THE WORD
FIRST READING
Is 60: 1–6
Arise! Shine, for your light has come, the glory of the LORD has dawned upon you. Though darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds, the peoples, upon you the LORD will dawn, and over you his glory will be seen. Nations shall walk by your light, kings by the radiance of your dawning.
Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you—Your sons from afar, your daughters in the arms of their nurses.
Then you shall see and be radiant, your heart shall throb and overflow. For the riches of the sea shall be poured out before you, the wealth of nations shall come to you. Caravans of camels shall cover you, dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; All from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and heralding the praises of the LORD.
SECOND READING
Eph 3: 2–3.5-6
If, as I suppose, you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for your benefit, [namely, that] the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly earlier.
Which was not made known to human beings in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
GOSPEL READING
Mt 2: 1–12
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet:
‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.”
After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.
IN OTHER WORDS
The church celebrates today the Epiphany, “the manifestation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, son of God and Savior of the world”, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it. From this alone, we’d get the idea that this feast is a “heavy weight”.
Furthermore, the Greek word epiphany was used to refer to “the splendid appearance of a wealthy city”, or more commonly to the “spectacular appearance of a hidden divinity”. And I think this nuance of the word Epiphany puts some glitz and glamour to this already heavyweight feast.
And then we have the rst reading which speaks of Isaiah’s breathtaking vision of the Light and the Glory of the Lord rising upon Zion, attracting nations and kings and even camels to come streaming toward her.
Now, if we put all these together then we would have an irresistibly beautiful, spectacularly glamorous, heavyweight feast. But the Gospel tones it down a little bit. By all means it does not take away its beauty; Matthew puts together the image of a star and a little child in a manger, which is not only beautiful but also tender. But then he adds a very sober reminder for us all: the Epiphany of God is a tender, irresistibly beautiful, spectacularly glamorous, heavyweight event for SOME, but not for OTHERS. So that really this feast challenges rather than pampers…
I saw an interview of a champion Mixed Martial Artist once. He was asked what the hardest part of being a champion was. And he replied, “People see the shiny belt around my waist, they hear the accolades I receive everywhere, they read about how much money I have in the bank… the most diffi cult part is that which people do not normally see, and that is the sweat, the blood and the tears that I paint the gym with every day”.
Epiphany rhymes with shiny. And traditionally the magi look shiny and even kingly. But everybody needs to see, that before they got to where they needed to be, they had to study the skies night and day. And to nally see the “baby”, they had to spend time, money and energy. Epiphany is indeed shiny. But to be able to bathe in its beauty, one would have to be willing to get down and dirty.
- Fr. Dante Barril, SVD | Rome, Italy
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
