Epiphany of the Lord

Epiphany of the Lord
The Orthodox Churches that follow the Gregorian calendar celebrate the Baptism of the Lord in the Jordan River and his manifestation (epiphany) to the world.

First Reading

Isaiah 60,1-6

Arise, shine out, for your light has come, and the glory of Yahweh has risen on you. Look! though night still covers the earth and darkness the peoples, on you Yahweh is rising and over you his glory can be seen. The nations will come to your light and kings to your dawning brightness. Lift up your eyes and look around: all are assembling and coming towards you, your sons coming from far away and your daughters being carried on the hip. At this sight you will grow radiant, your heart will throb and dilate, since the riches of the sea will flow to you, the wealth of the nations come to you; camels in throngs will fill your streets, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; everyone in Saba will come, bringing gold and incense and proclaiming Yahweh's praises.

Psalmody

Psalm 72

Antiphon

It is good to be with you, O Lord

How good God is to Israel,
to those who are pure of heart.

Yet my feet came close to stumbling,
my steps had almost slipped

for I was filled with envy of the proud
when I saw how the wicked prosper.

For them there are no pains;
for bodies are sound and sleek.

They have no share in men's sorrows;
they are not stricken like others.

So they wear their pride like a necklace,
they clothe themselves with violence.

Their hearts overflow with malice,
their minds seethe with plots.

They scoff; they speak with malice;
from on high they plan oppression.

They have set their mouths in the heavens
and their tongues dictate to the earth.

So the people turn to follow them
and drink in all their words.

They say : 'How can God know?
Does the Most High take any notice?'

Look at them, such are the wicked,
but untroubled, they grow in wealth.

How useless to keep my heart pure
and wash my hands in innocence,

when I was stricken all day long,
suffered punishment day after day.

Then I said : 'If I should speak like that,
I should betray the race of your sons'.

I strove to fathom this problem,
too hard for my mind to understand,

until I pierced the mysteries of God
and understood what becomes of the wicked.

How slippery the paths on which you set them;
You make them slide to destruction.

How suddenly they come to their ruin,
wiped out, destroyed by terrors.

Like a dream one wakes from, O Lord,
when you wake you dismiss them as phantoms.

And so when my heart grew embittered
and when I was cut to the quick,

I was stupid and did not understand,
no better than a beast in your sight.

Yet I was always in your presence;
you were holding me by my right hand.

You will guide me by your counsel
and so you will lead me to glory.

What else have I in heaven but you?
Apart from you I want nothing on earth.

My body and my heart faint for joy;
God is my possession for ever.

All those who abandon you shall perish;
you will destroy all those who are faithless.

To be near God is my happiness.
I have made the Lord God my refuge.

I will tell of all your works
at the gates of the city of Zion.

Second Reading

Ephesians 3,2-3.5-6

You have surely heard the way in which God entrusted me with the grace he gave me for your sake; he made known to me by a revelation the mystery I have just described briefly- This mystery, as it is now revealed in the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets, was unknown to humanity in previous generations: that the gentiles now have the same inheritance and form the same Body and enjoy the same promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Reading of the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Glory to God in the highest
and peace on earth to the people he loves.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Matthew 2,1-12

After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of King Herod, suddenly some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east asking, 'Where is the infant king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.' When King Herod heard this he was perturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. He called together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, and enquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, 'At Bethlehem in Judaea, for this is what the prophet wrote: And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are by no means the least among the leaders of Judah, for from you will come a leader who will shepherd my people Israel.' Then Herod summoned the wise men to see him privately. He asked them the exact date on which the star had appeared and sent them on to Bethlehem with the words, 'Go and find out all about the child, and when you have found him, let me know, so that I too may go and do him homage.' Having listened to what the king had to say, they set out. And suddenly the star they had seen rising went forward and halted over the place where the child was. The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. But they were given a warning in a dream not to go back to Herod, and returned to their own country by a different way.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Homily

"Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses' arms." These words of the prophet open the feast of Epiphany which is considered in the West the feast of God who manifests Himself to the peoples. There is a desire of universality and, at the same time an urgency that runs through this day: it is the deep desire of the Church that peoples and nations would meet Jesus soon. At the bottom of the heart of each human being is nostalgia for God. Isn't this nostalgia that impels the Magi to set off and ask Herod: "For we observed his star at it is rising, and have come to pay him homage"? They were men from distant lands, rich and intellectuals, who had set off from the East towards the land of Israel to worship the new-born "king." The Magi, like the shepherds, had to observe the heavens. They were probably longing for a better, more just world; they raised their eyes from the world, looked up to the sky and saw a "star."
Today they exhort us to depend on the star that is the Gospel, form the Word of the Lord, as the psalm says: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (119:105). This light leads us to the Child. Without listening to and trusting the Gospel, it is impossible for us to meet Jesus. The Magi indeed entrusted themselves to the star and reached the place where Jesus was. There they "saw the child with his mother Mary, they knelt down and worshipped him." Their kneeling was the truest gesture. Along with Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds, the Magi understood that salvation means welcoming the Child into their hearts, and with him all the weak and defenceless even today.
As soon as Herod and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem learned of the Child, they were not joyful like the Magi and the shepherds; on the contrary they were troubled and Herod planned the Child's death. Now they are the magi who save the child from the ferociousness of Herod. The evangelist notes that the wise men returned to their country by another route. When you meet the Lord and welcome him in your heart, you are no longer as you were before, and you can no longer walk the same road. Life changes and behaviours change with it. The magi are now ahead of us, to guide us towards the many mangers of this world in which lie the small and the weak.