Epiphany Homily

Merry Christmas to all of you and happy New Year. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. The word "epiphany" means manifestation and so what we celebrate today is our Lord's manifestation to the whole world. As we know and profess Christ is the Word made Flesh which means that He is God who now dwells among us. The shepherds were given this great news and now the magi too traveled to proclaim and give adoration at this most profound reality. As they journeyed they knew that the one who they sought was the Word made Flesh and thus the gifts that they brought with them proclaimed this profound reality to the world. They represent that the importance of the Christmas message was not made in private and thus extended only to a few, but instead that this message extended throughout the whole world as it continues to do to this day.

Through their three gifts they proclaim three realities which are true of Christ. The gift of gold proclaims Christ to be a king, the gift of incense was offered because He is God, and finally the gift of myrrh was given to acknowledge that He is the Savior would die on our behalf. The magi sacrificed a lot from their life to make this journey, and yet this sacrifice was most necessary for them to make because they knew that all the sacrifices in the world were worth the opportunity to fall in adoration to our Lord. The magi were educated men, after all, and therefore they knew of the coming of the savior and were able to interpret that all of history was pointing its way to this one moment in the course of time. With this they left all to follow the light of a star that brought them to the great light that shines forth from the darkness found within this world through Christ; who laid in a manger poor and defenseless, and yet still God made man.

Through the gift that is the Holy Eucharist we too are given the invitation to join with the magi who now look upon Christ. We are able to join with them in the joy of the Christmas message that now extends throughout the world each and every time that we look upon the Eucharist. Within the Holy Eucharist we too behold the Word which has taken on our human flesh; not in some manner of mere representation, but instead with the fact that what we behold is truly Christ's Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. As everything in the course of scripture and history points its way towards the coming of God taking on our human flesh, so to is the case with the Eucharist. Scripture and history points its way to the reality that the Eucharist is not mere bread and wine, but instead is truly Christ's Body and Blood. All the actions of the Mass point themselves towards the Eucharist which is the Word made Flesh and which is also the source and summit of our faith.

When we come to adore Christ who is present in the Eucharist, when we receive Him worthily, and when we allow ourself to center around Christ present in the Eucharist we too join in the magi's adoration of professing Him to be King, to be God, and to be the one who has come to take away the sin of the world. To demand that the action of asking those in the state serious sin or those from other faith traditions to refrain from receiving the Eucharist is unjust; is to miss the mark of understanding what the Eucharist truly is. The Eucharist is not something that we receive just because everyone else does, the Eucharist of course is not bread and wine that has been left unchanged, but instead the Eucharist is truly the Word made Flesh. Sin and the way that we live our life can and will put our relationship with Christ to death. We cannot simply allow this to be so, but instead we must come before the Word made Flesh contained in the Holy Eucharist to bring Him proper homage, adoration, and glory as the magi were able to give.

And so on this Epiphany Sunday where we celebrate Christ's manifestation to the whole world may we join with the magi in coming to understand who Christ truly is. May we come to this profound understanding of being able to proclaim Him as King, God, and Savior by the way that we approach the Eucharist. From the Council of Trent's Decree on the Eucharist we are told: "' (The Eucharist) is the same God whom the Magi fell down and worshiped, and finally, the same God whom the apostles adored in Galilee as Scripture says." May we truly take serious the Eucharist this day and always; that we may join with the magi in humble adoration each time we approach the Mass, each time we behold the Eucharist, and each time we receive our Lord into our heart and soul.