On Nativity Day, the first day of the Christmas season, we celebrate when God sent His Son Jesus Christ to Israel. But Jesus was not sent for Israel alone, as today's Manifestation Feast, the Epiphany, celebrates.
As alluded to in the first reading from Isaiah, Jesus is sent as a Light to Israel in the midst of a dark world. The other nations, in the darkness, stream toward the Light. Indeed, Israel is blessed to receive God that it may be a blessing to all other nations--a priestly nation, bringing the peoples of the world into relationship with God. So Jesus has truly come for both Jew and Gentile, as St. Paul writes in the second reading.
When the nations come to the Light that is Jesus, they offer Him gifts that proclaim who He is, like the gifts the Magi brought. The gold proclaimed Him King, the frankincense a priest of God (and also His divinity), and the myrrh gave tribute to the sacrifice Jesus would make as a human.
We, too, offer gifts to Jesus Christ. We serve others in His Name, especially according to the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. In so doing, we proclaim that Jesus Christ is present in our world, saving and redeeming us, and transforming us to be part of His Kingdom.
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