By Allison Gingras

Untitled by ParentRap via Pixabay. CCO

The Epiphany celebrates the Wise Men’s historic visit to adore Jesus.  Not long ago, I had an epiphany of my own.   We, like those Kings of old, are called to seek Jesus.  The Wise Men were provided a star to guide them.  Have we, too, been granted a guiding star?  Personally, I believe God provides many spiritual compasses for our faith journeys. The surest path to finding Jesus is allowing ourselves to be filled with grace. Grace is an undeserved yet freely given gift from God. Three trusty ways to keep plugged into this great gift of grace is through prayer, sacrament, and scripture.

Prayer in its purest form is simply a conversation. We can chat with our Guardian Angel, the Saints, Our Blessed Mother, or of course, God himself through the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  These conversations open our hearts to follow God’s will for our lives, increase our ability to make good choices, and grow us in holiness.  Prayer can be anything from “Good Morning, Lord, please guide my day,” to a beloved rote prayer from our childhood, or even a more focused prayer such as the Rosary or Lectio Divina.  Bottom line, there is no wrong way to pray.

When we reach the Feast of the Epiphany in the Liturgical Calendar, it marks the end of the gift-giving season.  Another Christmas Season has ended, yet the outpouring of heavenly graces from the greatest gift ever bestowed, Our Savior, Jesus Christ, never cease. The Seven Sacraments are outward signs of God’s active and effective grace in our lives. This flows through the grace of our Baptism, in the Eucharist as we receive Communion or attend the Sacrament of Confession.  When we seek Jesus through the Sacraments, He is always found.  If we want to truly emulate the Wise Men, we can seek to adore Jesus in Eucharist Adoration. Come, let us adore Him. Perhaps, you will experience an epiphany of your very own?

Eucharistic Adoration became a transformative part of my faith journey about 10 years ago.  Gently encouraged by a dear friend to attend, I was nervous and unsure of what to do when I arrived.  I looked around at what the other adorers were doing. I was relieved that some were sitting (I did not have to spend the entire visit kneeling), others reading and even found one woman journaling. These were all things I loved to do; little did I know the power of doing them in the presence of Jesus. Sitting in the quiet with the Scriptures and good spiritual reading, along with a favorite writing pen and journal, gradually inflamed my lukewarm faith.  I’ve since made a date with Jesus for at least one hour every single week, just like date night with my husband. Keeping my weekly holy hour keeps our relationship fresh and exciting.

The last of the grace trifecta elements is the Scriptures:  God’s words carefully written down through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If you have been seeking to hear Jesus’ voice in your life, but have not yet opened His word, this may be the answer to the silence.  How can you recognize what you’ve not heard?  Spending time with the Bible, particularly the Gospels, opens your mind and heart to receive the Word of God in a more powerful than ever before way. 

“They were overjoyed at seeing the star,” we read in Matthew’s Gospel because they knew it leads them to Jesus.  We too will be overjoyed when we recognize and follow the guiding stars in our lives because they will lead us directly to Jesus. Like the Wise Men of old, when the Spirit moves, wise women will always seek Him.

About the Author:

 

Allison Gingras is the founder of Reconciled To You where she blogs, shares and speaks about the Catholic faith in our everyday life and the many opportunities life presents to discover the grace of God!  She shares these with great enthusiasm, passion and a sense of humor.  Allison is a WINE Specialist overseeing and facilitating the online aspect of the Between the WINES Book Clubs for WINE: Women in the New Evangelization.