A century ago, a young woman named Agnes was born in Eastern Europe. On the feast of Epiphany in 1929 at age 18, she arrived by train in the capital city of Bengal in British India. This bright young nun spent the next 20 years teaching geography in a boarding school.
In 1949, she felt a powerful call from God to spend her life serving the dying and the poorest of the poor. She asked the local bishop for permission to set up a religious order devoted to this ministry. At first, he scoffed at the idea but eventually he agreed to her request.
Until her death in 1997, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta treated over 50,000 dying people. Her order, the Missionaries of Charity, now work in more than 60 countries around the world. Fifty years after stepping off the train in Calcutta, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. No wonder the world came to a standstill when she died. She was a true saint for our times, a living example of what this feast is all about: revealing God’s love to all peoples.
Filled with much folklore, the true meaning of Epiphany may not be so apparent. We envision three wise men following a star across a barren desert, bringing gifts for the new born king of the Jews. Actually, we know little about this event. Matthew does not tell us the names of the wise men, how many there were, or even where they came from, but that doesn’t matter. What does is that God revealed his son, Jesus, to them so that peoples of all nations could experience God’s divine love.
For this reason, the story of the Magi was more significant than Christmas to non-Jewish Christians in the early Church. Until the birth of Jesus, God had revealed himself and his love only through signs and prophets to the people of Israel. At Christmas, God was revealed in the person of Jesus to the Jews and with the visit of the Magi, God was now revealed to all peoples.
For Mother Teresa, the revelation of Epiphany was simple yet challenging. She once said, “Everyone is created by God and deserving of love. It does not matter if the person is male or female, Moslem or Christian or Jew. It does not matter the person’s race or nationality. All that matters is that the person is created by God and deserves love.”
Isaiah paints a magnificent image of the Jews returning to Jerusalem after their captivity in Babylon with all the nations joining in the pilgrimage. He envisions that the entire world will witness the glory of God but for this to happen, each person must cooperate in spreading that light to others. “Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you…Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance. Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you.” In other words, by our example, others will find God.
Throughout history, God’s revelation was a gradual process. The Jews were chosen to keep alive the belief in the one true God and the hope for the promised Messiah. When the time came, God also manifested himself to the Gentiles beginning with the Magi so that they could also share in the promise of redemption. As Paul points out, the news is out, all peoples are members of the same body; everyone has been chosen to receive the good news of God’s unconditional love.
This is an important message for us to hear today, when there is such racial, ethnic and religious intolerance, here and abroad. Simply put, all peoples are invited to rejoice in the glory of the Lord; the signs of God’s presence are revealed to all.
Perhaps, you probably know people who are deeply sensitive in a given area, for example, issues of social justice or the use of inclusive language or services to the poor. And yet these same people can at times be blithely insensitive in other ways, sharing ethnic jokes, for example, or stereotyping people on the basis of their ethnic origins.
The vision of Epiphany as phrased by Mother Teresa is simple, yet utterly profound. Everyone, from the newest baby of the year to the inmates on death row at Walla Walla is created by God and deserving of love. And how is God’s love manifested? Through you and me for we are expected to reveal God’s love to our neighbors. We are God’s hands and voices for making that love manifest in the lives of others. To quote Mother Teresa, “Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do; but how much love we put into that action.”
Like the magi, we need to be open to God’s direction in our lives. Through prayer, we become open to the ways that God may be directing our lives. Like the magi, may we never hesitate to seek help along the way, especially when in doubt. By living out this Epiphany vision, we turn into “stars” to guide others to Christ.
The original gifts of Epiphany were, as you recall, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. In biblical times, they were very precious and valuable. Only one gift matters and that gift is love. Today, we join the magi in worshipping Christ, our new born king. There is no better way for us to adore him than to follow the example of Blessed Mother Teresa by offering everyone love without distinction, without qualification, and without hesitation.