Ruminations on the Epiphany and Its Impact on Our Spiritual Journey


The Feast of the Epiphany has arrived, as "Little Christmas" comes to a close.

By Fr. Leo Joseph Camurati, ISDA Chaplain

Fulton Sheen writes that the Magi, the Three Kings, returned home by another way as they were profoundly changed by having met Christ, that cooing child in a makeshift manger. We pass over it quickly, but the introduction is essential in any meeting. The Magi were led by a star, the shepherds were led by a troop of angels singing Gloria in excelsis Deo, John the Baptist leapt in the womb by the action of the Holy Spirit. Even Joseph needed a series of angelic dreams to contribute his part to the unfolding mystery.

This article first appeared in La Nostra Voce, ISDA’s monthly newspaper that chronicles Italian American history, culture and traditions. Subscribe today.

To meet Christ means nothing less than to be transformed by Him, but who can hope to meet Him if one has not been introduced to Him? The Feast of the Epiphany — intimately linked to Christmas Day itself — provides that introduction. But because this child is the Mighty God, the Son of the Most High, His introduction demands a proclamation.

This ought to challenge us, as our world is full of unwanted proclamations. The fast talkers at the end of advertisements covering all the questions and concerns raised by the legal team. The fine print on the bottom of a contract. The terms of an agreement to use software. The popups you click away when visiting a website. I would be surprised if more than three people have ever listened, had ever read, had ever followed any of these disclaimers, or “clarifications.”

Our world is full of proclamations because those who do the proclaiming seek security. They are trying to cover themselves, rather than trying to inform us. This can happen with the Gospel too, when a street preacher hits your train car at the end of a long day, or a televangelist proclaims a message out of obligation, or even a Dominican friar who might just be phoning it in that week. A proclamation can be more about covering the one speaking than in informing the one listening.

It is not so with the Epiphany, which means manifestation. It is not so with the Gospel, presented in its fullness, which means Good News. And it is not so for any holy preaching, for the root term of preaching means to praise and extol just as much as it means to announce. We who hope to pass on the Gospel pass on the life-giving message we ourselves have received, in the tone and tenor that we have received it, because it contains nothing less than the life-giving presence of Christ Himself.

To miss this point means to miss the message of the Gospel altogether. For when we hear Saint Paul speak of the stewardship of God’s grace, we know it derives more fundamentally from God’s revelation than from his own personal sincerity or understanding. And when we hear Saint Paul proclaim that the Gospel is meant for all nations, we must also understand that it is not something we could have thought up ourselves.

The Magi depart for their country by another way, writes Sheen, because they have been profoundly changed by having met Christ. They had not missed the point at this first manifestation of Christ’s identity. But this feast commemorates three manifestations, three proclamations of this Child’s identity. Do you remember the other two?

The second mystery we recall on the Feast of the Epiphany is Christ’s baptism in the Jordan, where the Father’s voice and the Spirit’s presence definitively signify His identity to John the Baptist. Christ did not undergo baptism for the forgiveness of His sins, He did not plunge into the Jordan to be made holy. Rather, in plunging He makes the waters holy, in plunging the Son reconciles sinners to the Father, in plunging He prepares us for his death, in plunging He prepares us to see Him rise from the tomb intact with all the yearning souls of the righteous in his train. And we miss the point if we forget that each of us has been personally baptized, personally immersed, into this mystery.

The third and final mystery we recall is Christ’s transformation of water into wine at the Wedding of Cana. For there, too, He showed those with eyes to see who He is. And at Mass this Epiphany, He invites us to see a still greater transformation, at a still greater banquet. No longer wine made miraculously from water, but something greater still. His own Blood, no longer wine, made present sacramentally and truly.

Sheen writes that the Magi, the Three Kings, return home by another way because they have been profoundly changed by having met Christ. We are invited to join them on this road, because Christ meets us each week at Mass and is proclaimed there.

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