Learning to be Quick to Listen

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany , a magnificent turning point in the liturgical year where the light of Christ breaks through the boundaries of Israel to shine upon all nations. While the Latin Church focuses primarily on the visitation of the Magi, the Early Church saw this "manifestation" as a multifaceted jewel. As Mike Aquilina and Adam Lucas highlight in Feasts of Our Fathers , Epiphany was originally a "varied feast" that encompassed the Birth of Christ, the visit of the Wise Men, and the Baptism of the Lord. It is a day to venerate the "mighty work" of God, acknowledging that the star which guided the pagan Magi from the East still shines today. As Pope St. Leo the Great reminds us, this miracle is repeated every time a soul is brought out of the darkness of worldly wisdom and into the splendor of the true Light through the gift of faith and intellect. The offerings of gold, frankincense, and myrrh are not merely historical artifacts bu...

We often walk through life with a rigid blueprint in hand, convinced that if things don’t go according to our specific timeline, we have somehow fallen behind. But our God is a God of divine interruptions . Just when we think the door has closed or the path has run dry, He delights in surprising us with a grace that far exceeds our imagination. His timing is not a delay; it is a deliberate unfolding of a masterpiece we cannot yet see. While we measure success by milestones and speed, He measures it by the transformation of our hearts . Trusting in His perfect timing means surrendering our "watch" to the One who created time itself, knowing that He is never late, only intentional. It is easy to feel paralyzed when we encounter our own weaknesses, fearing that our failures are too great for God to overcome. We might look at our mistakes and think we’ve reached the end of the road, but in the economy of salvation, failure is never the final word. When our strength is exhausted...