Reflection written by Ferdinand Okorie, CMF

TEXT:

Recently, I was in the crowd at a dissertation defense of a young woman whose family fled violence from her native country into the United States. For every member of her family, English language was foreign to them, except in the movies and TV shows they watched with subtitles back home. Notwithstanding the challenges of a foreign language and a culture, they were convinced of the providence of God in their successful relocation to the United States. She believed that the efforts of her family alone would not have made their relocation to the United States a reality if God was not guiding the process from the beginning through their successful resettlement. She overcame the challenges of learning a new language to earn a doctoral degree in Business Administration. When I congratulated her at the end of her successful dissertation defense, she bellowed: “God gave me this degree, and made this country a place of success for me.”

In the first reading today, God has positioned Jerusalem as the center of a new life and a new beginning for all peoples. God has made Jerusalem the place of shelter, refuge and encounter for all peoples. Jerusalem becomes a place where divine glory and splendor spread out to the ends of the earth bringing about a happy life for all peoples (Isaiah 60:1-2). The tradition identifies Jerusalem as the city of God, and the dwelling place of God on earth. God has made the city a beacon of hope, a standard of good life and human flourishing for all peoples. It is important to keep in mind that the role God has assigned the city of Jerusalem includes the inhabitants of the city, the children of Israel (Isaiah 60:4). Therefore, God has given the city and its inhabitants the mandate to make the presence of God known in the world. The splendor and the shining light of the city is amplified by the inhabitants of Jerusalem who mirror the presence of God in the world.

The same is true in the second reading as St. Paul speaks about his stewardship of the presence of the grace of God to benefit the church in Ephesus (Eph 3:2). He received the revelation of the mystery of the presence of God in the world; and he positioned himself to be the herald of God’s invitation of relationship with the gentiles, who through Paul’s ministry have been called into membership in the household of God. In other words, through the revelation of the mystery of God in Jesus Christ, gentiles have become children of the household of God with the rights to inheritance (Eph 3:6). They have become members of the same body, sharing in fellowship, equality and nobility. In Jesus Christ, God has united the human family into one divine household as the visit of the Magi revealed in the gospel reading.

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