Yesterday we celebrated the Epiphany of the Lord. The three wise men traveled from afar and brought gifts to the baby Jesus. We know they were wise men because they stopped and asked for directions. In Matthew’s gospel, they say, “…behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem saying, “where is the newborn king of the Jews?”
Sounds simple, but think about what it would take for you today to drop what you are doing and travel to Jerusalem.
It is winter and not a good time for traveling. We have fears of COVID, the FLU, terrorists and the weather to deal with. We have air line flight delays, needs for passports and potentially vaccines to travel internationally. These are big obstacles. Would you travel today if I told you that the new king of the Jews was born? Not knowing where exactly he was, just seeing a star rise in the East and based upon that star, disrupt your life and travel, what for them would be months to make the journey. Recall, they weren’t staying in fours star hotels, they were sleeping in tents probably and riding exposed every day in the weather. They could not turn on the heater in the car, they had to huddle their cloaks about them when the winds blew.
They made the journey and they brought gifts. I know that you have all had to travel at some point around Christmas and bring gifts with you. If you flew somewhere, you know what a pain it is to bring gifts. Heck just driving to your parents or your in-laws and bringing a few gifts is a hassle, image traveling on camel back. You don’t want the gifts to be damaged, and so you protect them when you travel to ensure that they are intact when you arrive. You value your gifts. So does God. He has given you gifts and through the Holy Spirit your gifts have been fertilized and ready to blossom, if you will share them.
God has given each of us talents and gifts and he asks us to share them. It is a challenge to believe that these God given gifts are good enough to share with others, but you have to have faith. Everyone in this room can read. A skill that you developed with your talents. Not all of us have been lectors. Why not? Mostly fear. All of us have the skills to pray a rosary. Not all of us are volunteering to pray the rosary for someone or some cause. Why not? Is it fear again? Your God given talents are needed by this council. The Grand Knight and leadership team has many projects and events that they would like to do, but you have step up and share these God given talents.
It would have been easy for the three wise men sitting in their homes and seeing a star rise in the East to say, “Wow, look at that.” And forget about it. They could have probably paid someone to deliver their gifts to Jerusalem. A quick call to Amazon and they would have gotten their gifts there, but they didn’t take the easy route. They got up. They volunteered and they led their friends to go see the birth of the king. They shared their gifts in person. Is it really that hard for us today to share our gifts in person. Trust God. Defeat the fear that your talents are good enough to help and just volunteer. We need you and you will be rewarded ten fold for your efforts.