The Gift that Keeps Giving!

Happy New Year!

We begin this first weekend of 2015 by celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany. I loved this weekend at St. James Parish because of the multicultural celebration that the parish has on the Saturday evening of the Feast of the Epiphany. St. James is the most diverse multicultural parish that I know of. Thanks to its proximity to Ft. Knox, Hardin Memorial Hospital and the many businesses that have located near Elizabethtown, St. James parish has folks from all around the world that call the parish their home. At the Saturday evening Mass on the Feast of the Epiphany people come together to celebrate their diversity. The music and the readings are in various languages. People are dressed in their native garb from India, Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and Central and South America. The parish is united by its common faith and by their Communion with God and one another in the Church. After the Mass is a wonderful meal with great food from every cultural group in the parish. Home made spring rolls are served right next to fried chicken.  One can munch on sausage and kraut and then follow that up with an enchilada. Luscious apple pie makes the palate smile as does flan and strudel. It's enough to make one's taste buds explode from sheer excitement.

St. James does this because of what we celebrate this weekend with the Feast of the Epiphany. All of the readings and prayers celebrate gloriously that the Birth of our Savior, and the Salvation that He brought us, was not for just a select group of people in a tiny corner of the World. He came for all of us, no matter our skin tone or how we like our chicken prepared. He came for folks who with nothing (like the shepherds who tended other people's sheep) and for those who think they own it all (the wise men from the East). He came for doubters and believers. He came for Mary, His Mother, and for Herod, who wanted Him destroyed. He came for you, no matter how worthy or unworthy you think you are of Him and His great Love.

One of the things that struck me this week, as I looked over the Gospel reading from St. Matthew, was that the visitors from the East came to pay Him homage by bringing Him extravagant gifts. Gold, frankincense and myrrh may have been symbolic of the respect that these visitors had for Jesus. Or the gifts may have signified the treasure that Jesus was and is to us and the human race. But the truth is that, no matter their extreme value, the gifts that they brought were very humble compared to gift that Jesus is to us.

As disciples of Him, our lives are meant to be gifts back to Him who saves us and loves us. Whether we think we are worthy or worthless; whether we consider ourselves blessed or cursed; whether life stinks for us, or we consider ourselves fortunate to be alive; our lives are meant to be entrusted to the One Who gives us life, who is also the One Who accepts, loves and redeems the lives we have.

I challenge you at the beginning of this New Year to make an effort to give something of your life back to God. Whether it is by dedicating a few minutes of the day to be in a prayerful relationship with Him, or by volunteering some of your time, resources and skill to serve Him through others who were made in His image and likeness, please give a gift to God. You will soon find out that the gift you give is nothing in comparison to the Gift the He will be to you.

Peace and many blessings!
Fr. Chuck