The Lord's Epiphany

First reading: Isaiah 60:1-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 72
Second reading: Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
Gospel reading: Matthew 2:1-12

"We observed His star at its rising and have come to pay Him
homage."

Only in the gospel of Matthew do we find the story of the Magis
or the astrologers from the east who came to Israel and inquired
about the newborn king of the Jews. King Herod was greatly
disturbed by the prophecy of this newborn king. He inquired from
the chief priests and scribes where this "newborn King of the
Jews" was to be born. They answered, "Bethlehem". Then he also
asked the Magis from the east and sent them to Bethlehem to get
more detailed information about the Child. So the astrologers
set out, following the star that led them to the Child with Mary
His mother. They paid homage to the Child Jesus with gifts of
gold, frankincense and myrrh. Afterwards, they did not return
to King Herod when they received a message in a dream.

In a sermon on this feast of the Epiphany, St. Peter Chrysologus
says that the astrologers from the east saw the Child Jesus and
gazed in deep wonder. As they looked upon the Child, the saw
"heaven on earth, earth in heaven, man in God, God in man, [and]
One whom the whole universe cannot contain now enclosed in a tiny
body". They looked, they believed and did not question. Through
this feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, we learn how God chooses
to reveal Himself to the world as a tiny Child born on a stable
in Bethlehem. This tiny baby is God, King, and One who is to
suffer and die on a Cross.

Sometimes, we are tempted to believe that God will only reveal
His saving presence to us in extraordinary ways: through a great
miracle, an extraordinary healing, big signs and wonders, or a
supernatural event of nature. But God also reveals Himself to us
in very simple and ordinary ways. Just as He revealed Himself as
a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger, God reveals
Himself to us when we quietly gather as a family in the Eucharist.
Together with other families, we can gaze and wonder how God also
comes to us through Word and Sacrament. When we receive Christ in
the Eucharist, and enter into deeper prayer, we can be gifted
with an understanding that God wishes to be part of our life in
ordinary and simple events.