From the bulletin for the Feast of the Epiphany (Jan 05, 2025)
Epiphany 2025
St. Paul expresses some ambivalence about marking the days. “One man esteems one day as better than another,’ he observes, “while another man esteems all days alike. Let every one be fully convinced in his own mind” (Rom 14:5). With the Galatians, he is positively worried about those who make too much of the calendar: “You observe days, and months, and seasons, and years! I am afraid I have labored over you in vain” (Gal 4:10-11). A new year has arrived. What are we to make of it?
For starters, we Christians ought to approach time rooted in the awareness that in Christ, eternity has forever pierced the flow of time and bathed all of history with its light. Though time relativizes us, limiting us to the ephemeral “here and now,” those who live in Christ abide already in His eternal Day. For us, though “the world in its present form is passing away” (1 Cor 7:31), “our conversation is in Heaven” (Phil 3:20). We therefore look upon the passage of time, even the passing away of our mortal frame, with serenity. As we mature, we become more and more mindful of His word, which shall not pass away (Mt 24:35). We mind more the eternal things that will remain when the veil of this world has finally passed entirely from our eyes and we behold the face of Jesus Christ, “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8).
Amen. Even so, and somewhat paradoxically, we Christians value the moments of time even more than those who do not live for eternity. The present moment, fleeting as it is, is the privileged space in which we have the blessed opportunity to accept the offer of salvation, work out that salvation with fear and trembling (cf. Phil 2:12), and come to grow in grace and wisdom towards the full stature of Christ (cf. Eph 4:13). As St. Paul says, fulfilling Isaiah, “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Cor 6:2). For the offer will not stand forever. If we do not take advantage now, we shall miss the opportunity and find ourselves on the outside of the Kingdom looking in for all eternity. Hence the admonition of Hebrews: “Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb 3:13).
So, we are not entirely bounded by time, and yet in view of eternity we are urged to treasure every drop of it. The Church has, therefore, developed a way to make the most of time precisely by marking “days and months and seasons and years.” Because we can’t do everything all at once, our Christian calendar helps us to vary “the days” in such as way as to help us contemplate and give thanks to God for all that He is and has accomplished for us in Christ, and to ensure there is time enough to accomplish all that we must in order to make the most of this Day of salvation. And so we have a time to sow, a time to harvest, a time to fast, a time to feast, a time to work, a time to rest, a time to pray, and time to preach. And for everything else that we must do under the sun.
These first days of the new year, therefore, I don’t think we need to reckon like all the rest. The “civil” calendar, better called the Gregorian Calendar, is rooted in the liturgy, and therefore the mysteries of our Faith. It begins (and ends) with the week-long Day of Christmas, showing how everything we do flows from the mystery of the Word made flesh. After all, we count our years dating back to the very year (as best it could be determined) of the Incarnation itself. In the course of this year, we will continue to contemplate the Lord’s Nativity, now made known to the nations at the Epiphany; ponder intensely the mystery of His Passion, Death, and Resurrection over Lent and Easter; review the saying and deeds that made up Jesus’ active ministry; exalt in His masterpieces, the saints; and conclude by preparing ourselves for His coming again, mindful that this year could indeed be our last on earth.
Taking stock of the opportunity set before us, I challenge you, while it is still today, to ponder, determine, and resolve how you will use the gift of this new year. Decide upon what you must do to plant or uproot, accomplish or renounce, so that you do not “labor in vain” or allow the “days to be evil” for you, but rather can be confident of “look carefully to how we walk and make the most of the time” (cf. Eph 5:15-16).
From the Heart of the Shepherd: The Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
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