Happy Feast of the Epiphany!

A time to Celebrate through Shrovetide...

The Feast of the Epiphany is the continuation of the mystery of Christmas; but it appears on the Calendar of the Church with its own special character. Its very name, which signifies Manifestation, implies that it celebrates the apparition of God to his creatures.

For several centuries, the Nativity of our Lord was kept on this day; and when, in the year 376, the decree of the Holy See obliged all Churches to keep the Nativity on the 25th December, as Rome did - the Sixth of January was not robbed of all its ancient glory. It was still to be called the Epiphany, and the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ was also commemorated on this same Feast, which Tradition had marked as the day on which that Baptism took place.

The Greek Church gives this Feast the venerable and mysterious name of Theophania, which is of such frequent recurrence in the early Fathers, as signifying a divine Apparition. We find this name applied to this Feast by Eusebius, St. Gregory Nazianzum, and St. Isidore of Pelusium. In the liturgical books of the Melchite Church the Feast goes under no other name.

The Orientals call this solemnity also the holy on account of its being the day on which Baptism was administered, (for, as we have just mentioned, our Lord was baptised on this same day.) Baptism is called by the holy Fathers Illumination, and they who received it Illuminated.

Lastly, this Feast is called, in many countries, King’s Feast: it is, of course, an allusion to the Magi, whose journey to Bethlehem is so continually mentioned in to-day’s Office.

The Epiphany shares with the Feasts of Christmas, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost, the honour of being called, in the Canon of the Mass, a Day most holy. It is also one of the cardinal Feasts, that is, one of those on which the arrangement of the Christian Year is based; for, as we have Sundays after Easter, and Sundays after Pentecost, so also we count six Sundays after the Epiphany.¹

JANUARY 6TH

ON THE EPIPHANY

Ante luciferum genitus, et ante saecula, Dominus Salvator noster hodie mundo apparuit.

Consider first, that this day is kept by the Church of God with great solemnity, as one of the principal festivals of the year; and is called the Epiphany, that is to say, the apparition or manifestation of our Lord, because on this day he was first made known to the Gentiles, viz., to the wise men of the east, who were conducted to him by the apparition of an extraordinary star, and inspired to pay their early homage and worship to him. O how just It is that we should all celebrate with a grateful devotion this day of our first calling to the knowledge and faith of Christ - this Christmas-day of the Gentiles! O my soul! how great is this benefit of thy vocation to the true Christian faith! What would all other favours or advantages, either of nature or of grace, have availed thee if this had been wanting? How miserable must thou have been, both for time and eternity, if, like millions of others, thou hadst been left to 'sit in darkness and in the shadow of death!' O bless him, then, both now and for ever, who without any desert on thy part, has brought thee to this admirable light!

Consider secondly, the wonderful ways of Divine Providence, as well in preparing beforehand both the Jews and Gentiles to expect about that time the coming of the great Messiah, as in giving an early notice of his birth both to the Jews and the Gentiles - to the Jews, by an Angel sent to the shepherds - to the Gentiles, by a star that appeared to the wise men of the east. But alas! how few, either of the one or the other, duly corresponded with this great call! And is not this the case of millions to this day, who though many ways called and invited by, and to, that 'light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world,' John i., Choose rather to remain in the darkness of infidelity, error, or vice, than to follow the conduct of that star that would bring them to the true light? O how clearly shall we see one day that there was nothing wanting on the part of Divine Providence to bring us all to himself, but that we have been generally so unhappy as to be wanting in our correspondence with his lights and calls.

Consider thirdly, that this star, which gave notice of the birth of our Saviour, was seen by all the nations of the east; but that they generally contented themselves with gazing upon it, without taking any pains to seek him whom that star preached unto them: whilst the wise men, following this divine call, set out without delay, in quest of this new-born king: in consequence of which, these were happily brought to Christ, and to his admirable light; whilst those others remained in darkness, and died in their infidelity. See, my soul, the difference between a ready compliance with the inspirations and graces of God, and the neglect of these heavenly calls; a difference which, as it produces here the distinction of the saint and the sinner, so will terminate hereafter in a happy eternity, for such as follows God and his calls; and a miserable eternity, for such as neglect them. Ah! sinners, dread the consequences of neglecting the calls of heaven. God will not be mocked.

Conclude to be ever attentive to all those gracious lights and inspirations by which you are invited to leave the ways of iniquity, and to come and to follow Christ. Alas! how many of these stars have you hitherto neglected? Arise now at least, and set out by the guidance of this divine light, that you may make the best of your way home from those husks of swine to your Father's house. It is not yet too late.²

— Bishop Richard Challoner

THE LITURGICAL YEAR

BY THE VERY REV. DOM PROSPER GUÉRANGER, ABBOT OF SOLESMES

We also, O Jesus! come to adore thee on this glorious Epiphany, which brings all nations to thy feet. We walk in the footsteps of the Magi; for we, too have seen the Star, and we are come to thee. Glory be to thee, dear King! to thee who didst say in the Canticle of David thine ancestor: “I am appointed King over Sion, the holy mountain, that I “may preach the commandment of the Lord. The Lord hath said to me, that he will give me the Gentiles for mine inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for my possession. Now, therefore, O ye kings, understand: receive instruction, ye that judge the earth.” [Ps. ii. 6,8,10].

Thou wilt say, O Emmanuel! with thine own lips: All power is given to me in heaven and on earth [St. Matth, xxviii. 18], and a few years after, the whole earth will have received thy law. Even now Jerusalem is troubled; Herod is trembling on his throne; but the day is at hand when the heralds of thy coming will go through out the whole world, proclaiming that He, who was the Desired of nations [Agg. ii. 8], is come. The word that is to subject the earth to thee, will go forth [Ps. xviii. 5], and, like an immense fire, will stretch to the uttermost parts of the universe. In vain will the strong ones of this world attempt to arrest its course. An Emperor will propose to the Senate, as the only means of staying the progress of thy conquests, that thy Name be solemnly enrolled in the list of those gods, whom thou comest to destroy. Other Emperors will endeavour to abolish thy kingdom by the slaughter of thy soldiers But, all these efforts are vain. The day will come, when the Cross, the sign of thy power, will adorn the imperial banner; the Emperors will lay their crown at thy feet: and proud Rome will cease to be the Capital of the empire of this world’s strength and power, in order that she may become, for ever, the centre of thy peaceful and universal kingdom.

We already see the dawn of that glorious day. Thy conquests, O King of ages! begin with thine Epiphany. Thou callest, from the extreme parts of the unbelieving East, the first-fruits of that Gentile-world, which hitherto had not been thy people, and which is now to form thine inheritance. Henceforth, there is to be no distinction of Jew and Greek, of Barbarian and Scythian [Coloss. iii. 11]. Thou hast loved Man above Angel, for thou hast redeemed the one, whilst thou hast left the other in his fall. If thy predilection, for a long period of ages, was for the race of Abraham, henceforth thy preference is to be given to the Gentiles. Israel was but a single people; we are numerous as the sands of the sea, and the stars of the firmament [Gen. xxii. 17]. Israel was under the law of fear; thou hast reserved the law of love for us.

From this day of thy Manifestation, O divine King! begins thy separation from the Synagogue, which refuses thy love; and on this same Day, thou takest, in the person of the Magi, the Gentiles as thy Spouse. Thy union with her will soon be proclaimed from the Cross, when, turning thy face from the ungrateful Jerusalem, thou wilt stretch forth thy hands towards the nations of the Gentiles. O ineffable joy of thy Birth! but O still better joy of thine Epiphany, wherein we, the once disinherited, are permitted to approach to thee, offer thee our gifts, and see thee graciously accept them, O merciful Emmanuel!

Thanks be to thee, O Infant God, for that unspeakable gift [II. Cor. ix. 15] of Faith, which, as thy Apostle teaches us, hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into thy kingdom, making us parkers of the lot of the Saints in Light [Coloss. i. 12,13] Give us grace to grow in the knowledge of this thy Gift, and to understand the importance of this great Day, whereon thou makest alliance with the whole human race, which thou wouldst afterwards make thy Bride by espousing her. Oh! the Mystery of this Marriage Feast, dear Jesus! “A Marriage,” says one of thy Vicars on earth [Innocent the Third], “that was promised to the Patriarch Abraham, confirmed by oath to King David, accomplished in Mary when she became Mother, and consummated, confirmed, and declared, on this day; consummated in the adoration of the Magi, confirmed in the Baptism in the Jordan, and declared in the miracle of the water changed into wine.” On this Marriage-Feast,- where the Church, thy Spouse, already receives queenly honours - we will sing to thee, O Jesus! with all the fervour of our hearts, these words of to-day’s Office, which sweetly blend the Three Mysteries into one - that of thy Alliance with us.

1. https://liturgialatina.org/lityear/index.htm

2. https://liturgialatina.org/challoner/jan1.htm#6