Homily for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

January 5, 2025
SEEK 2025 Conference
Salt Lake City, Utah

Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13
Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
Matthew 2:1-12

The Christmas season is a time for dreams. We know this when we listen to the Gospel readings surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ.

First, God sends His angel to Saint Joseph while he sleeps to declare to Saint Joseph in a dream that he should not be afraid of taking Mary to be his wife for the child she carries in her womb is conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Secondly, God sends His angel again to Saint Joseph in another dream to direct him to go immediately to Egypt with Mary and the Infant Jesus to protect them from being slaughtered by Herod.

Finally, in today’s Gospel, we hear that God warns the Magi in a dream not to return to Herod and to return home by another way.

The Gospel reveals that God can speak to us through dreams if we pay attention.
There are differences between a dream and a fantasy. Dreams are anchored in our experiences of reality in the present moment of daily life, but they are found deep in our human subconscious. Dreams in themselves are unclear but meaningful. They require interpretation for understanding what is true about them amidst their obscurity. Dreams, when properly brought to prayer and discernment, can enable each of us to envision the future through our desire to know and to love something lasting that is beyond our immediate pleasure and satisfaction. When we do this, authentic dreams gradually take shape in our vision, change into a project through planning, and culminate with our decisive action in response to the eternal promptings of the Holy Spirit.

The Magi began their journey to find the newborn king of the Jews in order to establish a military alliance to protect their interests against the threat of the Romans. Yet, when they encounter the newborn king, He is not in a palace but as a tender baby in the poverty of a dirty stable. They encounter Him with compassion; they recognize Him as God and they adore and worship Him. The Magi change their vision, their plans, and their action.

Fantasies, unlike dreams, are not related to reality. Fantasies restrict us from developing as human beings. Fantasies drive us to view the world narcissistically through the prism of our passions and compulsions. Fantasies numb us to the sensitivity required for the compassion and empathy needed to flourish as human beings in family life and in the communion of the Church. While dreams can reveal a purpose, fantasies are only conjured for selfishness.

As we see from the example of the Magi in today’s Gospel, after we have encountered Him, the Lord decides at times to invite us through our dreams to change our plans and to follow Him and to do His will according to His plan. God never speaks to us through fantasies.

The benefit of attending to a dream rather than becoming lost in fantasy is that a dream can lead us to aspiration, to the desire and necessary action to realize the dream. Aspiration without prayer, discernment, and decisive action becomes only a wish. Aspiration and a pattern of intelligent action guided by prayer leads to generosity in our love of God and compassion for our neighbor.

The abuse of the internet and social media distort our imagination and inhibit our capacity to dream of a future that involves such basic goods as worthwhile and meaningful employment, a vocation of public service, a loving and life-giving marriage, or a religious or priestly vocation. Fantasy prevents us from hearing the voice of God and foists upon us instead a bleak echo of our fears, trapping us in anger, envy, and lust.

As Pope Francis preached to a group of young adults in 2021, “It is crucial for a young person to be capable of dreaming because those who dream do not remain in the darkness, but light a candle, a flame of hope, that announces the coming dawn.”

The light to dispel the darkness of our fantasies and the grace to hear and to respond to God’s voice in our dreams as the Magi did shines in the encounter with the same Christ who welcomed them in a manger now lovingly welcomes us in this Eucharist, the Source and Summit of our Christian life.

Bishop Michael Olson (center) with students from the Diocese of Fort Worth attending SEEK 2025 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (courtesy photo)

As we prepare to depart SEEK 2025 with hope on this Solemnity of the Epiphany, we too are faced with decisions as God offers us real friendship in the tender gift of the Infant Jesus.

Are we willing to decide to reject the fantasy of Herod that holds Christ to be a rival to our power and instead dream with Christ?

Like the Magi, perhaps we too came here only seeking an alliance with God to carry out our plans of self-interest — good plans, but our plans not His plan. Are we now willing to encounter Christ and dream as the Magi dreamed, listen to God, and change our plans to correspond with His plan and act accordingly?

Are we willing to offer Him our treasures of freedom and love as the Magi did with their treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh?

Finally, are we willing to trust Him to change us as we adore Him and encounter Him in a new way in this Eucharist?

Like the Magi, we have sought Christ and adored and encountered Him together and we leave here by a different way transformed with aspirations to be stewards of His Grace given to us for each other’s benefit in the fullness of revelation offered to us only in Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life.