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Here are some beautiful excerpts from Pope Benedict XVI related to Sunday’s upcoming feast.
HOMILY – Epiphany, 2006
Dear Brothers and Sisters, The light that shone in the night at Christmas illuminating the Bethlehem Grotto, where Mary, Joseph and the shepherds remained in silent adoration, shines out today and is manifested to all. The Epiphany is a mystery of light, symbolically suggested by the star that guided the Magi on their journey. The true source of light, however, the “sun that rises from on high” (see Lk 1: 78), is Christ.
ANGELUS – Epiphany, 2007
Today’s Solemnity of the Epiphany celebrates the manifestation of Christ to the Magi….guided by a “star,” a luminous, heavenly phenomenon which they interpreted as a sign of the birth of a new king of the Jews.
They departed in that direction and followed it until it stopped over a poor dwelling. They entered and found the Baby with Mary; they prostrated before him and, in homage of his royal dignity, they offered him gold, frankincense and myrrh.
If Mary, Joseph and the shepherds of Bethlehem therefore represent the people of Israel who have welcomed the Lord, the Magi instead are the first of the peoples, also called to be part of the Church, the new People of God established, no longer on ethnic, linguistic or cultural homogeneity, but uniquely on the common faith in Jesus, Son of God.
The Epiphany of Christ, therefore, is at the same time the epiphany of the Church, the manifestation of her universal vocation and mission….Now we invoke the Virgin Mary, Star of Evangelization: through her intercession may Christians in every part of the earth live as sons of the light and lead humanity to Christ, true light of the world.
ANGELUS – Epiphany, 2008
Men and women of every generation need on their pilgrim journey to be directed: what star can we therefore follow? After coming to rest “over the place where the child was” (Mt 2: 9), the purpose of the star that guided the Magi ended, but its spiritual light is always present in the Word of the Gospel, which is still able today to guide every person to Jesus….How important it is that we Christians are faithful to our vocation! Every authentic believer is always traveling his own personal itinerary of faith, and at the same time, with the little light that he carries within himself, can and must be a help to those alongside him, and even help the one for whom finding the way that leads to Christ is difficult.
Blessings,
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