The Epiphany of Our Lord (2027 Edition)

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins, and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

Epiphany means manifestation. In today’s solemnity, the Church commemorates the first manifestation of the Son of God made man to the pagan world, which took place during the adoration of the Magi. This feast proclaims the universal dimension of the mission of Christ. Christ came into the world to fulfill the promises made to Israel and to bring to fruition the salvation of all people.

The solemnity of the Epiphany was born in the first centuries of Christianity in the Orient, at which time it was known as the Theophany or the Feast of the Illumination. It was made into a universal feast of the Church in the fourth century. The feast has traditionally been celebrated on January the 6th.

We’re told in the communion antiphon, “For we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him.” The star over Bethlehem shone down upon all mankind. Its brilliance could be perceived from every corner of the earth. One writer says from his first moments as a man, the newborn Jesus began to spread forth his light and his riches to the world, making use of a star in the heavens to draw men from distant lands to himself.

Epiphany means manifestation. This feast, one of the oldest feasts in Christianity, celebrates the universality of the redemption. The people of Jerusalem, who witnessed the arrival of the wise men from the East, may well have recalled the prophecy of Isaiah which we find in the first reading of today’s Mass: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes round about, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar” (Isa. 60:1–4).

The three wise men, the Magi, represent all the races and nations on earth. They have arrived at the end of their long journey. They are men with a thirst for God. A longing which has led them to put aside comforts, earthly goods, and satisfactions so as to adore the Lord their God. They’ve allowed themselves to be guided by an external sign, a star which shone with a special light. The star was in some sense clearer and more brilliant than the rest, so much so that it captured the attention of those who looked upon it. It seemed only logical that something so marvelous would have some special significance.

These men were astronomers dedicated to the study of the heavens. They were accustomed to look for signs in the sky. “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East” (Matt. 2:2). Perhaps they’d become aware of the coming of the Messiah through the Jewish people of the diaspora. But we could also speculate that they had been inspired by an interior grace from God to follow the star. St. Bernard comments, “He who was to show them the way to Bethlehem had already been their instructor for quite some time. He who led them by the help of the star, he it was who had been guiding them in the intimacy of their hearts.”

The feast of these holy men is a good opportunity to examine whether our lives are headed directly towards Jesus. Are we living up to the graces we receive from the Holy Spirit, especially that most important gift, that of our Christian vocation? In The Forge we’re told, “We look upon the child in the arms of Mary. We tell him: My Lord Jesus, grant that I may feel your grace and second it in such a way that I empty my heart so that you, my friend, my brother, my king, my God, my love, may fill it.”

Upon their arrival in Jerusalem, the wise men may have thought that they had come to the end of their travels. But they did not find the one born King of the Jews in the great religious capital. Since they were looking for a king, one might expect that they would have gone directly to the palace of King Herod. Yet the ways of men do not always correspond to the ways of God. The wise men were led to ask the people of Jerusalem, “Where is he? When we really want to find him?”

God shows us the way. He may even use means, says St. Bernard, which seem least appropriate. Following the footsteps of the wise men in search of Christ, we can ask ourselves where he could be. He cannot be present in the pride that separates us from God, nor in the lack of charity which cuts us off from others. Christ cannot be there. In that loveless state, man is left alone.

We need to find the true signs which will lead us to the Christ child. The wise men are representatives of all humanity; past, present, and future. As we come close to Christ by dint of our daily struggle, we can certainly find something of ourselves in these men and their noble effort. St. Bonaventure has observed that the star which guides us is composed of three parts: Holy Scripture, Our Blessed Mother, and the graces which we receive from the Holy Spirit. Accompanied by this assistance, we will never lose the trail which leads us to Bethlehem and the child Jesus.

Our Lord has put into our hearts the longing to find him. “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). We will find our way to him by reading the Holy Gospel, by living as good children of Our Lady, by being faithful to our life of prayer and devotion to the sacraments, especially the Blessed Eucharist.

Our Mother in heaven beckons us to pick up the pace, her Son is eagerly awaiting our arrival. At some moment in the future, perhaps not very far off, the star will come to shine perpetually upon us. We will at last find Jesus seated upon his throne at the right hand of God the Father. Jesus will be clothed in all the fullness of power and glory. Close by we will surely find his Mother. This indeed will be the perfect Epiphany, the radiant manifestation of the Son of God.

The solemnity of the Epiphany should move us to renew the apostolic spirit which we have received from Our Lord. From the earliest days of Christianity, this feast has been considered the first manifestation of Christ to all mankind. With the birth of Jesus, a star has been lit up in the sky. It’s a luminous vocation. It inspires, said the prophet Isaiah, caravans of people to take to the road. St. Paul VI says, “New paths have been opened up for mankind. Paths which lead to Christ.” Christ has become the heart for a new system of circulation that will last forever. By merit of being our Redeemer, Christ has become indispensable to us. Christ wants to be announced to the world.

Today’s feast is yet another reminder that we have to bring Christ into the mainstream of our society. We can do this by means of our example and our conversation in family life, in hospitals, in shops, in the university, in the workplace. “Lift up your eyes round about and see; your sons shall come from afar” (Isa. 60:4). From afar, from every conceivable place and nation where men and women can be found. Our hearts resound with the invitation made by Our Lord: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19).

Our families, friends, and colleagues may or may not be afar in relation to Our Lord. Yet the grace of God is all-powerful. With his help, they may come to join us one day in adoration of the child Jesus.

On this feast day, we cannot go to Jesus empty-handed. He doesn’t need our gifts since he is the creator of all things. But he wants to be generous so that we may receive more graces and gifts from him. The day we put at his disposal the gold of our charity, this is our desire to love him more, to treat his creation with more love. We can present to him the frankincense of our prayers and good works. We can give him the myrrh of our sacrifices, united to the sacrifice of the Cross as renewed in the Mass.

The three kings are in heaven. They can certainly intercede for us. What can we ask of them? Well, we won’t ask for gold or frankincense and myrrh. We can ask them to guide us along the path of finding Jesus, help us not to lose our heart along the way.

“When they had heard the king, they went their way; and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy” (Matt. 2:9–10). Theirs was the incomparable joy of discovering God after a long and demanding search and effort. “And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh” (Matt. 2:11).

St. John Paul II says these gifts were highly valued at that time in the Orient. The same Christ who in Bethlehem as a child accepted the gifts of the Magi kings is still the one to whom men and whole peoples open their treasures. The gifts of the human spirit in the act of this opening before God Incarnate take on a special value. Everything takes on a new value when it is offered to God.

In the entrance antiphon of today’s Mass, it says, “See he comes, our Lord and ruler, armed with royal power and dominion.” In the responsorial Psalm, we’re told, “Gifts shall flow in from the lands of Tarshish and the islanders. Tribute from the kings of Arabia and of Sheba. All kings must needs bring their homage. All nations serve him.”

We’re told they obeyed the king and went on their journey, and all at once the star which they had seen in the East was there going before them, till at last it stood over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were glad beyond measure. They weren’t surprised that they were led to a village or because the star stopped over a simple little house. Great is the joy of these wise men who have come from so far to see a king and are led to a little house in a village.

There’s a lot for us to learn. We can learn that every rediscovery of the way that leads to Jesus is filled with joy. One writer says we are perhaps in danger of not realizing fully how close Our Lord is to our lives. Because God presents himself to us under the insignificant appearance of a piece of bread, because he does not reveal himself in his glory, because he does not impose himself irresistibly. Because he slips into our life like a shadow, instead of making his power resound at the summit of all things. How many souls are troubled by doubt because God does not show himself in the way they expected?

Many of the people who lived in Bethlehem saw in Jesus a child like any other. The kings knew how to see him as the child, the child who from then on would be adored forever. Their faith gave them a unique privilege to be the first among the Gentiles to adore him when the world did not know him.

Today is a day to adore. We offer him incense, the perfume which was burned each evening on the altar as a symbol of hope placed in the Messiah. Incense is our desire to live a noble life which gives off the aroma of Christ. To impregnate our words and actions with his aroma is to sow understanding and friendship. We should try to accompany others so that no one is left or can feel abandoned. St. Josemaría says, “The pleasant smell of incense comes from the small hidden grains of aromatic material placed upon the burning charcoal. Likewise is the sweet fragrance of Christ noticed among men; not in a sudden burst of flame, but in the constant red-hot embers of virtues such as justice, loyalty, faithfulness, understanding, and cheerfulness.”

With the kings we also offer myrrh, because God Incarnate will take upon himself our weaknesses and be burdened with our sorrows. Myrrh is the spirit of sacrifice that can never be lacking in a Christian life. Myrrh reminds us of the Passion of Our Lord. On the Cross, Jesus is offered wine mingled with myrrh. It was with myrrh that his body was anointed for burial.

But do not think, said St. Josemaría, that to meditate on the need for sacrifice and mortification means to add a note of sadness to this joyful feast that we celebrate today. Mortification is not pessimism or bitterness. On the contrary, it’s very closely related to joy, to charity, to making life pleasant for others. Mortification does not usually consist of great renunciations, for situations requiring great self-denial seldom occur. Mortification is made up of small conquests, such as smiling at those who annoy us, denying the body some superfluous fancy, getting accustomed to listening to others, making full use of the time God allots to us, and so many other details.

We find it in the apparently trifling problems, difficulties or worries which arise without our looking for them in the course of each day. We make our offering to Our Lord daily because we can meet him every day in the Mass and in Communion. How many have to be brought back to the faith they have lost. Sometimes it is more difficult than the first conversion to the faith. St. John Paul II says, “The Church however, aware of the great gift of the incarnation of God, cannot pause, can never stop. She has to seek continually the way to Bethlehem for all men and for all times.”

The Epiphany is the feast of God’s challenge. It reminds us that we should use every available means to bring our friends, relatives, and colleagues closer to Our Lord. This can begin by lending someone a book of sound doctrine, by giving others encouraging words which help them to start on their journey, by speaking to an acquaintance of the need for spiritual formation.

In our prayer, we don’t ask the kings to give us gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We ask them rather to teach us the way that leads to Christ so that each day we can bring him our own gold, our own incense, our own myrrh. We’re told these wise men came out of the East to Jerusalem. They’d seen a star, and by a certain grace from God, they knew that it heralded the birth of the Messiah whom the people of Israel were expecting. Their occupation, that of studying the stars, was the circumstance used by God to make them see his will. St. John Chrysostom comments, “God called them by what was most familiar to them, and showed them a great, marvelous star, so that it would attract their attention by its very greatness and beauty.”

They received a very extraordinary inspiration from God who wanted them to be present in Bethlehem as Isaiah had announced. They would be the first of those who would come later throughout all times from all parts. They were faithful to this grace. They left their families, their comfort, their goods behind. It couldn’t have been easy for them to explain the reason for their journey. Probably without talking about it too much, they took the best they had to carry with them as an offering and set off on their way to adore God.

The journey must have been a long and difficult one, but they persevered on their way. These men, determined and with none of what we might call worldly respect, teach us what we have to do to reach Jesus, to leave aside everything that can lure us from the way and hold us up on our journey. St. Josemaría says, “The light that has just begun to shine is only a beginning. We have to follow it if we want it to shine as a star and then like the sun.”

These men must have traveled along bad roads, slept in uncomfortable places, but the star was showing them the way and taught them the meaning of their lives. It made their journey joyful and reminded them all the time that it was worth undergoing any discomfort or danger as long as they came to see Jesus. That is what matters. Sacrifices are borne with elegance and happiness if the goal is worthwhile.

But when they reach Jerusalem, they’re left without the light which had been guiding them. The star disappears and they are lost. What did they do then? Well, they ask those who should know. Sometimes we too are lost in the dark because we try to have our lives illumined according to our own whims, which may well lead us along easier paths instead of seeking the light of God’s will. In our lives we very often make our choices, not according to God’s will, but according to our own likes and fancies, to our own comforts and cowardice.

One writer says were we not used to looking up towards the star but rather delighting our way with our own candle, which is a little light, a feeble light, a light which reduces our field of vision to the limits of our own selfishness. The wise men ask because they want to follow the light which God gives them, even though it shows them rough and difficult roads. They don’t want to follow their own light, which will always lead them along apparently easier and more peaceful paths but along which they will not find Jesus.

When they no longer have the star, they make use of all the means at hand to reach this stable in Bethlehem. The really important thing is to reach Jesus. The whole of our life is a road towards Jesus. It’s a road that we have to travel by the light of faith. Faith will lead us, whenever necessary, to ask and to let ourselves be guided, to be docile. But we Christians have no need to go to Herod or to the wise men of this world. Christ has given us sureness in doctrine and a flow of grace in the sacraments.

Our Lord also tells us, especially those of us who perhaps do not feel as spiritually close to Jesus as we should, that we are invited especially on this day. Let us set out on the way. The opening prayer of Thursday before the Epiphany says, “Let us ask Our Lord to give us such a firm and solid faith on our journey that we may obtain the gifts which he has promised.” As always, we will find our Mother Mary very close to Jesus.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

EW