One of my uncles once said that the cuteness of a baby is a trait to ensure its survival. There is an impulse to respond to the needs of a baby, to figure out what a baby is trying to tell us. Perhaps that is why God sent us a baby… so that we would hear what we had not been able to hear before.
Epiphany is the manifestation of Christ and through Christ, the Creator of the universe is revealed to all of us. In this moment, Christ invites each one of us to listen more carefully to what God is trying to tell us and to be more aware of the active presence of God in our daily lives.
At Epiphany, we are reminded that the heart is life. The heart is our center – the center of feeling, thought, behavior, creativity. The heart is the place where God bears witness to God’s self. It is body and soul unified. God comes to dwell in us, makes us know him, and so we have a heart.
Together, we are called to discover and reveal the love of the heart of Christ. The Sacred Heart, like our hearts and our world, is broken and healed.
Like the magi, we are called to seek and to be open. We respond, through the gifts that we share and by becoming the people we are, and are called to be…and we go forth to reveal the heart of Christ to others.
Reflection by Jane Steinfels, Co-Chair of the USC Associates' Committee
Image by "Anonymous"