Epiphany

January 6, 2012 Comments Off on Epiphany

What has been the most important epiphany in your life?

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany and I’m from Puerto Rico where we celebrate it as Three Kings Day.    In fact, I’ve just heard it argued that Puerto Rico is the country with the strongest tradition of “Día de los Reyes.”  Our Christmas gifts used to come on this date instead of December 25.  We would leave grass under our beds so that their camels could eat as they went from house to house.  I grew up in a nationalist household, so my family was among the last hold outs as “Americanization” (which was really commercialism and marketing) led more and more people to get into Santa Claus.  To this day my father hates Santa – it’s actually kind of funny.

But I’m not dedicating this post to Puerto Rican traditions.  I’m writing because I think it an important point of reflection on this Feast of the Epiphany – what has been the most important epiphany in your life?  The three wise men from the East are said to have endured a long and treacherous journey so that they could honor their epiphany.

  • What has been your epiphany?
  • How has it sent you on a journey?
  • Are you honoring the moments of revelation in your own life?

I can name a few, but there are two BIG ones I’ll mention now – meeting my teacher and having my son.  Both of these moments have radically changed the course of my life.  These are the revelations that have changed me from the inside, my paradigm shifts.  The desire for freedom and the thirst for justice that have animated my life took on a whole new meaning as I had these epiphanies.

Love has become more central.  The journey is just as treacherous, but the drive is more powerful.  I mean to live a life that honors these revelations.

Please do share – tell us about your epiphany!

No Comments

  • Cynthia Silva Parker says:

    This isn’t about an epiphany, but I can’t help sharing my own non-Santa story. Years before I became a mother, two friends influenced me strongly about not doing the Santa myth with my kids. The first friend told of how furious he was with his parents when he found out there was no Santa–not because he was disappointed about Santa, but because we couldn’t be sure what else they had been lying to him about! The other said that she didn’t promote Santa because she was trying to teach her daughter to believe in God, who was invisible. She didn’t want to confuse the situation by making up people for her to believe in. I’m just relieved that I made it all the way through my kids’ childhoods without having any other parent call to complain that my kid ruined things in their household by revealing to their kid that there’s no Santa!

    Tragically, the Santa myth is implicated in the death of three children and their grandparents in a Christmas Eve fire in Stamford. Ashes were removed from the fireplace (and placed in an unsafe container) in order to make way for Santa. What a heartbreak!

    http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2012/01/05/three-sisters-and-grandparents-killed-in-fire-after-embers-removed-to-help-santa-come-down-chimney/