Making Christ Manifest to all the World

This Sunday we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. The word epiphany comes from the Greek epiphainen, a verb that means “to manifest’ or ‘to make known.” This is what God did in the Incarnation. He made Himself known to humanity. One principle event is the visit of the foreign Magi, representing all the nations coming to know Christ.

Even 2000 years later, Christ still desires to make Himself known to the ends of the earth and we as stewards have the great privilege of helping in this important mission. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in their Pastoral Letter on Stewardship says that “God wishes human beings to be his collaborators in the work of creation, redemption, and sanctification; and such collaboration involves stewardship in its most profound sense.” The USCCB also says that the ‘practice of authentic Christian stewardship inevitably leads to evangelization.”

Therefore, to be true and authentic stewards means that we cannot keep the gift of the Gospel for ourselves, but we must go out into the world and proclaim it to others. How often do we realize our important role in evangelization? Let us strive to use our time and talents well by sharing the faith with those around us, with our family members, our co-workers and our neighbours. Perhaps one tangible act we can do this week is invite someone we know who has fallen away from their faith to join us for Mass next Sunday. In doing this, we will take seriously the dismissal at the end of Mass to “go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.”