Fr. Jerome Pistoni, sx
EPIPHANY SUNDAY
Epiphany, the liturgical celebration that relates the story of the Wise Men coming from the East with gifts for the infant Jesus, and guided by a star, is the conclusion of Christmas Time. Immediately after the Epiphany, the liturgical season of the Ordinary Time will start with the celebration of the Baptism of the adult Jesus at the river Jordan.
This is not the last story of the infancy of Jesus: the gospel of Saint Matthew and Saint Luke recorded also the Presentation of Jesus at the temple, the flight to Egypt to avoid the criminal rage of Herod, and, when he was 12 years old, the journey with his parents to Jerusalem where he was lost for three days. After this last episode, Jesus and his family returned to Nazareth and silence enveloped them like a blanket for thirty years till Jesus reappeared at the river Jordan to be baptised by John the Baptist .
The first of January we celebrated the feast of Mary Mother of God, a title that embarrass Muslims and sometimes also Catholics. God, giving this title to Mary, got rid of all the titles we gave to Him: “Almighty God, Omnipotent God, Supreme God, Powerful God ” titles that make us shrink away with fear from Him. Incarnation was not a pretence! If God wanted to become really a man like us, except sin, he needed to be conceived in the womb of a woman and remain there for 9 months, like all human beings. To become man he needed a mother and Mary was the chosen one. After his birth he was not a “Super Baby”, like sometime the apocryphal gospels depicted him! Through Incarnation he assumed new titles: “fragile God, small God, vulnerable God, needy and near to us God. Emmanuel and Saviour. We are attracted by these characteristic of God. We are not afraid of him anymore.
This is the reason why we call these three mysterious people: the Wise Men. They were not disappointed when they saw the baby, in a manger, in an abandoned village in the country side. They were not scandalised by the poverty and humble conditions of his.
They came with gift worthy for a king: gold incense and myrrh. When they saw the child they prostrated before him with respect communicating to us two simple messages:
- All the people of the earth, whom the Wise Men represent, are invited to meet Jesus. Nobody is excluded. He is not the God of one people only, but of all the persons of every tribe and nation who accept him. This event is the fulfilment of the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah, “Arise Jerusalem,…the nations come to your light and kings to your dawning brightness”.
- Also today we can find Jesus in simple and ordinary actions such as the listening of the Word of God, the participation in the humble activities of the church, the voice of some committed Christians. Do not leave no stone unturned in order to discover today Jesus already present in our daily life. We have more than one star that guides us to Him.
EPIPHANY SUNDAY
Epiphany, the liturgical celebration that relates the story of the Wise Men coming from the East with gifts for the infant Jesus, and guided by a star, is the conclusion of Christmas Time. Immediately after the Epiphany, the liturgical season of the Ordinary Time will start with the celebration of the Baptism of the adult Jesus at the river Jordan.
This is not the last story of the infancy of Jesus: the gospel of Saint Matthew and Saint Luke recorded also the Presentation of Jesus at the temple, the flight to Egypt to avoid the criminal rage of Herod, and, when he was 12 years old, the journey with his parents to Jerusalem where he was lost for three days. After this last episode, Jesus and his family returned to Nazareth and silence enveloped them like a blanket for thirty years till Jesus reappeared at the river Jordan to be baptised by John the Baptist .
The first of January we celebrated the feast of Mary Mother of God, a title that embarrass Muslims and sometimes also Catholics. God, giving this title to Mary, got rid of all the titles we gave to Him: “Almighty God, Omnipotent God, Supreme God, Powerful God ” titles that make us shrink away with fear from Him. Incarnation was not a pretence! If God wanted to become really a man like us, except sin, he needed to be conceived in the womb of a woman and remain there for 9 months, like all human beings. To become man he needed a mother and Mary was the chosen one. After his birth he was not a “Super Baby”, like sometime the apocryphal gospels depicted him! Through Incarnation he assumed new titles: “fragile God, small God, vulnerable God, needy and near to us God. Emmanuel and Saviour. We are attracted by these characteristic of God. We are not afraid of him anymore.
This is the reason why we call these three mysterious people: the Wise Men. They were not disappointed when they saw the baby, in a manger, in an abandoned village in the country side. They were not scandalised by the poverty and humble conditions of his.
They came with gift worthy for a king: gold incense and myrrh. When they saw the child they prostrated before him with respect communicating to us two simple messages:
- All the people of the earth, whom the Wise Men represent, are invited to meet Jesus. Nobody is excluded. He is not the God of one people only, but of all the persons of every tribe and nation who accept him. This event is the fulfilment of the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah, “Arise Jerusalem,…the nations come to your light and kings to your dawning brightness”.
- Also today we can find Jesus in simple and ordinary actions such as the listening of the Word of God, the participation in the humble activities of the church, the voice of some committed Christians. Do not leave no stone unturned in order to discover today Jesus already present in our daily life. We have more than one star that guides us to Him.