SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD - 2020

INTRODUCTION

·       The readings show us the light and the darkness clashing, not in the sky we see with our eyes, but in our human heart.   

·       Darkness which prevent us to see and to adore God made a child, light that invites us to adore Him. 

·       Darkness that prevent us from discovering the presence of our incarnate God in every human being.  

·        This celebration is a good opportunity to look into our heart and discover in it our darkness and  our light, the light of God made a child. 

FIRST READING  – Is 60:1-6

« This passage is taken from the book of the Third Isaiah. It is full of optimism, joy and light. 

« The theme of light dominates the scene; the glory of God is the light that enlightens the city of Jerusalem.  

« The earth is covered with darkness, but the glory of God shines upon the earth.  

« This light is a lighthouse that leads the nations toward Jerusalem.  

« Look with joy, with overwhelming happiness all the nations come to you, the foreigners but also your children, those who were once dispersed, now return.   

« They will bring to you the wealth of the nations, caravans of camels bringing gold, incense and myrrh, and proclaiming the praises of God.   

« This invitation is addressed to each one of us  

o   Rise up, rise up from your comfort zone, from your inertia, your apathy, your being comfortable.

o   Look the light  is all around you in spite of the darkness

o   All that is human in you, your ability to love and to give yourself for love of others will come back to you, if you know how to discover in your life the light of God, his calling, his invitation to allow his silent presence inundate you. His presence can save you from all that is negative in you in which you find yourself so comfortable.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM   Psalm 72   

R.  Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
R Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts;
the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute.
All kings shall pay him homage,
all nations shall serve him.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

     This psalm is a prayer for a king.    

     The theme of justice is present in the petitions for the king, so he will be able to govern with equity. 

SECOND READING  – LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

Ø  The letter to the Ephesians, together with the letters to the Colossians, to the Philippians, and to Philemon, belongs to the group of the Captivity Letters. 

Ø  For those authors who believe that the letter was written by Paul himself, the date of the letter has to be before his death, before 67.

Ø  For those who think it was written by another person, probably a disciple of Paul, the date may be around the 70’s. 

Ø  This letter has many themes that we find also in the letter to the Colossians. 

Ø  It is a doctrinal and theological letter.  

Ø  The first part (ch.1-3) is dedicated to the Church, which has been prepared from eternity by God. There has been a progressive revelation whose culminating point is the Incarnation of the Word of God.  

Ø  In the second part, what has been said in the first about the Church is applied to the behavior of the individual Christian.

EPHESIANS 3:2-3a; 5-6

Ø  The author says that the mystery hidden in God has been revealed to him, and he announces it to us through his preaching.   . 

Ø  This mystery has been revealed to the Apostles by the Spirit. 

Ø  The mystery hidden in God and revealed now is 

o   that through the Good News, the Gospel, the gentiles are coheirs, copartners   in Christ Jesus

and members of the same body. 

GOSPEL-  Matthew 2:1-12

v In this beautiful page Matthew  describes a scene that has fascinated the believers of all times.  

v Let us not only allow the child which is in each one of us to rejoice before the “Magi” 

v Let us do more, let this child convert the tired adult that is in us. 

v Today I would like that together we meditate on our own vocation:

o    Let us begin with the Magi but at the same time let us be thinking on our own life. I hope it is going to be a beautiful experience for all. 

o   The work of these men, which sometimes are called wise men,   was to observe the celestial bodies and learn from them. It was a common belief that what was happening in the sky had to do with what was happening on the earth.     

o   In their work, they discovered a very beautiful celestial body, which we have called a star, a comet… This star has a special attraction and they are moved to follow it. Maybe they had heard the Jewish people living among them that a star would announce the birth of the king

o   They prepare everything for the journey in search of the King. They do not know how long will this journey be… they do not know the way, they did not have GPS like us… they do not know if they will reach their destination… if they will find the king they seek… but they start their journey following the star.    

o   When they arrive in Jerusalem, something they did not expect happened, the star disappeared… and now what? Maybe we were wrong; maybe we have chosen the wrong way…. 

o   They seek advice from those who can help them. These advisers are not honest, not even interested in the king, they even fear the existence of a king, but they know where to find the information: the Scriptures. The king will be born in Bethlehem.   

o   The  Magi leave Herod’s palace, the star was there waiting for them. They follow it and they find the child, a child like any other child with his mother. Jesus might have been 2 years old by that time. In this scene so normal and so ordinary, they recognize in this child the king they are seeking.  

o   Let us turn to our own life. We have been called to live and to accomplish a mission. Our universal mission, the mission of all of us, is to love one another as brothers and sisters and in so doing love our Creator and Father.    

o   Like the Magi, one day we saw a “star” something that called our attention, something we usually call “vocation”: she is the woman of my life, he is the man of my life, I want to serve my brothers and sisters especially those most in need, I want to be a missionary, I want to be a priest to serve the community….  

o   Like the Magi, we begin our journey without knowing the way, the end of the road, not even what waits for us at the end of our life journey. 

o   Many, who have dreamed to be missionaries going to faraway countries, had to learn to be missionaries in rich countries; others that dreamed of a large family with many children have only one or none; the love of my life seems to have changed, I thought that the priesthood was something different more rewarding…  

o   If, like the Magi, we seek help from those who know and we persevere on the journey with hope, like them, our “star” will shine again in the horizon of our life.  

o   The joy and peace that filled the Magi will certainly fill us.  

CLARETIAN CORNER

MARÍA ANTONIA PARÍS After a long  deliberation of the directors of Antonia and of Florentina Seingler, […]they counsel  them to leave. Florentina and Maria Antonia left the convent on January 28, 1851 and thus began a new period in their lives, characterized by silence and prayer, living almost as religious sisters in Tarragona, in the house of Canon Bofarrull.  They remained there almost one year. During this time three other young women joined them.   On August 15, 1851 the five of them made the Vow of Tarragona, charismatic beginnings of the new Order:  Day of the Assumption of Mary most holy. I gather the young ladies I had admitted as companions with a great devotion and fervor , offering ourselves to God by a vow of crossing the seas and [going] to any part of the world without dividing the group, nor deviating  away from the opinion of our superior in anything. Since I had at that time no other superior than my confessor, we offered  the vow to our Lord after  Holy Communion with the intention to ratify it in the afternoon of the same day in the hands or presence  of the most Rev. Dr. Jose Caixal – my confessor and the confessor of the others as well. As we promised in the morning, we did it in the afternoon in the presence of Dr. Caixal and  after we made the vow and offered ourselves to suffer any kind of trial for love of our Lord Jesus Christ, the confessor gave us a talk so fervent  telling us such things that have been very profitable for us in so many tribulations which came to us.

SAINT ANTHONY MARY CLARET -  He receives the nomination as Archbishop of Cuba on August 11, 1849; at first he does not want to accept it. In substance he feels a deep incompatibility between being a missionary and the way to fulfill  the ministry as a bishop on his time. To be an Archbishop at that moment was considered to be an honor, and the work had a bureaucratic nature, which seemed to be in contradiction with his vocation as an Apostolic Missionary. […]He was at the beginning of his forth visitation when he received the nomination from the Queen Isabel II to be her confessor.  In this new mission, Claret will have the opportunity to accomplish greater apostolic plans: his worries for the Church at the national level and even at the universal level.  He imposes three conditions on the Queen before accepting his nomination, which she agrees with: that he will not have to deal with politics; that after fulfilling his duties in [the] palace he will have free time for his own works; that he will not have to lose his time waiting when he goes to [the] palace...

     (Both quotations taken from chapter 1 of the book Two Pens Guided by the Same Spirit.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 MUÑOZ, Hortensia and TUTZO, Regina. Two Pens Guided by the Same Spirit. 2010

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso, La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo.

STOCK, Klemens, sj. La Liturgia de la Palabra – Ciclo  A 2001.

SAGRADA BIBLIA, Versión Oficial de la Conferencia Episcopal Española.