I pray for all today to experience wonder and joy on this Holy Feast Day of the Epiphany!
Epiphany, meaning "manifestation", is also called the Theophany, the "appearing of God" in the Eastern Churches, and Dia de Reyes, Kings Day, in Latin American and Hispanic cultures.
On this day, the Western Church commemorates the arrival of the magi in Bethlehem to worship God, who has so wondrously become one of us in the the infant Jesus, God incarnate.
In his humanity, Jesus is a Jew, a rabbi, a descendant of David. In eternal faithfulfulness to the covenant made with the Jewish people, God promised to send them a savior, who will also be a light to all nations and peoples.
Born in the most humble of circumstances, in an animal pen, with a feeding trough for a crib, God shows us that there is no place so despised or situation so hopeless where his love will not make a home.
Adored first by shepherds, God shows us truly that the meek and lowly in heart are nearest to seeing the glory of the Lord. And with the arrival of the magi, God reveals to us that the gift of grace, the invitation to a life of transforming redemption in Jesus, is freely offered to all people, even those whom we might think of as being foreigners, outsiders, or unclean. In the magi, we see that the Gentiles, and that means me, are included in the promise of salvation.
So today, we rejoice in wonder and awe and give thanks for the revelation of the astonishing love and amazing grace given to the world by God, who became one of us in Jesus, who invites all nations and every people to love one another and to live in peace.
Glória in excélsis Deo et in terra pax homínibus bonæ voluntátis!
Fr. Troy Beecham
