The Epiphany of the Lord (Year A)

CHRIST IS THE LORD FIND YOUR WAY TO PAY HOMAGE TO HIM
Isa 60.1-6;  
Eph 3.2-3, 5-6;  
Mt 2.1-12

Have you ever gone to a feast or a gathering with a gift, only to arrive and realize that the gift is wholly inappropriate for the recipient or the occasion? Imagine what the magi felt with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh when they walked into the stable where Jesus was born. Perhaps their first thought was that they should have left those gifts in Herod’s palace. But then “they prostrated themselves and did him homage,” two things they did not do for Herod (Matthew 2:11). Despite the humble surrounding and humble parents, they recognized the King and presented their most appropriate gifts. Our response to the Father’s offer of salvation must be that of the Magi: To proclaim Christ’s Kingship, to adore his Godhead, and to acknowledge his mortality

Today’s feast is also a prefiguration of what will happen to Jesus in his adult life. Unlike King Herod fearful of being supplanted by another king. Jesus will live in the greedy reality of the world of suffering and death, and his own death will bring life and his message will find special hearing among those who are poor, meek, those who are clean of heart, those who mourn, those who thirst for justice and the persecuted

In Today’s feast of Christ’s Epiphany, which is Christ’s public manifestation to the gentile, pagan, and the entire world, the Church reminds us that Christ is the light of all nations, of all those countless souls who have not yet found Him, who perhaps have not yet even begun to search for Him.  Today we should be thinking about them, praying for all those whose journey to faith has not yet got very far, perhaps has not yet even started.  It’s sobering to reflect that such people, beloved of God, far outnumber those of us have been given the privilege and grace of  believing that Jesus Christ is the King of kings, and Lord of lords.

If Jesus Christ is truly the centre of our lives, we should naturally want all others to know and love Him.  We should want to do whatever we can to help all wise men and women of good will  to respond to the mysterious interior workings of grace, to open their lives to the guiding light of faith, to reach the point of finding the Lord Jesus, in the arms of His Blessed Mother and protection of St. Joseph All of us too today are still on our own journey of faith.  Perhaps we feel that we ourselves are still only half-converted.  Well, one very good way of deepening our love for Christ is to do His work in the lives of others, to speak to them about our King, to show them what a difference He can make, to encourage them with kindness and generosity to come to Him, do Him the homage that is His due.

Fr Joseph Osho