The Feast of the Epiphany - January 6

Revealing the mystery

• Isaiah 60:1-6, 9
• Psalm 72:1-2, 10-14
• Ephesians 3:1-12
• Matthew 2:1-12

In choosing to be born for us, God chose to be known by us. God therefore reveals God’s own self in this way, in order that this great sacrament of love may not be an occasion for us of great misunderstanding.

Today the magi find, crying in a manger, the one they have followed as he shone in the sky. Today the magi see clearly, in swaddling clothes, the one they have long awaited as he lay hidden among the stars.

Today the magi gaze in deep wonder at what they see: heaven on earth, earth in heaven, humanity in God, God in humanity, one whom the whole universe cannot contain now enclosed in a tiny body. As they look, they believe and do not question as they symbolic gifts bear witness: incense for God, gold for a king, myrrh for one who is to die.

Peter Chrysologus, 5th century

Art: Jan Brueghel, the Elder, “Adoration of the Kings”

Other links:

• The Epiphany
• Extraordinary Signs
• Epiphany Through the Eyes of Children

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