After Mass on New Years Day, I turned on my cell phone and listened to a voicemail from a friend of mine, Fr. Tom Lindner. Tom and I went to seminary together. We have traveled together, he has been here to Kentucky, and I have been to his parish in Stevens Point, WI. He had left a message, wishing me a Happy New Year. When I returned the call, he answered, and I wished him a Happy New Year. I then asked him, “how’s it going so far?” To which he replied, “I feel very pessimistic about this New Year.” He continued by saying, “I just don’t see a lot to be happy about. The world is in the worst mess I have ever seen, our country is on a downward spiral, and there’s a lot of intolerance in our church.”

I thought, but did not say, “Wow Tom! I just preached almost that identical message.” But in my preaching, I went on to say that, as we wish one another a Happy New Year, no matter how messed up our world might be, there is a sense of hope in our greeting. A feeling deep within us says that this New Year will be better then the last.

On this first Sunday of the New Year, we are inspired by the feast of the Epiphany. It is a feast of light and hope. On the Epiphany, the Magi arrived in Jerusalem to ask where the newborn King of the Jews was. They saw his star, and they wanted to come and pay him homage.

King Herod heard this and became greatly troubled. His heart was filled pessimism. He could see little good coming from this child. He feared that this new king could grow up and take over his earthly kingdom. He would lose his power and wealth. He could not allow that to happen.

Filled with this fear and pessimism, he tells the Magi, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you find him, come and tell me, so that I can go and honor him.”

When the Magi find the child, and they look at him, all the pessimism that they had experienced from Herod leaves them. They see in this child a new hope, a new strength, a new light, a new way. The sight of this child inspires them, and they bow before him, giving him their treasures.

The Epiphany is an inspirational feast for the church. This feast reminds us what God has come to do for us, his people. God came into our lives as a little child, who had the power to remove the darkness and lead us to light. We can’t forget that if the child Jesus could turn the hearts of the Magi, then he can turn our hearts as well.

May we look upon this child, our Savior, and receive in this celebration renewed strength -- a strength that shines through our pessimisms and enables us to go into our world, our country and our church and share with them the love and light that has been born for all people.