by Father Michael W. Panicali
I was recently saddened to learn that the kind man who has been teaching me Spanish is an agnostic. This past year, I have talked about many personal topics with him in my nascent Spanish — my priesthood and discipleship in Jesus Christ, my strong support of the pro-life movement, and my passion for upholding
the culture of life in my preaching and life as a priest; the passing in October of my brother, Dr. Joseph Panicali, from pancreatic cancer at age 65 — and all manner of topics religious, spiritual, and cultural.
My teacher has always received what I have shared with him with an openness to hearing me and an affirming tone. Coming from a Catholic family, he has been influenced greatly by the Catholic faith in his life, but (rather sadly) cannot call himself an outright Christian — a believer that Jesus Christ is God Incarnate. He cannot take that leap that the God, whose existence he wonders about, is actually revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. His comfort is in the mere possibility of a divine being, a higher power that cannot be qualified.
I am quite familiar with this system of agnosticism. Tragically, not statistically speaking, but certainly by reflecting on many interactions I have had in my adult life, arguably, this agnosticism is becoming more and more prevalent in the modern person. People cannot bring themselves to call Jesus, Lord. They cannot proclaim that he is the revelation of Almighty God, the God whom they ponder (and ultimately, innately long for).
The late Holy Father, the masterful theologian Pope Benedict XVI, writes that the Church calls the beautiful feast we celebrate today — the Epiphany — “the appearance of the Godhead.” In his address on this Solemnity on January 6, 2013, Pope Benedict expresses that “if we consider the fact that from the very beginning men and women of every place, of every continent, of all the different cultures, mentalities and lifestyles, have been on the way to Christ, then we can truly say that this pilgrimage and this encounter with God in the form of a Child is an epiphany of God’s goodness and loving kindness for humanity.”
In the Epiphany, we not only find God, but we also find the exponentially good and kind God who loves us so much he humbles himself to take our human form entirely for our sake and benefit. Pope Benedict sees every human person within the Three Kings, writing, “These men who set out towards the unknown were,
in any event, men with a restless heart. Men driven by a restless quest for God and the salvation of the world. They were filled with expectation, not satisfied with their secure income and their respectable
place in society. They were looking for something greater.
They were no doubt learned men, quite knowledgeable about the heavens and probably possessed of a fine philosophical formation. But they desired more than simply knowledge about things. They wanted above all else to know what is essential. They wanted to know how we succeed in being human. And therefore they wanted to know if God exists, and where and how he exists.
Whether he is concerned about us and how we can encounter him. Nor did they want just to know. They wanted to understand the truth about ourselves and about God and the world. Their outward pilgrimage was an expression of their inward journey, the inner pilgrimage of their hearts. They were men who sought God and were ultimately on the way towards him. They were seekers after God.”
Today, we join these wise, restless men as we ponder the God who does not desire for us to contemplate or hope for His existence, but rather, to take refuge in Him, to contemplate His face in the face of Christ, and to rest in Him when our journey brings us confusion, pain, loss, turbulence, and despair. To be restless no
more because Emmanuel, “God is with us,” is true to His name — in the Person of Jesus Christ, He is with us, holding us, loving us, sanctifying us, and saving us.
Readings for the The Epiphany of the Lord
Isaiah 60:1-6
Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
Matthew 2:1-12
Father Michael W. Panicali is the Parochial Vicar for St. Helen, Howard Beach, and the local chaplain of Rosary For Life, Inc. He is also chaplain of Knights of Columbus, Council 6134, Most Precious Blood-Sts. Simon and Jude, Bath Beach.
