Have you ever noticed that, when a ball is flying through the air, about to hit someone, and you yell “heads up,” everyone covers their head and looks down? With your head down you can’t catch the ball or even know how to avoid it. You can only be hit by it.

During Advent preparation and Christmas celebration of the birth of God, God has been saying heads up! Hearts up ... (lift up your hearts), catch the redemption, catch the good things God sends you, daily.

In a natural phenomenon in the sky, God sent a sign to some astrologers, magi, kings, wise men, who represented the known world of that day. They, fortunately, were looking up. They were seeking God, whom they apparently were not finding in their lives, such as they were. So they set out on a specific, holy journey; a pilgrimage, a way to God.

They went to Bethlehem, not simply by following the natural star, the technology of reading the zodiac, but it was through the Scriptures that they were given the meaning of this particular birth, before which and after which, all time was to be recorded: B.C. and A.D. But did you notice in the Gospel that not all who know the Scripture, and what it means, actually believe? You have to be willing to respond. Herod and all the chief priests with their heads down, conspired against the Child.

While the magi went on a specific pilgrimage to a particular place, a wise thing to do, there is another kind of pilgrimage that goes on in our time in which people don’t so much go to a place as they make holy the way they go; star of justice; star of life; star of morality; star of fidelity; star of peace and reconciliation.

To be a follower of Jesus, to follow his light, means that you go where he goes and do what he does.

That’s simple to say and difficult to do. Epiphany is to show forth, a making public, of certain values you cannot live without: forgiving those you don’t want to forgive; having mercy on those you want to punish; making peace with your enemies; caring for those in need, even though it’s a tremendous inconvenience; persevering when you are exhausted; carrying your cross when you want to run away from it; loving when the last thing you want to do is love.

The end of a year has become a time to reflect on both the best and the worst in our lives. One of the reasons for looking back is that you may need to heal something in the past so that you are not held down by it.

I would like to suggest several resolves for 2013. “I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.” There is still a place at the manger for you to give him your heart, but, once you do, you have to go home a different way.

Ask God for the strength of His grace to choose and solve just one problem in your life this new year. May He give you the honesty to face that one issue, that one relationship, that one memory, that one sin, that one illness, that one vice, that one habit, that sits there watching and chipping away at your strength, because deep down you know that this is what is keeping you down, year after year, from having a happy new year.

I hope and pray that the new year 2013 will bring you what you need from God.

I also hope and pray, that, whatever happens in your life in this new year, it will bring the best of God out of you.