give us the calm and peace to be with God, and listen to our concerns and troubles. Don't let this time, set aside for God on this day of rest, pass by without filling at least some of it with the Messiah Who came to save us from our sins, Who came to open the gates of Heaven and the possibility of an eternal life of happiness and holiness in His Sacred Presence.

When we elevate ourselves above and apart from this current world and its current events, we stand a chance of seeing things are they really are. We can - with God's grace - grasp the reality of the supernatural that supersedes anything and everything we see in our earthly surroundings. There we can find peace, and in that peace, true happiness - that same happiness that awaits us in Heaven.

See, the Messiah has come! See, He is here now with us. See Him waiting with open arms to embrace us, some day, in our place in Heaven that God has prepared for us.

All else will surely pass. It may not pass pleasantly. Pain and sorrow may find us along the way - as they likely already have if you've lived any length of time in this Vale of Tears. But the Messiah has come to show us that we need not fear, we need not be despondent, no matter what the world, the flesh, and the devil throw at us, including this week's Inauguration.

Happy Sunday!