Jan. 6 is the traditional date for the Feast of the Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day, when we celebrate the visit of the Magi to the newborn Savior. Since this feast has special significance in Hispanic cultures, the Diversity Committee at Xavier High School arranged for a bilingual Mass that was celebrated in the chapel and livestreamed to students in their homes.
The chapel was bathed in sunlight Wednesday as we have turned the calendar from 2020 to 2021, glimpsing light at the end of the tunnel that is a pandemic that has taken a terrible toll on lives worldwide.
“A year ago we were asking for a Happy New Year and grace and blessings and something very, very different happened in 2020. None of us liked it at all,” said Father Miguel de la Torre of the Legionaries of Christ in Cheshire. “God always acts in very mysterious ways.”
He mentioned the three gifts the kings brought [gold, frankincense, and myrrh] were very useful in the future, even if that could not be seen at the time.
“We still don’t see what God gave us in 2020 as useful but maybe little by little in 2021, and as years go by we will see a point to what happened,” Father Miguel, born in Mexico, said.
Father Miguel mentioned that we saw families bonding, and changing technology, allowing contact that otherwise could not happen.
And now, amid the tragedy, there are glimpses of light, one being the development of vaccines.