OMELIE / Omelie EN

06 gen 2024

06/01/2023 – The Epiphany of the Lord

06/01/2023 – The Epiphany of the Lord

Reading 1 IS 60,1-6 Psalm 71 Reading 2 EPH 3,2-3.5-6 Gospel MT 2,1-12

Missions Day for young people

The prophet Isaiah is talking about light, a light which is shining through the darkness of the world, a light coming from above to show the beauty and the greatness of God. “Darkness covers the earth”, but “upon you the Lord shines”! That light is so surprising that it attracts the attention of faraway peoples, and not only the attention, but also their faithfulness and adoration. The pagan peoples recognise that light as God’s, so they come with the offers of their sacrifices, symbolised by the gold and the frankincense.

The Gospel is telling about an event which makes the prophet’s song concrete and real. The light is the star which guides the men to the Child in His Mother’s arms, it lightens up His dwelling and it highlights His presence. The pagan peoples are represented by the three kings, guided by that star which fills them with hope and joy through its light. The darkness is the hate and the fear of Herod and the horror he created for the citizens of Jerusalem. The gold and frankincense of the peoples, the gifts brought to the Baby Jesus by the three kings, are gifts with many meanings. The evangelist does not tell us which ones, letting us use creativity, love and effort to devise them. They are therefore like the parables told in many different occasions by Jesus: occasions to develop love to match God’s. Gold, frankincense and myrrh fill the treasures carried by those men who set out on their travels; they have followed their discoveries we could find untrue. But their intentions were serious, their desire inspired by God, their effort unbound. God has guided them on that path which would have allowed them to cross the other, the one about reading the Sacred Scriptures. To the latter they arrived thanks to a power-hungry man worried only about himself, Herod, and they reached it despite his sin.

The event related in the Gospel of today’s feast is very rich in teachings, for us and for our presence in the world. This is called “manifestation” of the Lord: Jesus, without doing anything and without saying anything, is recognised in His divine royalty by men from the furthest peoples. These know how to become small enough to adore a Baby in His Mother’s arms after having followed the light of a star and the words of Scriptures which are not known to them. As soon as they have enjoyed the joy of meeting Him, they also have a taste of the cross He will have to carry in His life since the very beginning.

What are the teachings for us?

First of all, that Jesus is worth being looked for with all the efforts we can master; however, by ourselves we will not be able to reach Him without help from others.

The creation is driving us to Him, but we reach Him only through the Scriptures: they are the Guide we cannot do without.

The Scriptures retain their importance of Word of God even if they are related by sinful men who do not want to follow them themselves.

Our treasures will gain value when they are entrusted to Jesus’s hands.

Gold in our possession is a source of envy and prevarication, violence and death; in Jesus’s hands is a gift and a sign of love. The frankincense and the myrrh, symbols of human honours and glory, find their meaning when they are used by Jesus.

They who meet Jesus need to know they can find Him in a woman’s arms, His Mother. The woman’s dignity is not in the fact she is a woman and not a man, but in the fact that she is able to offer the Child who saves the world.

They who adore Jesus do not have to expect benefits in this world, not health nor big honours: they who adore the Child are preparing to carry the cross with Him, starting with keeping hidden from the great and rich people on earth, in order not to become complicit in the animosity towards the one they have adored.

Saint Paul, writing to the Ephesians, is helping us to appreciate the immense gift given us with Jesus’s revelation: it is the mystery establishing the communion with one another because we are one body and we enjoy the Father’s love. Those who are born outside the Christian environment can appreciate this gift much better than those who have always lived in the Church. They who have not known love, can appreciate the announcement of the Father’s love in Jesus much more than those who have always lived it. The latter, due to habit, take it for granted. To know the Father loves us, and to know it for sure thanks to Jesus, is the light and the strength which allow us to feel brothers and friends of one another. Let us then run towards the Child: for us too there are a star to attract us and a Word to guide us in the journey!