Epiphany:
Via Catholic Press Photo. More from the last couple of days here.
Why is this event so important? Because with it began the adherence of the pagan peoples to faith in Christ, according to the promise that God had made to Abraham, to which the book of Genesis makes reference: "all the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you" (Genesis 12:3). Just as Mary, Joseph and the shepherds of Bethlehem represent the people of Israel that received the Lord, so the Wise Men are the first fruits of the gentiles, also called to form part of the Church, new people of God, which is no longer based on ethnic, linguistic or cultural homogeneity, but only on common faith in Jesus, Son of God.
For this reason, Christ’s epiphany is at the same time, the Church’s epiphany, that is, the manifestation of her vocation and universal mission. In this context, I joyfully address a cordial greeting to the beloved brothers and sisters of the Eastern Churches that, following the Julian Calendar, celebrate Holy Christmas tomorrow: I affectionately wish them abundance of Christian peace and prosperity.
I like to recall, moreover, that on the occasion of Epiphany, the World Day of Missionary Children is observed. It is the feast of Christian children who live joyfully the gift of faith and pray that the light of Jesus will reach all the children of the world.
I thank the children of "Holy Childhood," present in 110 countries, as they are precious cooperators of the Gospel and apostles of Christian solidarity in favor of the neediest. I encourage educators to cultivate in little ones the missionary spirit, so that impassioned missionaries will arise among them, witnesses of God’s tenderness and proclaimers of his love.
The AsiaNews report of the homily at Saturday’s Mass in St. Peter’s:
“Today more than ever, it is a must to flank the rulers of peoples, researchers and scientists with representatives of the big traditional non-Christian religions, inviting them to confront themselves with the light of Christ that came not to abolish but to bring to fulfillment what the hand of God has written in the religious history of civilization, especially in the ‘great souls’ that have contributed to building humanity with their wisdom and their examples of virtue. Christ is light and light cannot obscure but only illuminate, make clear and reveal. Thus no one should fear Christ and his message! And if throughout history Christians, being limited men and sinners, could at times have betrayed him with their conduct, this shows even more clearly how the light is Christ and that the Church reflects him only by remaining united with Him.”
At the end of his homily, Benedict XVI dwelt on some features of the Magi (of then and now), namely humility and passion to seek truth rather than wealth and power. The pope said: “They prostrated themselves before a simple baby in his mother’s arms not in the setting of a royal palace but instead in the poverty of a shed in Bethlehem (cfr Mt 2:11). How was it possible? What convinced the Magi that that boy was the ‘king of the Jews’? Certainly they were persuaded by the sign of the star, which they saw ‘rising’ and which stopped right on top of the place where the Boy was (cfr Mt 2:9). But even that star would not have been enough had the Magi not been people intimately open to the truth. As opposed to King Herod, who was taken up by his interests of power and wealth, the Magi were looking towards the end of their quest and when they found it, although they were cultured men, they behaved like the shepherds of Bethlehem: they recognized the sign and adored the Boy, offering him precious and symbolic gifts that they brought with them.”
The mystery of the Epiphany “contains a demanding and ever present message” for Christians too, who often whittle their faith and witness down to activism or sentimentalism.
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