The Feast of the Epiphany
First Movement
The Feast of the Epiphany
The Magi, bring gifts to honor the Christ child…traditionally this feast is celebrated on January 6th.
Second Movement
Contemplate the Mystery of God’s love at work in the world.
A Reading from Matthew 2:1-16
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.
“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
Founder’s Voice
“Have much care and affection for the young people entrusted to you.”
(Med 110.3 – feast of St Joseph)
Third Movement
Through this Advent- Christmas- Epiphany spiritual journey how have you been awakened to your gifts and how will you share them to build God’s Kingdom?
Closing Prayer
Prayer of Saint Teresa of Avila
Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks
Compassion on this world
Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good
Yours are the hands with which He blesses all the world
Yours are the hands
Yours are the feet
Yours are the eyes
You are His body
Christ has no body now on earth but yours
Reflection
Mr. Ed Sirois, La Salle Academy, Providence, RI
Let us remember we are in the holy presence of the one, universal God.
Thanks to all the advertising that totally envelopes us, it’s easy to get the impression that the Christmas season begins on the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) and ends by noon time on Christmas day. But no, the Christian season of Christmas begins on Christmas Day and doesn’t end until the celebration of the baptism of Jesus weeks later. And during that Christmas season we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany — on January 6th or on the Sunday nearest to it.
The Gospel of Matthew places emphasis on the fact that Jesus came to preach the Good News to his fellow Jews, yes, but to women and men of all cultures and races as well. The event we remember on this feast of the Epiphany reminds us of this reality. Matthew’s gospel tells us how a group of pagan wise men, astronomers who were advisors to a pagan king, came to believe that a new rising star in the sky was telling them that a new king of Israel had just been born.
So assuming that this new king is the son of the present king, King Herod, that pagan king sent those wise men as ambassadors to Jerusalem to congratulate Herod and bring the newborn child some gifts as a gesture of good will and welcome.
When those ambassadors, the Magi, arrived in Jerusalem, King Herod informed them that they were mistaken. He did not have a newborn son. Herod then asked his Jewish advisors this question: “Where do the Scriptures say our redeemer king will be born, the one who will be the messiah?” They told Herod that the prophets announced that the messiah king will be a descendant of king David, so he will be born in the city of David, Bethlehem, where David himself was born.
Now Herod feels threatened. He wants to find that baby, that descendent of King David, and he wants to eliminate him. But he doesn’t tell the Magi that. He tells them they will find that newborn king in Bethlehem, and he asks them that when they do, that they return to Jerusalem and let him know where the child can be found so that he, Herod, can welcome and worship that newborn king, too. NOT!
So the Magi travelled to Bethlehem and they were thrilled when they again saw that newborn king’s star stopped over the place where he was. When they arrived there, they saw the child with his mother, Mary. They bowed down and worshipped him and presented him with gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Gold: a precious metal, a gift fit for a king. Frankincense, a kind of very expensive incense used in the worship of gods and goddesses. And myrrh, a spice that was used for anointing kings and priests, but also used for anointing the dead before burial. And then – that night, in a dream – those wise men were warned to avoid returning to Jerusalem and reporting to King Herod. As a result, they returned home by another route.
So, why does Matthew include this event in his Gospel? As mentioned earlier, the Gospel of Matthew places emphasis on the fact that Jesus came to preach the Good News to his fellow Jews, but also to women and men of all cultures and races. And in this story it is pagans from another country who are the first to recognize who Jesus really is – that he is not merely a poor peasant baby, but a descendant of King David, the new king not just of Judah, but of all humanity. These gentiles are the first to honor and worship Jesus as the son of God.
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of Jesus. As one of the stories of creation in the book of Genesis reminds us, Father, You have created every one of us in your image. That means the more fully human each one of us becomes, the more like You we become. Humanization IS divinization. Jesus is so fully human that he is fully divine. And You, Father, are agape, unconditional love, and Jesus is the incarnation of that love who teaches and shows us how to incarnate agape-lovein our own selves and lives. We thank You, Father, that Jesus leads us to You, to think like You, to act like You, to be like You.
St. John Baptist De La Salle…Pray for us
Live, Jesus, in our hearts…Forever