SHINING NEW BEGINNING!

Shining New Beginning

Dear brothers and sisters!

2025 is here. January begins with the feast of Epiphany [technically, it begins with the Circumcision of Jesus on January 1st, but I’ll make my point]. Thinking about Epiphany, we celebrate the arrival of the wisemen to worship Jesus. They saw the star while they were East of Judea, they came to Jerusalem, for it is the city of the King, and to their surprise no one was expecting them. No one had even heard of the birth of the new King, Messianic ruler of the World. Herod was consumed with his own sense of power: he is known for murdering his own offspring for alleged conspiracy. He did not want any competition.  When we see him attempting to find out the time of Jesus birth, it obviously was not driven by pious reasons. We know how the story ends with him–special forces were commanded to go to Bethlehem and kill all babies under 2 years of age.