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Sunday, January 5, 2024, Epiphany of the Lord—Solemnity
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” Matthew 2:1–2
Today we are celebrating the feast of Epiphany,
What does it means?
The feast of the Epiphany is the feast that celebrated the victory of light over darkness.
It is a feast that shows the whole world that Jesus the light of the world has come into the world.
The mengi were not Jews, they were kings from the East.
The Magi were most likely from Persia, modern-day Iran. They were men who regularly engaged in a study of the stars. They were not Jewish but were most likely aware of the popular belief of the Jewish people that a king would be born who would save them.
A very interesting thing is that these Magi were called by God to encounter the Savior of the World.
Again very interestingly, God used something very familiar to them as an instrument of their calling.
What was that? “The stars.”
It was among their belief that when someone of great importance was born, this birth was accompanied by a new star. So when they saw this new, bright and brilliant star, they were filled with curiosity and hope.
One of the most significant aspects of this story is that they responded. God called them through the use of a star, and they chose to follow this sign, embarking on a long and arduous journey.
Through their coming to pay homage to Jesus, the Jews and the noble men of the Jews came to know about the birth of the Messiah.
What is the familiar thing God uses to call us to Himself.
For the wise men, it was the star. They were astronomers, they could interpret the star.
And what about you?
What can you use today to discover the presence of Jesus in your life?
A story of Alphonse Ratisibonne, a Jewish Atheist who hated the Catholic Church and hated his brother who got converted to Catholicism and later became a priest. He planned to make a journey to Malta but he landed in Rome.
There he encountered a friend who gave him a miraculous medal and asked him to pray the memorare. By saying the the memorare and wearing of the miraculous medal, he encountered the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He got converted and later became a Jesuit priest.
His conversion was miraculous and it was through his encounter with Our Lady through miraculous medal and recitation of daily memorare.
This was his star.
God often uses those things most familiar to us that are part of our daily life to send forth His calling. Recall, for example, that many of the Apostles were fishermen, and Jesus used their occupation to call them, making them “fishers of men.” He especially used the miraculous catch of fish to clearly indicate to them that they had a new calling.
What is your star?
Visit of the Blessed Sacrament; daily recitation of rosary;
visiting of the church; listening to good Christian music, reading of the bible.
God attracts us to himself through many but different stars.
Our own duty is to know the star, which most often is something familiar to us.
The second duty is to be focused and follow the star.
In our own lives, God is constantly calling us to seek Him out and worship Him. He will often use some of the most ordinary parts of our lives to send forth that calling. How is He calling you? In what way is He sending you a star to follow? By this we discover our life and vocation.
Second aspect of our message from the Magi today is their journey and gifts they offered to the baby Jesus.
Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Everything about our spiritual life is mysterious and prophetic.
The three gifts:
Gold: signifies that he is a king.
Frankincense: he is God an, lastly, myrrh for his burial.
What gift can we give to Jesus?
We should give him the gift of our souls by loving him and worshipping him in spirit and truth.
May Almighty God bless us and protect us from all evils through Christ our Lord Amen.
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Rev. Fr. Ambrose Onyeka Anene SDB, is Parish Priest of the Church of the Archangels, Gaduwa, Abuja.
