Our yearly calendar features saints from different times and places The saints are catechisms of faith and examples for living. They’re more interesting than celebrities–the media darlings today. Elizabeth Seton and John Neumann, whom we recalled recently, have great stories to tell. Like Mother Cabrini, featured in a recent major film. Too bad we don’t pay more attention them.

Dorothy Day is another holy person whose life would be perfect for a major film. Her autobiography “The Long Loneliness” is a spiritual classic. She was a woman of faith at home with broken humanity. She made hard choices. “‘Diligo’, to love means also to choose”, she writes. 

She was an uncompromising advocate for the poor. She also knew she needed people and a home: “I had heard many say that they wanted to worship God in their own way and did not need a Church in which to praise him, nor a body of people with whom to associate themselves. But I did not agree to this. My very experience as a radical, my whole make-up, led me to want to associate with others, with the masses, in loving and praising God.” (p. 139)

Robert Ellsberg edited her diaries (“The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day, edited by Robert Ellsberg, Milwaukee University Press, 2008) He chose the title from her entry for February 24, 1961. ‘Today I thought of a title for my book ‘The Duty of Delight’ as a sequel to “The Long Loneliness.” I was thinking how, as one gets older, we are tempted to sadness, knowing life as it is here on earth, the suffering, the Cross. And how we must overcome it daily, growing in love, and the joy which goes with loving.”

The trend in hagiography – the study of the saints – is to see them in communion with the world that was theirs, which helps us live in the world that’s ours.“From their place in heaven, they guide us still.” (Preface of the Apostles) They shaped their world. We must do that too.

Contemporary studies of the saints recognize they weren’t perfect. They were part the political, social, intellectual and religious worlds they lived in.

They teach everyday wisdom. We need that today.

Matthew’s gospel was written for Jewish Christians in Galilee and Syria sometime after  Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70. They were shocked by the complete destruction of the temple and the city itself, because they believed God’s promises would be fulfilled in those places. The Messiah would appear there. All nations would stream to Jerusalem, prophets like Isaiah said. Now they’re gone.

Matthew’s gospel reminds his hearers that Jesus must be known by all nations before he comes again. “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28, 18-20)

Can we see his story of the Magi Matthew’s reminder that even as Jesus is born, even as innocent children are being killed by King Herod, messengers, strangers, wise men from afar, approach him and acknowledge him as their king and their God. 

Jesus Christ came, our gospel story says, not for only one people or nation, he came for all. His ministry was first to the Jews, but Jesus wishes to make the world one. God doesn’t wish to save a few. He wants to save all, all the world. 

The Magi came from the east, so they may come from Iran or Yemen; two places we hardly view positively today in our country. More and more, today as we look at the world through the lens of politics and economics, we fear the stranger, reject the immigrant and create enemies.  We reject people who are not like us. We’re becoming tribal, not global. As the old song said, “With someone like you, a pal good and true, I’d like to leave it all behind and go and find, a place that’s known to God alone, and let the rest of the world go by.”

Why aren’t we more jealous to bring our faith to others? Why are we so slow to see the promise our faith brings to the world?  Why do we hesitate to talk about Jesus Christ, his teachings and the example of his life? We can’t let the rest of the world go by. We’re living in a big world and God wants it to be one.

 That’s what the story of the magi reminds us. We have a commission on this Feast of the Epiphany to receive them. Next Sunday is the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus. “Go to the whole world, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” teaching them to observe all that Jesus commands. And he will be with us, even to the end of time.

And the newcomers come with gifts. 

I like Pope Benedict’s reflection on Matthew’s account of the Magi i: “The key point is this: the wise men from the east are a new beginning. They represent the journeying of humanity toward Christ. They initiate a procession that continues throughout history. Not only do they represent the people who have found the way to Christ: they represent the inner aspiration of the human spirit, the dynamism of religions and human reason toward him.”

Benedict, at the end of his study reflecting on the historicity of the infancy accounts notes a changing attitude favoring their historical reliability. The evangelists do not wish to deceive their readers, but inform them concerning historical facts.

“ With this view I can only agree. The two chapters of Matthew’s Gospel devoted to the infancy narratives are not a meditation presented under the guise of stories, but the converse: Matthew is recounting real history, theologically thought through and interpreted, and thus he helps us to understand the mystery of Jesus more deeply.”

Pope Benedict XVI. Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives . The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Eastern Christian churches celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation somewhat differently than the western Christian churches. For the western Christian church Christmas is the key celebration. Visually in our western celebrations the Magi come to the stable at Bethlehem after the shepherds.

In the western world the creches are mostly put away, the Christmas trees are down, the carols no longer sung. The popular celebrations of Christ seem to end on Christmas day. The feasts of Epiphany/Baptism seem almost an afterthought in our western celebrations.

For eastern Christians, the feasts of Epiphany and the Baptism are the climax of the Christmas celebrations. Why?

Saint Proclus of Constantinople explains what these feasts mean to the eastern churches:

“The feast of the Epiphany manifests even more wonders than the feast of Christmas. At Christmas the King puts on the royal robe of his body. At Epiphany the very source unfolds and, as it were, clothes the river. On the feast of the Savior’s birth, the earth rejoiced because it bore the Lord in a manger. On today’s feast the sea is glad because it receives the blessing of holiness in the river Jordan.”

The mystery of the incarnation is complete for the eastern churches when the magi return home, the gospel is preached in their lands and their people are baptized. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” Jesus says in Matthew’s gospel.

For the eastern church, when Jesus enters the waters of the Jordan he immediately reaches the whole of creation and all its people, represented by the Magi and their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. This approach strongly promotes God’s plan for the global church and, especially today, an environmental spirituality. The waters of the world are blessed; they share in the mystery.

Maximus of Turin, another early Christian writer, offers this reflection on Jesus’ birth and his baptism:
“Then he was born from a virgin; at his baptism he is born in mystery. When he was born, his mother Mary held him close to her heart; when he is born in mystery, God the Father embraces him with his voice and says: ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’ The mother caresses the tender baby on her lap; the Father serves his Son by loving testimony. His mother holds the child for the Magi to adore; the Father reveals that his Son is to be worshiped by all the nations.

Some historians of the liturgy see the western emphasis on Christmas and not on the Epiphany and the Baptism of Jesus originating in a fear of adoptianism– the notion that Jesus Christ took on divine status when he was baptized in the Jordan, a belief that might be suggested by the Gospel of Mark. (cf. Advent to Pentecost, Patrick Regan, Liturgical Press, 2012 62 ff )

Though their emphasis in their liturgies differ the two churches are one in their belief in the essential mysteries of faith. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” In its reform of the liturgy after the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church has emphasized the feasts of the Epiphany and the Baptism of Jesus. There is a new appreciation of the spirituality and liturgy of the eastern churches.

January 2nd is the feast of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen,  saints of the eastern church of the 4th century. They were not martyrs like Stephen and others we celebrate after the feast of Christmas. Rather, they fought for a truth so often questioned in the Christmas mystery: Who was Jesus Christ? 

Basil defended our belief in the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He upheld the divinity of Jesus Christ against the Arians who denied he was fully divine. When we say Jesus is “consubstantial” with the Father – as we do at Mass in our creed – we repeat a word used by Basil, “homoousios” (of the same essence), to describe the relationship between the Father and the Son.

Basil belonged to a well-to-do Christian family from Caesaria  in Asian Minor, a major center of the Christian world. Other members of his family are also honored as saints: his mother Emily, his grandmother Macrina, his sister, also Macrina, and his brothers Gregory of Nyssa and Peter of Sebaste. 

Gregory of Nazianzen, a school mate and friend of Basil, later became bishop of Constantinople. Like Basil, he is an important theologian who articulated the doctrine of the Trinity, He saw the trinity as “a triple light gathered into one splendor,” Family and friendship were important to Gregory and Basil. They saw the Arian heresy to be, not just a theological error, but an evil bringing fear and suspicion to the Christian community.

Basil and Gregory are considered among the greatest of the early church’s teachers.

“God’s gifts can’t be numbered,” St. Basil writes,  “The blessings of God can’t be named or understood, they’re more numerous than everything in this world of ours. Yet, one blessing stands out – God’s mercy. Keep it in mind. Mercy is God’s surprising gift, a gift that lifts us  from failure. 

“God never abandons us, even when we fail and persist in our failure. His mercy is beyond our expectations. The cross is mercy’s great sign, bringing us life. Nor was God content merely to bring us back from death to life;, God gives us also the dignity of his own divine nature and prepares a place of joy for us that surpasses anything we imagine.”

We forget mercy so easily, the saint says.

Here’s a prayer Gregory of Nazianzen offered on the occasion of his friend Basil’s death.

Good and kind God, in this life and the next, you ask so little and give so much.  If only we could be what we should be. 

Hoping in you and loving you, let us accept everything and give thanks for everything, since everything brings us to salvation through you. To you we commend ourselves and those who have reached the place of rest before us, walking the same road we do. Lord and Creator of all, our God and Father, Ruler of your children,

Lord of life and death, guide and friend of our souls.  You fashion and transform all things in due time through your creative Word, In your deep wisdom and providence, receive those who have gone ahead in our journey from this life. 

Receive us too when our time comes and guide us through the years, as long as they last. Receive us as we come humbly before you, not troubled, nor shrinking back before the day of death, like those who love this world too much. Instead, may we set out eagerly for that everlasting and blessed life which is in Christ Jesus.

To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen 

Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7)

We read extensively from the 1st Letter of John in our lectionary during the Christmas season, reminding us over and over of the love of the  Father for the Son and the need to love one another. The letter was written during a time when gnosticism was strongly influential  in society,  promising that knowledge, especially privileged knowledge, was everything. 

Recently I heard the term  “the knowledge society”. I think it means the knowledge some people have that gives them a way of exercising  power over others in society. Maybe teachers, doctors, accountants, media celebrities. Maybe even priests and bishops and politicians. Anyone who knows something that gives them power over others. Perhaps we all have something that makes us part of that knowledge society. 

John’s letter seems to call out broadly to all possible levels of the “knowledge society” to remember the primacy of love in life.

It’s not how much you know, it’s how much you love and use what you know with love that counts.  For “love is of God.”