We celebrate today the Feast of the Epiphany – the feast in the Christmas season that recalls the visit of Magi, the Wise Men from the East, who are guided by a star to Bethlehem to lay gifts at the crib of the newborn King of the Jews.
But like all the feasts of the Church year, like all the celebrations of the saints, today’s feast is not in essence about the Wise Men, or the Christmas star that guided them. Epiphany is really about Christ and His Body, the Church.
On Epiphany, the Christmas season offers us yet another way to contemplate and celebrate the manifestation of God in the flesh. On Christmas Day, our focus was on the miracle of Christ’s birth – on the mystery of the Incarnation: God being born as a little baby.
Today, the Epiphany asks us to contemplate the Divinity of Christ. We focus on the fact that this tiny child is truly God: the mysterious power who brings about, and is at work in all of Creation. That’s the essential point we must appreciate to understand the real meaning of the Magi, and the star they follow.
First, the star: The Christmas season is truly a season of light. Amidst the dark of winter, we light candles and decorate a tree with lights, because at the beginning of Creation, the first thing made out of the darkness and nothingness, is light. And it is through Christ, and for Christ, the Babe of Bethlehem and Light of the World, that all things were created.
So too, the Star which moves across the sky and comes to rest over the manger proves that the stars, and the planets and the whole of the universe are not governed merely by laws of physics and matter. They are not themselves divine, as many in the ancient world thought, nor are they controlled by a cold and distant god as many believe today.
Rather, Christ is the origin of the cosmos, and the guiding force of creation is love: the love of God made flesh in Christ. This is what Dante meant when he wrote in the Paradiso that God is "the Love which moves the sun and the other stars."
Then, the Magi: They come not from the flock of Israel but from the Gentile nations in the East, and are the first fruits of Christ’s mission to save all peoples. Like the star they follow, the Magi prove by bringing gifts and worshiping Christ the King, that the infant Lord is the savior and ruler not of Israel only, not of one people or nation, but of all people and all nations.
Friends, what we really celebrate today on the Feast of the Epiphany is that the Christ-child, who is truly God and truly man, shows Himself to be the force that governs all the nations, and controls the entire universe – and what is more, He is not a force like strength or might, His force is love.
I said earlier that the Epiphany is also a feast of the Church. How so?
Our awareness of God’s loving Providence – His loving control over all things – is what supports the Church on its journey through history. Because there is no shadow, however dark, that can obscure the light of Christ – because there is no earthly ruler stronger than His love – we believers never lack hope, even in the face of sin, or suffering or persecution.
And so, in today's first reading, the prophet Isaiah says to Jerusalem: "Arise, shine – for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” As members of the Church, the New Jerusalem, you and I have the responsibility to bear Christ’s light to the world, and to witness to the reign of love Christ ushers in.
Like the moon which reflects the light of the sun, the Church realizes that its light and glory are not its own. Rather, its light is the reflected light of Christ. But this is precisely our joy, which no one can take from us: we are to be signs and instruments of Him who is the light of the world.
On this Feast of the Epiphany, and at the start of this new year, let us, like the Magi worship the newborn Lord and work to spread His light and His reign of love to all the ends of the earth.
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