A thought for Epiphany 2015
From the first reading for Epiphany: “Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you…. Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance.
"From the gospel for Epiphany: “After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage."
In the context of school, it is easy to see the Epiphany readings as a sign of our students journeying and reaching toward the light that a human and a Christian education provides. But the readings speak to the salvation of educators as well.
What if we saw our students as the light, as God’s glory shining upon us from their lives and witness to love of God and neighbor? What if, in our own pilgrimage to Christ as educators, the star that we had seen at the beginning of our own vocational journey was leading us to our students: just them, not perfect ACT scores, not straight A’s, but just our students with all of their beauty and faults?
Let us pray, with De La Salle, that we will “[r]ecognize Jesus beneath the poor rags of the children whom [we] have to instruct. . . ." When we arrive in our particular learning space with our students on Tuesday, will we honor them for the light and glory that God has given to us through them? Will we be overjoyed because we truly sought, and found, God in them?
Live, Jesus, in our hearts!