The Second Epiphany - The Baptism of Jesus - 2025

We commonly think of the Epiphany as that one event in Christ's life where the Magi, led by a star, make their way to see him and offer him gifts fitting a new king. However, the Catholic liturgy considers the Epiphany to be threefold; 1. the visit by the Magi, 2. the baptism of Jesus by John, and 3. the miracle of the wine at the wedding feast of Cana. The Greek word, “epiphaneia”, was used to signify the coming of a king or emperor. It was also used for the self-manifestation of a god or for his miraculous intervention; this later, likely the original use of the word. St. Paul used the word "epiphany" three times. The first was in reference to Jesus first coming; He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made manifest through the appearance (epiphaneias) of our Savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 2 Tim. 1:9-10. The other two uses refer to Jesus second coming; (Titus 2:13) and (2 Thess. 2:8) “. . . not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began.”  What an extraordinary statement Paul is making here. We need to unpack it and ponder it. “. . . not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace”. In one of his Sunday Sermons,  Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire) identified a trend that is becoming more and more common in society today. People are leaving the tradition practice of their Christian Faith and embracing what they call “spirituality”. They describe themselves as no long religious but spiritual. Being spiritual is their seeking to attain an inner peace by their own efforts using things like meditation, yoga, communing with nature and the like. The opposite to this, Bishop Barron points out, is Faith, faith in divine revelation. It is not us seeking God bur God seeking us. A Voice outside of ourselves is calling us to go outside of ourselves to hear and embrace truth and wisdom being taught by the very voice of God. A person of faith recognizes that Jesus is the very Voice of God incarnate, speaking and teaching. A person of faith also realizes that if God did not reveal Himself, did not come down to us and teach us by his very own word, we could never arrive at such truth on our own. This is why these days of Epiphany, days of making him visible are so important. “And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are My Son the beloved; with You I am well pleased’. Later in Mark’s gospel in the Transfiguration, “Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: ‘This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!’ Mk. 9:7 So the question for today is, am I listening? And a further question as well, to whom am I listening? There is a great competition happening today for our attention, made so by the rapid advances of electronic communication: radio, T.V., internet etc. So many voices speaking at us. But which voices are speaking the true Word of God? Jesus warned us this challenge. “See to it that you are not deceived. For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and rebellions, do not be alarmed. These things must happen first, but the end is not imminent.” Lk. 21:8-9 The responsibility of discerning and protecting us was given to the Church which Jesus founded on Peter, promising that He would remain with his church in every age. That is why we are not surprised when we see Satan waging vicious attacks against the church. So now we are entering a new period of Ordinary Time, Year C in the liturgical cycle. This year we take up Luke’s gospel as our main focus, our main instrument for hearing the voice of God speaking, teaching us and protecting us from the deceiver. * * * * * * For this blog I thought it appropriate not only to behold these wondrous appearances but also to listen to the voices of those who were the first to see. THE MAGI "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." Prayer: O Lord, where in my heart is such wonder and awe, such hunger to find you, that I might surrender my whole heart to your kingship? My eyes are no longer fixed heaven ward, but rather on the empty and passing things that surround me, like dark clouds covering my view of the stars. Let the brilliance of your true presence break through my darkness and lead me once again in search of you. JESUS BAPTISM BY JOHN "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." Prayer: O Lord, is there a day, soon to come, when a new fire will burn in my heart. Has my baptism become but a single ember, barely glowing? Fan into flame once again, that fire of faith I was given. Baptize me anew in your Holy Spirit and awaken in me the fire of your Love. Let me hear once again, in my heart, your voice speaking to me, "You are my child, my beloved; with you I am well pleased." CANA Mary said, "They have no wine." ... "Do whatever he tells you." Prayer: Mary, these words you speak are now about me. The wine of my faith and the wine of my hope and the wine of my love have surely run out. I am but a clay pot, idle and empty. Where would I be now, if your motherly love for me was not speaking to me these words of wisdom. I will do what your Son now tells me. I will take the water of my humble prayers, the water of my study of his word, the water of my examination of mind and heart to fill my idleness and emptiness, while I await his transforming grace of renewal.

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Epiphany - 2025

I always enjoyed watching the little children visiting the Nativity scene in the church each Christmas. Their attention to the details and their innocent commentary on what they were seeing was both delightful and interesting. Yet do we not remember this verse in Luke’s gospel: At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. Lk 10:21 The word “epiphany”, means a manifestation, a showing forth, something seen and recognized, the beginning of understanding; we say, “ah, now I see, now I understand!” And what is being made manifest here is nothing less than God, our God made visible. Recall Jesus’ words to Philip: “… anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” Jo.14:9. In John’s gospel, we are actually given three epiphanies, three manifestations to ponder. The first epiphany is the birth of Jesus, with the three Wise men representing all nations and peoples coming to see. The second, the proclamation from heaven at Jesus baptism by John. The third manifestation seen is the first miracle of Jesus, the changing of water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana. The church takes us back to these first three epiphanies to get us started in a new year of grace. But now it is for us to have our own epiphanies. This starts when we start, when we too go in search of him. This “searching is non-other than our personal prayer life. Without this practice of prayer, we will remain in the dark; simply guessing about God. Recall again Jesus’ words to Philip:  “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Lk 10:22 The Christmas season in the Church is not simple meant to be a sentimental trip down memory lane. It is a serious time, of highest importance. It is a new gift of the Lord’s presence, a new gift of time and opportunity to become ever more attached to Jesus, to join with those who follow, and prepare for what the future holds for us.  *.*.*.*.*

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Mary Mother of God - 2025

Today is the oldest feast honoring Mary. The gospel passage for this feast is same as the Christmas Mass at Dawn, which tells of the visit of the shepherds to Mary's new born son, Jesus. For this feast, the verses telling of Jesus being brought to the temple on the eighth day to be circumcised and given the name Jesus is added. Until recently, this day was called the feast of the Circumcision of Jesus. Today the focus for this feast is on Mary as Mother of God and has the importance of a solemnity. In the first centuries, the Church struggled with the question of the true nature of Jesus. Was he merely a man, albeit, the greatest of all the prophets that God had raised up. Or was he much more, indeed, did he share in the very divinity of God? The First Council of Nicaea in 325, declared that the Son was true God, co-eternal with the Father and begotten from His same substance, arguing that such a doctrine best codified the Scriptural presentation of the Son as well as traditional Christian belief about him handed down from the Apostles. This belief was expressed by the bishops in the Creed of Nicaea, which would form the basis of what has since been known as the Nicene Creed. The Church quickly realized that since Jesus is both man and God, and since Mary in her womb and gave birth to Jesus, it is right to call her, Mother of God - Theotokos - the womb that held within it the one who is both human and divine. This is a great mystery of faith. In the 2nd Reading, Paul sees in this mystery God's wonderful plan for our humanity. Jesus came from the divine to enter into our lowly humanity. He leads us back through our communion in his humanity to share in his divinity. So in baptism, we mere humans are born again and now we share in the divinity of Jesus. By our rebirth in Jesus, it is right to speak of Mary, mother of Jesus, as our mother as well. As we begin a new calendar year - which reminds us that we are moving ever closer to our ultimate destiny, let us keep these things foremost in our thoughts: Jesus the son of God is our brother, dear to us as we are to him. That Mary is our heavenly mother, caring for us with the love and protection of a devoted and loving Mother. Think of ourselves, not as some weak and failing piece of humanity, headed for the grave, but as a royal child of God the FATHER, beloved as Jesus is loved, protected in the arms of Mary our mother, destined to live in this family for all eternity.

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The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

Some remember this feast as being celebrated during the Octave of the Epiphany – then in 60’s, when the liturgical calendar was revised, it was moved to the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas as we have it today. So, what exactly is a family? By definition: A family is most commonly understood as a group of people who are related to each other, especially parents and their children. Sometimes when people talk about a family, they mean children. They decided to start a family.  Or sometimes when people talk about their family, they mean their relatives and ancestors.  Then there is that general group meanings, when we say a family of animals or plants is a group of related species and so on. Today we are celebrating the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. At first glance this is a familiar family image – husband, wife and a son – but the reality of this family is profoundly more than what it appears to be. What then is the significant difference about this family? – We have a husband, a mother, and a son living together as a family – what is different, what makes this family Holy is who they are and the way they are brought together – they come together as a family by God’s divine intervention; It is God who brings Joseph together with Mary as husband and wife when the Law would forbid their marriage after Mary is found to be pregnant.  Mary conceives Jesus in her womb and becomes Jesus real mother, but not by Joseph’s seed.  Jesus’ Father is God, Jesus is God’s Son, sharing the very life and divinity of God the Father.  Joseph will be a father-gardian to Jesus, caring for all his needs to grow healthy and strong. These are profound mysteries that make this the Holy Family – and herein is to be found a new plan, a new dimension to the natural family as we know it. God wants to make every family a holy family – by uniting them to His Holy Family. Not only is the family to be God’s plan for the continuation of the whole human race – but that the human race is to be formed into one single heavenly family. Now it is here that we must bring into focus the realization that there is an enemy against God’s plans for the family; attacking the family is priority number one for this enemy. We see the beginning of war on the family already in the Christmas story with the murderous undertaking of king Herod to murder Jesus by murdering the holy Innocence children – the feast just celebrated this past Friday. The shield the family is given to employ in its defense is love – husband and wife – parents and children – first revealed in the commandments, then St. Paul lays out God's plan for the Christian family in Ephesians 5&6. The family is the womb of love and the school of love wherein we learn that life itself is dependent on mutual caring, one for another. This priority of mutual caring carries over into the whole of society, making it healthy and strong. Our generation is experiencing a toxic atmosphere for true family life, a climate of selfish, self interest. “Me first and only as long as I like it”. This mentality is proving to be lethal to the family. That makes today’s feast all the more important for us to commemorate. Here are three way we may do this: To gather as families of faith in worship and prayer, thanking God for the gift of his Spirit who fills our hearts with divine love and teaches us how to love one another.  Filled with that love flowing from the Holy Family, let us be instruments of compassion and healing, in our families and others, where the absence of love has wounded and divided.  To be both sign and advocate in our society for all that strengthens and advances authentic family life as modeled in the Holy Family.

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