NOTE: Christ in Our Neighborhood is a parish-based program consisting of small Christian communities that gather in the home weekly to prayerfully discuss the upcoming Sunday Mass readings. It’s easy to form a community and you can find out more by searching “Christ in Our Neighborhood at the Diocese of Phoenix website, dphx.org.
This coming Sunday, we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord. The Christ in Our Neighborhood commentary asks us: Is your discovery of Christ a one-time event or a lifelong journey?
Imagine yourself on the scene: You’ve journeyed from afar in search of the newborn King. After a long, grueling journey, you find Him, not in a palace or sumptuous estate, but in a humble corner of small village. He’s not wrapped in royal finery, but swaddling clothes. His mother is not crowned with jewels but humility.
For some followers of Christ, there’s a singular moment in time they can point to as pivotal. Many of them express their gut reaction when they observed the genuine love, joy and peace of Christ lived out in true Christian disciples: “I want what they have.” And from that moment on, they radically reorient their life to know, love and follow Christ.
For others, it’s a lifelong process of discovery, a maturation in the faith that was handed on to them as infants when they were baptized. They may drift at times or even fall away altogether, but grace draws them back.
Where are you on your journey toward union with God? Did you know that every human person was made in God’s image, with an inherent dignity, made for communion and divinization? We have been redeemed by Christ who took on human flesh and stepped into time at the Incarnation. May this Christmas season draw us ever closer to our loving God.
If you haven’t joined a Christ in Our Neighborhood small group yet, perhaps you are being called to start one yourself. Check out our website today to find out more: dphx.org/Christ-in-our-neighborhood.
Watch the video of the weekly podcast segment featuring Christ in Our Neighborhood with Bishop Dolan by clicking HERE.
To sign up for our weekly Christ in Our Neighborhood newsletter that has everything you need for your next meeting, visit: https://phoenixdiocese.flocknote.com/CION
