Epiphany of Our Lord Year C

SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD.

The Collect for the Epiphany of Our Lord reads as follows:

May the splendour of Your majesty, O Lord, we pray,

shed its light upon our hearts,

that we may pass through the shadows of this world

and reach the brightness of our eternal home.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son

who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God for ever and ever.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In making this prayer tangible for during the week, the following reflection questions emerged:

1. What areas in my life needs God's light and and splendour?

2. What is my attitude to our eternal home?

3. If I was told I am to live only this week, am I ready to reach the brightness of our eternal home?

4. What areas of my life would I change this week to be ready to reach my eternal home?

5. How does the visit of the Kings affect my faith and my life this coming week?

6. What blessings have I gained from this Christmastide.

TRADITIONS OF EPIPHANY

There are several traditions and names for celebrating the Epiphany.  The Epiphany is celebrated each January 6 and is a day dedicated to the birth of Christ, which includes a nod toward the three Kings who came to visit Him.

The word "epiphany" means "an appearance or manifestation, especially of a deity". Appearance is correct, as Christ revealed himself in the form of a newborn babe to the Three Wise Men, who travelled from their countries to pay tribute to the Son of God.

It is also a reference to the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist. The six Sundays following Epiphany are known as the time of manifestation. 

The Gospel of Matthew describes three Wise Men, named Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar, who were told of Christ's birth and set off, following the Star of Bethlehem, to meet the baby Jesus. Each king brought with him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to represent Jesus' elevated position, divine birth and mortality respectively,

Historically, Christmas was celebrated each day from Christmas Eve to the Epiphany, with January 6 being as large a celebration as December 25.

Though Protestant churches celebrate a season of Epiphany from January 6 to Ash Wednesday, the Catholic Church observes Epiphany as a single day, with some in America celebrating the Epiphany feast the Sunday following January 6.

In Spain, children believe their Christmas presents are delivered by the Three Wise Men on January 6, while in Venice, children believe "La Befana," an imaginary old woman in Italian folklore, brings gifts to them on the Epiphany Day. An old Catholic tradition is the Star Singers, which are groups of people who dress as the Wise Men and carry a wooden star who go door-to-door to sing and collect donations for the poor. 

GOSPEL OF TODAY: Matthew 2:1-12.

Today at Mass the Gospel will be from Matthew 2:1-12.   I have previously written a post here on this Gospel in detail. 

However, in today's post I wish to focus on Homage. Interestingly enough, there are 77 times in the bible where the word Homage is used. Seven of course was considered a perfect number.

Historically the word homage meant " a man doing homage to his personal lord'. Let us think about this historical meaning for us today in 2019. Does it still hold true for us as we kneel before the crib?

Do we pass the crib at Mass during Christmastide and not do Him homage?  How many times during Christmastide do we call into our parish and kneel before the crib, ponder and do Him homage?

The burning question not only from a historical perspective then is does this definition hold true for me?   Is Christ my personal Lord? It is something to ponder as we start the New Year.

WAYS TO DO HOMAGE

Of course, it is not only on the Solemnity of the Epiphany of Our Lord that we do Him homage.  We should be doing Him homage every day- every moment of every day in our hearts.  Special times to do Him homage are:

• Praying our morning and Evening Prayer: a time to connect to God and ask Him to be our personal Lord and Saviour every day.  How is our Prayer time?  What changes do I need to make in 2019 to give Jesus homage?
• Daily Mass (or as often as we can attend). It is easy to become distracted at Mass especially if we have a lot going on in our lives or we are stressed/depressed.  We can easily find reasons to allow our mind to wander during Mass.  We are human of course.  However why not think about the word homage and its meaning. It may be an anchor for us to remember that Christ is our personal Lord.
• Receiving Holy Communion: This is the most precious time to give our Lord homage. It is definitely a time to be with Him as fully as we can.  Receiving Communion can be given in a flash and the moment for us is gone if we are not prepared. Again, distractions in the aisle can take our thoughts and minds away from what we are about to receive- Jesus Himself.  

Let us this year keep our minds focused on Jesus and make Him our Lord and Saviour.  Walk to Holy Communion like the Kings of today's feast- make the journey and do Him Homage.

• Our daily life: Everything we do, our work, our family life, our parish life needs to be focused on Jesus and our commitment to Him.  How we interact with each other, how we try to live the commandments and give each other love and understanding shows respect not only for these people but for Jesus who lives in them. We do not need to accept bad behaviour or abuse. However we do need to remember that Jesus lives in every person. Give Him homage in that person. It is a tough lesson to remember but one worth cultivating with everyone-yes even those whom we naturally dislike or have good reason to dislike. Jesus lives in them too.

So on this Solemnity of Our Lord let us do Him homage.

You may wish to listen to O Holy Night as you reflect on this Solemnity or perhaps you may prefer to listen on this setting