January 7, 2007
Dear Friend,
With Christmas and the old year behind us, and the Feast of the Epiphany and the New Year before us, we Christians find our selves in a unique position.
On the one hand, we’re giving thanks for the birth of a Savior into our lives and the blessings of a year that has come-and-gone, and, on the other, we find ourselves asking for the gifts of faith and intelligence to guide us through the New Year, even as the star guided the Magi on their journey. The two gifts – blessings of the old year and blessings of the new – are very different; and while very different, they are indeed compatible with each other.
Our Holy Father voiced the common Christian conviction when he said, “There is no competition of any kind between faith [in the old year and its blessings] and reason [in the new year to guide us].” The Pope has said that reason and faith collaborate in every aspect of human life and particularly in our individual search for God.
In the Gospel of Matthew, the Magi pursue a religious search. In their studies of the heavens, the Wise Men discover a new star. When they follow that beacon, they find in Bethlehem the child with his mother. In the gifts they offer, they acknowledged this child to be the mysterious king they have been seeking.
Some searchers are led to God by philosophical reasoning. For others a vivid awareness of God’s presence has meant more than dialogue, discussion, and reflection. However you lay hold of the presence of your God, by blessing or by reason, cling to that presence and experience a past year of blessing and a new one of great hope.
Fondly,
Father Nick Amato
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment