We await with anticipation holidays and holiday parties – but do we look forward to the day after? To the cleanup, the back-to-the-grind, the business-as-usual? Jesus’ parable in today’s Gospel recounts the lavish celebration of the father who rejoices at the homecoming of his wayward son. We rightly recognize in the father’s mercy the abundant forgiveness of our heavenly Father. But have we ever considered what happened the next day? The son, accustomed to his independence and dissolute life, is once again in his father’s house.

Meaningful human relationships rarely last if only one party makes an effort to maintain a connection. The same is true in our relationship with God. In the scene recorded in today’s first reading – arguably one of human history’s “Top Ten” most important events – God takes the initiative, but the encounter is two-sided. God causes the bush to burn and Moses approaches; God calls Moses and he responds, “Here I am!”; finally, Moses asks God his name and God reveals himself as “I am who am.” Moses’ cooperation with God throughout is essential for them to arrive at this monumental revelation which would allow Moses (and, by extension, all of the Israelites) to call upon God by name.

As humans, we are often burdened with heavy crosses. Experiences of loss, lack, failure, and betrayal can riddle our existence, leaving us fatigued and with a weary question in our hearts: What is this all for? And then, we look up. We raise our gaze and see before us the transfigured face of Christ. Having taken on our human form, Jesus stands before us in radiant glory. As we take in the scene, our senses mingling somewhere between admiration and alarm, we remember the promise he made to us.

We’ve all seen it: the standard cartoon sketch in which the main character, faced with a decision, imagines the devil coaxing him toward evil on one shoulder while an angel encourages him toward good on the other. Lighthearted though they are, these classic scenes are the product of Biblical wisdom and millennia of human experience. In fact, the Garden of Eden provided the prototype: Eve was the first to listen to Satan in a conversation that was disastrous for her and her descendants.

It can be uncomfortable to admit, but our speech habits can truly reveal our interior life. Too often, I’ve fallen prey to the temptation of gossip or other alluring but unbecoming forms of conversation. Perhaps we all have to some degree, which is why today’s words from Sirach capture our attention: “When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so do one’s faults when one speaks.”

“Love your enemies” may be one of the most oft-quoted verses of Scripture. We tend to think of it as a moral principle to guide us in our dealings with people who rub us the wrong way. But do we ever consider what it tells us about God? After all, Jesus, who is God himself, speaks it. God tells us to love our enemies because God loves his “enemies” – that is, those who freely choose to oppose his plan of life and love.

“It is so good to be poor, to have nothing, to await all from God!” These sentiments of the humble French religious sister St. Jeanne Jugan sum up the spirit of Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel. Jesus praises poverty, hunger, sadness, and rejection, but certainly not as ends in themselves; God does not take pleasure in our suffering! He does use our suffering, however, to awaken us to our need for him. Poverty can spur us to pursue heavenly goods, and thus Jesus assures the poor, “the kingdom of God is yours.”

For a humble guy, St. Paul really tells it like it is. Paul lists those witnesses who actually saw the risen Jesus, last and least of these being Paul himself. Now we are used to thinking of Paul as one of the greatest apostles, even though we know he once persecuted Christians. So you might think he is being overly humble, like someone fishing for a compliment. No, Paul is only interested in making sure the Corinthians understand just how much God has done.

In the old tradition of the Church, the Christmas season was celebrated up until this day, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. This allowed for 40 days of bringing to mind the glorious day of Christ’s birth on earth, similar to the 40 days we celebrate from Easter Sunday until the Feast of the Ascension. While current calendars have us taking down our trees at the Baptism of the Lord, just three short Sundays after the Nativity, today’s Feast still holds great significance.

GROW: Late 19th-century English author G.K. Chesterton famously wrote, “Catholic doctrine and discipline may be walls, but they are the walls of a playground.” We can think of God’s commandments serving as rules governing primary school recess: by providing us with a structure in which we can explore, play, stumble, and get up again, they allow us to discover who God created us to be without wandering far from his love.

GROW: Pop quiz: What was the name of the bride and groom at the wedding in today’s Gospel? If you’re unsure, you’re not alone; the bridegroom is mentioned only in passing and the names of the newlyweds are not recorded at all in Scripture. Instead, the most prominent man in the account is Jesus; the most prominent woman is his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. In light of today’s first reading, this apparent omission begins to make sense.

GROW: In many renditions of the Baptism of Jesus, artists connect the scene at the Jordan River with Jesus’ death. A withered tree, for example, reminds us of the cross, or a mountain points to Mount Calvary. These connections show a real relationship between Jesus’ baptism and his passion: his baptism marks the acceptance and beginning of his mission, which would ultimately lead to his crucifixion. For us, too, baptism is a decisive moment which destines us for – you guessed it – death! Not physical death (which will happen regardless), but a death to everything that is not of God.

GROW: Deeply fatigued from their perilous journey, the three wise men must have been filled with doubt and hope in equal measure, wondering if the star would truly lead them to the promised King. “Is this really worth it” they may have questioned. “Will we ever meet this child” And then, in a single gaze, Christ broke into the world of humanity. In this perfect encounter with the Son of God, the wise men “prostrated themselves” and “opened their treasures” before him – in all his glory and all his innocence.