Even though our secular world has moved on from the Christmas season, probably because we've been hearing Christmas carols in the stores and on the radio since early November and have seen Christmas decorations up for several months as well, we in the Catholic Church are still celebrating Christmas. In fact, the Christmas season officially ends this Monday when we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord.
Today, we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany, one of the high points of our Christmas season. Our English word “epiphany” comes from the Greek word “epiphaneia,” which means "appearing" or "revealing” or “manifesting.” Today, on Epiphany, and during the entire Christmas season, we focus on how God manifested himself in the world in Jesus, his divine Son.
We celebrate Epiphany in the visit of the kings, the Magi, as they traveled from afar to honor the Christ child and to bring him gifts. It is interesting to look up the feast of the Epiphany on the internet to find the different ways it is celebrated throughout the world. The Guardian newspaper showed a series of photos of the celebration of Epiphany. Carolers in Germany dress up as the three kings as they sing Christmas carols and ask for donations to fund children’s aid projects throughout the world as they go house to house. Many in the Eastern and Orthodox Churches celebrate the baptism of the Lord on Epiphany. A photo showed swimmers jumping into the frigid waters in a river in Bulgaria as they raced to retrieve a cross positioned in the icy waters, celebrating the baptism of the Lord. Getting the cross brings good luck and wards off evil spirits. In Romania, there is a special blessing of horses on this day. In the different countries of the world, we have special traditions to mark today’s feast of the Epiphany, which is very appropriate, since this feast day shows how Jesus is a gift to all people and all nations, how his message speaks to all of us, no matter our culture or ethnic group. If you look around at our parish here and the other parishes of our Diocese, we see a lot of diversity. Today, the Church around the world comes together to honor the Christ child just like the Magi did.
I have always loved the story of the three kings. I guess I’ve always dreamed about going to faraway lands and I had a great sense of adventure as a child and as a youth, so the story of the three kings appealed to my imagination and my adventurous spirit. We have the wonderful image of the star of Bethlehem leading the Magi to the place where they can find the baby Jesus. As we think about the star of Bethlehem that guided them to their destination, we realize that we all follow something in life, don’t we? We might not even be aware of what is pointing us in the direction we are going, but God speaking to us in our lives points us in the direction in which he wants us to go.
Our Gospel tells us that the chief priests and scribes closed their hearts to the surprising ways that God can reveal himself to us. Many people failed to recognize who he was, both at Jesus' birth and during his lifetime and ministry. Yet, the three Magi, these mysterious men from the East, who were perhaps astronomers, scientists, wise sages or scholars, or a combination of those things, they received a message that a very special child was to be born in the world, a child who was a gift for all people and all generations.
Sometimes we expect to see God in a certain way. Sometimes we expect our journey of faith to go down a certain road. However, often God leads us down a road less traveled or down a road with struggles and challenges. God speaks to us in the human world and in the non-human world, too. God spoke to the Magi through a dream and through a star. He spoke to them in a way that surpassed the impossible, the unimaginable. God speaks to us in many different ways today. Yet, sometimes we don’t pay attention or listen to him. Sometimes we close our hearts to him.
Through the wonderful story of the Magi, God is speaking to us during this joyful Christmas season, that’s for sure. May the feast of the Epiphany stimulate our imagination to seek Christ out today and every day.
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