JANUARY 06, 2013 : SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD

Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord
Lectionary: 20

Reading 1 Is 60:1-6

Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come,
the glory of the Lord shines upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth,
and thick clouds cover the peoples;
but upon you the LORD shines,
and over you appears his glory.
Nations shall walk by your light,
and kings by your shining radiance.
Raise your eyes and look about;
they all gather and come to you:
your sons come from afar,
and your daughters in the arms of their nurses.

Then you shall be radiant at what you see,
your heart shall throb and overflow,
for the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you,
the wealth of nations shall be brought to you.
Caravans of camels shall fill you,
dromedaries from Midian and Ephah;
all from Sheba shall come
bearing gold and frankincense,
and proclaiming the praises of the LORD.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13.

R. (cf. 11) 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.

Second Reading Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6

Brothers and sisters:
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.
It was not made known to people 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 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 Christ 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.

www.usccb.org

Scripture Study

January 6, 2013 Epiphany of the Lord

While most of the Church celebrates the Epiphany of the Lord on Jan. 6, we in the United States celebrate it today. The feast of the Epiphany was one of the original forms in which the Christian people celebrated the incarnation of Christ. It has been celebrated much longer than Christmas and in many parts of the world it is still a bigger celebration than Christmas. Epiphany means manifestation or showing forth. In this action of the Lord showing Himself to the Gentiles, the church sees an invitation to all the nations and peoples of the earth to come out of the darkness of sin and fear in which they have been and to step into the wonderful light of Christ. There, in company with the wise men of old, all the nations of the earth will praise the love and glory of the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord.

NOTES on First Reading:

The Church sees the symbols of her universality in these verses.

* 60:1-3 These three verses form a song of introduction to the procession of all parts of the world to Zion for the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. The song opens with a double imperative. The song concentrates on God's radiating dazzling presence within the city. The word, "glory", as a noun or adjective is used nine times in this chapter.

* 60:4-9 In this section all of the nations come to Jerusalem not simply to receive instruction at the Lord's Temple as in Isa 2:2-4; Mic 4:1-3 but to rebuild the city. Isa 49:18;22 are quoted almost verbatim.

* 60:6 Nations from the Arabian peninsula associated with Abraham and the earliest ancestral days of Israel now will return to participate in the rebuilding. One day all nations will become God's children through faith. Matt 2:1-12 weaves these themes into his narrative of the visit by the wise men. See: Gen 25:1-4; 13-15; 28:9;36:3; Jer 6:20; Ezek 27:21; Rom 4:17.

NOTES on Second Reading:

* 3:1-6 Here the writer portrays himself as the revealer of the mystery of Christ and reflects on his mission to the Gentiles. Paul's special insight is that Gentiles have a place of full participation in the Church. In verse 1 Paul refers to himself as a prisoner for Christ and then leaves an incomplete sentence in the Greek never getting back to this thought.

* 3:2 Writer assumes that the hearers or readers have already heard what he is about to remind them of.

* 3b-4 This portion of the text [marked in brackets above] is not included in the official reading but is included here for completeness.

* 3:5 Here the writer refers to the church being founded on the apostles and prophets.

* 3:6 The use of three nouns combined with the prefix, "SYN", "together", highlights the equality of the Jews and Gentiles in the new people of God, the Church.

NOTES on Gospel:

* 2:1 The birth of Jesus is immediately put into relationship with the wider world and the political and social realities of that world. Israel's future rejection of Jesus and his acceptance by the Gentiles are foreshadowed in this scene.

Herod the Great was a vassal king (rex socius) under the Roman Emperor and reigned at the pleasure of the emperor from 37 to 4 BC. See Luke 1:5. The events related of Herod here in Mat 2 are not attested in other documents but are quite in keeping with what is known of Herod's character.

The word, Magi, was originally a designation for the Persian priestly caste and refers to a class of wise men associated in varying degrees with astrology, interpretation of dreams and with magic. Kings were not generally included in this group. The notion that the wise men were kings was derived in later Christian tradition from the influence of the literal interpretation of Ps 72:10; Isa 49:7; 60:10. The number of wise men is inferred from the three gifts. The wise men have always been seen as representatives of the Gentile world who come to Christ.

* 2:2 Here Jesus is ascribed a royal title. In the ancient world it was a common belief that a new star appeared at the time of a ruler's birth. This also calls to mind the story of Balaam, who had prophesied that "A star shall advance from Jacob", Numbers 24:17. There however the star means the king himself not an astronomical phenomenon.

* 2:3-4 This parallels an extra biblical Jewish legend about the child Moses in which the "sacred scribes" warn Pharaoh about the imminent birth of one who will deliver Israel from Egypt and the king makes plans to destroy him.

* 2:5 The tiny town of Bethlehem, the city of the humble King David is contrasted with the splendor of Jerusalem the royal capitol.

* 2:6 In spite of this prophecy from Micah 5:2 (or 5:3 in some translations) there does not seem to have been any popular expectation that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. See John 7:42. Matthew changes the original quotation from "clans of Judah" to "rulers of Judah" in order to make the messianic point more strongly. He also adds "who will shepherd my people, Israel" from 2 Sam 5:2; 1 Chron 11:2.

* 2:11 The list of gifts is influenced by Isa 60:6, 11,13; and Ps 72:10-11. In later tradition, the gold came to symbolize the kingship of Christ, the incense His Divinity and myrrh His redemptive suffering.

www.st-raymond-dublin.org

Meditation:"They fell down and worshiped Jesus"

 If Jesus truly is who he claims to be, the eternal Son of God and Savior of the world, then why is he not recognized by everyone who hears his word and sees his works? John the Evangelist states that when Jesus came into the world the world knew him not and his own people received him not (John 1:10-11). Jesus was born in obscurity. Only the lowly shepherds recognized him at his birth. Some wise men also found their way to Bethlehem to pay homage to the newborn King of Israel. These men were not Israelites, but foreigners. They likely had read and discussed the Messianic prophecies and were anxious to see when this Messianic King would appear. God led them by means of an extraordinary star across the desert to the little town of Bethlehem where Jesus was born.

John Chrysostom (347-407), in his homily on this passage from Matthew 2, explains the significance of the star of Bethlehem:

"Note how fitting was the order of events: the wise men saw the star, were received by the Jews and their king; they heard prophecy to explain what had appeared; the angel instructed them; and then they journeyed from Jerusalem to Bethlehem by the guidance of the star. From all this we learn that this was not an ordinary star, for no other star has this capacity to guide, not merely to move but to beckon, to “go before them,” drawing and guiding them along their way. The star remained after bringing them to the place, in order that the child might also be seen. For there is nothing conspicuous about the place. The inn was ordinary. The mother was not celebrated or notable. The star was needed to manifest and illumine the lowly place, until they had reached their destination at the manger." [The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 7:3]

In their thirst for knowledge of God, the wise men from the East willingly left everything, their home and country, in pursuit of that quest. In their diligent search they were led to the source of true knowledge – to Jesus Christ, the Light and Wisdom of God. When they found the newborn King they humbly worshiped him and gave him gifts fitting for a king. How could they recognize this infant as both divine and a human king - born of flesh yet sent from heaven? The early church fathers taught that only divine revelation could open the minds and hearts of people to recognize and receive Christ as their King and Savior. Chromatius (died 406 or 407), a contemporary bishop and friend of Ambrose, Jerome, and John Chrysostom, wrote:

Let us now observe how glorious was the dignity that attended the King after his birth, after the magi in their journey remained obedient to the star. For immediately the magi fell to their knees and adored the one born as Lord. There in his very cradle they venerated him with offerings of gifts, though Jesus was merely a whimpering infant. They perceived one thing with the eyes of their bodies but another with the eyes of the mind. The lowliness of the body he assumed was discerned, but the glory of his divinity is now made manifest. A boy he is, but it is God who is adored. How inexpressible is the mystery of his divine honor! The invisible and eternal nature did not hesitate to take on the weaknesses of the flesh on our behalf. The Son of God, who is God of the universe, is born a human being in the flesh. He permits himself to be placed in a manger, and the heavens are within the manger. He is kept in a cradle, a cradle that the world cannot hold. He is heard in the voice of a crying infant. This is the same one for whose voice the whole world would tremble in the hour of his passion. Thus he is the One, the God of glory and the Lord of majesty, whom as a tiny infant the magi recognize. It is he who while a child was truly God and King eternal. To him Isaiah pointed, saying, “For a boy has been born to you; a son has been given to you, a son whose empire has been forged on his shoulders (Isaiah 9:6).” [Tractate on Matthew, 5:1]

The Lord of the universe who revealed the star of Bethlehem to the Gentiles of the East so they could come and worship Jesus, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) and King of Kings (Revelations 19:16), gives each one of us the same light of revelation to recognize and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to us. It is through the help of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and opens the eyes of the mind, that we are able to understand, accept, and believe the truth which God has revealed to us through his Son, Jesus Christ. In faith, the human will and intellect cooperate with grace. "Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace" (Thomas Aquinas).

To know and to encounter Jesus Christ is to know God personally. In the encounter of the wise men with Jesus we see the plan of God to give his only Son as King and Savior, not just for the Jewish people but for all the nations as well. The Lord Jesus came that both Jew and Gentile might find true and lasting peace with God.  Let us pray today that Jew and Gentile alike will find the Lord and Savior on their journey of life. Do you bring the light of Jesus Christ to those you meet through the witness of your life and testimony?

"Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for bringing salvation to all the nations. May the gospel of salvation be proclaimed to every nation today and to every person on the face of the earth.  Help me to be a good witness of the joy of the gospel to all I meet."

www.dailyscripture.net

SUNDAY, JANUARY 6
SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
MATTHEW 2:1-12
(Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72; Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6)
KEY VERSE: "We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage" (v 2).
READING: Matthew wrote his gospel to a Jewish audience to show that Jesus was the fulfillment of their longings for a Messiah (see genealogy, Mt 1:1-17). He also wanted to show that God's salvation would reach "to the end of the earth" (Is 49:6). Matthew communicated this intention by having gentiles (Greek, ethnos) coming to visit the Holy Family in Bethlehem. These "wise men" (Greek: magoi) are thought to have been astrologers of the Zoroastrian religion. They believed that a new star signaled the birth of a ruler. They followed the star to Jerusalem where they asked King Herod the Great where they could find the newborn king of the Jews because they "observed his star at its rising" (Nm 24:17). Herod's advisors told him that the prophet Micah foretold the birth of a Messiah in Bethlehem, the birthplace of David where he was also anointed king (Mi 5:2). Fearing that this child would be a threat to his throne, Herod sent the magi to search for the newborn king on the pretence of offering him homage. The star illuminated the way to the Christ child and Mary his mother. The magi offered Jesus gifts that signified his kingship (gold), priesthood (frankincense) and his saving death (myrrh, used in anointing a body). The magi were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, so they returned to their country "by another way" (v 12). We are all invited to discover the Lord through the different journeys of faith we undertake; however, after encountering Christ we cannot return to our old ways. We must travel in a different direction--the path that leads to Jesus.
REFLECTING: What are the gifts that I can offer the Lord?
PRAYING: Lord Jesus, help me to have the wisdom to seek you in all I do.

NOTE: The word "epiphany" means a manifestation or an appearance of a supernatural being. Because the magi brought three gifts, legend made them "three kings," and they were given the names of Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.

www.daily-word-of-life.com

Lord, every nation on earth will adore you

 At this sight you will grow radiant ...
Our readings today are closely linked and also tell our own stories. The journey of the Magi is our journey with its ups and downs, as T.S. Eliot describes in his poem. Like the Magi, we are searching, and listening, meeting people who are different from us, people who enrich our lives with their presence as we travel together. Heaven is awaiting us all as we share the road with those we may call ‘pagans’ in the same way as the Ephesians did. God is God.

Isaiah and the psalmist remind us to lift up our eyes and see that even in the midst of our darkness the light has come. Jesus is with us. When we listen and allow goodness to flourish, universal peace will come and we will rejoice. Amen.

www.churchresources.info

The Epiphany Revealed!

Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio 

This commentary on the Feast of the Epiphany uncovers the meaning of the term epiphany and explains why the Magi -- Caspar, Balthasar, Melchior, the three kings of Orient -- are found, complete with crowns and camels, in every nativity scene.

Caspar, Balthasar, Melchior.  These “three kings of Orient are” found, complete with crowns and camels, in every nativity scene.

Yet if you look closely at the gospel account of the Magi (Mat 2:1-12), you won’t find these names. Actually there is no mention of how many Magi there were or that they were kings riding camel-back.

This is a testimony to something some Bible Christians would like to deny: that all who read a text of Scripture do so in the light of some tradition, through some lens.  If it is the right lens, it magnifies the text and allows us to get at its true meaning.  If it is the wrong lens, we get a distorted image.

It just so happens that the lens the Catholic tradition uses to read the story flows from Scripture itself–to be precise, it flows from the connection between holy words written hundreds of years apart.  But despite the many years and different human authors, the texts were inspired by the same Divine Author, the Holy Spirit.  In chapter 60 of Isaiah (Is 60:1-6), it is predicted that at a time of darkness, the glory of the Lord will shine over Jerusalem.  The heavenly light will be a beacon to the pagan nations and even to their kings.  Here we find mention of camels whose job it will be to bring the wealth of these nations, including frankincense and gold, to the city of the Lord.  Psalm 72 agrees that far off kings will bring gifts to the Son of David.

The tradition of the Church has always seen the story of the Magi as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and Psalm 72. Hence the crowns and camels.

But hold on.  Isaiah 60 mentions only two of the gifts mentioned by Matthew: gold, fit for a king, and frankincense, for the worship of God.  So what about the myrrh–where does that come from and what does it mean?

Myrrh, an aromatic resin, was used in preparing the dead for burial.  Gold reveals that the babe in the manger is actually a king; frankincense tells us that is he God incarnate; myrrh tells us that he has come to die.  That someone would redeem God’s people through suffering and death was foretold by Isaiah a few chapters earlier (Is 53).  This was the really hard thing for those living in Jesus’ time to comprehend–that the same person who fulfilled all those prophecies about a glorious new king also fulfilled the prophecies about a suffering servant.

All three gifts of the Magi are necessary to convey the true revelation, the true epiphany of who this child is and what he is destined to do.  That’s why for hundred’s of years we’ve sung of three kings, not two or four.

OK, so where did the names of the three come from?

The ancient feast of the Epiphany actually celebrates three events, tied together by the meaning of the word epiphany as “appearance” or “manifestation.”   Jesus suddenly appears as who He really is–messiah and God–to the Magi, at Cana when he works his first miracle, and when he is baptized in the Jordan.  In the early Church, Epiphany was therefore second only to Easter vigil as the time to celebrate the sacrament of baptism.  Blessed water from those baptisms were used to bless the dwellings of the faithful, and it became customary to write over the doorposts of blessed homes “C+B+M” meaning “Christ blesses this house (Christus bendicat mansionem).”  Since the three kings were also remembered at the same time, someone decided to give them names, and to use CBM as their initials–Caspar, Balthasar, and Melchior.  The names stuck.

But the fact that Matthew gives them no names is telling.  They may be kings, but in this story they are merely supporting actors.  They follow the true Star, the King of Kings. Only His name is important.  Epiphany is not about the Magi–it’s all about Jesus.

January 6
St. André Bessette
(1845-1937)

Brother André (1920)

Brother André expressed a saint’s faith by a lifelong devotion to St. Joseph.

Sickness and weakness dogged André from birth. He was the eighth of 12 children born to a French Canadian couple near Montreal. Adopted at 12, when both parents had died, he became a farmhand. Various trades followed: shoemaker, baker, blacksmith—all failures. He was a factory worker in the United States during the boom times of the Civil War.

At 25, he applied for entrance into the Congregation of the Holy Cross. After a year’s novitiate, he was not admitted because of his weak health. But with an extension and the urging of Bishop Bourget (see Marie-Rose Durocher, October 6), he was finally received. He was given the humble job of doorkeeper at Notre Dame College in Montreal, with additional duties as sacristan, laundry worker and messenger. “When I joined this community, the superiors showed me the door, and I remained 40 years,” he said. 

In his little room near the door, he spent much of the night on his knees. On his windowsill, facing Mount Royal, was a small statue of St. Joseph, to whom he had been devoted since childhood. When asked about it he said, “Some day, St. Joseph is going to be honored in a very special way on Mount Royal!”

When he heard someone was ill, he visited to bring cheer and to pray with the sick person. He would rub the sick person lightly with oil taken from a lamp burning in the college chapel. Word of healing powers began to spread.

When an epidemic broke out at a nearby college, André volunteered to nurse. Not one person died. The trickle of sick people to his door became a flood. His superiors were uneasy; diocesan authorities were suspicious; doctors called him a quack. “I do not cure,” he said again and again. “St. Joseph cures.” In the end he needed four secretaries to handle the 80,000 letters he received each year.

For many years the Holy Cross authorities had tried to buy land on Mount Royal. Brother André and others climbed the steep hill and planted medals of St. Joseph. Suddenly, the owners yielded. André collected 200 dollars to build a small chapel and began receiving visitors there—smiling through long hours of listening, applying St. Joseph’s oil. Some were cured, some not. The pile of crutches, canes and braces grew.

The chapel also grew. By 1931 there were gleaming walls, but money ran out. “Put a statue of St. Joseph in the middle. If he wants a roof over his head, he’ll get it.” The magnificent Oratory on Mount Royal took 50 years to build. The sickly boy who could not hold a job died at 92.

He is buried at the Oratory. He was beatified in 1982 and canonized in 2010. At his canonization in October 2010, Pope Benedict XVI said that St. Andre "lived the beatitude of the pure of heart."

Comment:

Rubbing ailing limbs with oil or a medal? Planting a medal to buy land? Isn’t this superstition? Aren’t we long past that?

Superstitious people rely only on the “magic” of a word or action. Brother André’s oil and medals were authentic sacramentals of a simple, total faith in the Father who lets his saints help him bless his children.

Quote:

“It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the most exquisitely beautiful pictures,” said St. André Bessette.

www.americancatholic.org

LECTIO: EPIPHANY OF THE LORD

 

Lectio: 

 Sunday, January 6, 2013  

Visit of the Kings from the East
Matthew 2,1-12 

1. In silence before God

The prayerful listening to the Word demands attention, it demands that your listening be oriented to God alone with all the availability of which your heart is capable. The quality of prayer depends very much on the attention that we give it. It has been said that attention is “the essence of prayer”. If your search for God is sincere, honest, correct, you will be able to find God. Today, on this Sunday in which the Lord is manifested as the light of humanity, we want to ask the Lord for “the passion to listen to him” with the words of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity: “Oh Eternal Word, Word of my God, I want to spend my life listening to you, I want to be completely docile to learn everything from you. Then throughout every night, every voidance, every powerlessness, I always want to be fixed on you and remain under your great light” (Elevation to the Holy Trinity, November 21, 1904).

2. The Word is enlightened

a) The context of the passage:
If in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew the intention of the Evangelist is to show the identity of Jesus (Who Jesus is), in the second chapter the mystery of the person of Jesus is joined to some places which indicate the beginning of his earthly life.
The liturgical passage of this Sunday forms the beginning of Chapter 2 in Matthew’s Gospel (2, 1-29) which is followed by three other narratives: the flight to Egypt (2, 13-15); the massacre of the Innocents (2, 16-18) and the return from Egypt (2, 19-23).
For a better understanding of the message in “, 1-13, it is more profitable to subdivide the account of the Magi into two parts following the criterion of the change of places: Jerusalem (2, 1-6) and Bethlehem (2, 7-12). It is to be noted that in the centre of the story of the Magi we find a Biblical quotation which focuses the importance of Bethlehem in the time of the infancy of Jesus: “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are by no means the least among the leaders of Judah, for from you will come a leader who will shepherd my people, Israel” (Mt 2, 16).
The two cities constitute the background of this adventure of the Magi and united by two threads of the theme: the star (vv. 2.7.9.10) and the adoration of the Child (vv.2.11).

b) Text:

After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of King Herod, suddenly some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east asking, 'Where is the infant king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.' When King Herod heard this he was perturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. He called together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, and enquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They told him, 'At Bethlehem in Judaea, for this is what the prophet wrote: And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are by no means the least among the leaders of Judah, for from you will come a leader who will shepherd my people Israel.' Then Herod summoned the wise men to see him privately. He asked them the exact date on which the star had appeared and sent them on to Bethlehem with the words, 'Go and find out all about the child, and when you have found him, let me know, so that I too may go and do him homage.' Having listened to what the king had to say, they set out. And suddenly the star they had seen rising went forward and halted over the place where the child was. The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. But they were given a warning in a dream not to go back to Herod, and returned to their own country by a different way.

3. In silence before God

Place yourself before God with simplicity, submerged in a profound interior silence; leave aside every type of curiosity, of thought and imagination; open your heart to the force of the Word of God.

4. For an attentive reading

a) The symbolism of the star:

The Magi, Oriental Astrologists, dedicated to astrological sciences and to predict destiny or the future, frequently questioned the celestial bodies. Now when they reached Jerusalem, they say that they “have seen his star arising”. The word “arising”, in Greek anatolê, means, without the article, the Orient or East (the cardinal point where the sun rises); but in the Greek text there is the article and this means the rising of a true and real celestial body. This is confirmed by a Biblical text: “A star is emerging from Jacob, a sceptre is rising from Israel” (Num 24, 17). The star becomes the figure of the new king who has just been born and guides them to the place where he is born and is found. It is interesting to note that this star is not visible in Jerusalem but appears once again to the Magi while they leave the city: the star is, truly, the more significant element in this account.

Above all, the Magi in their long journey have not followed the star but rather saw it emerging and immediately connected this to the birth of the Messiah. Besides the journey was not toward the unknown but the goal was Jerusalem, the city to which all peoples converge in pilgrimage according to the Prophet Isaiah.

The city on hearing this news of the Magi who had come to adore the Messiah is shaken and becomes agitated. The people of Jerusalem do not seem to be enthusiastic and are not concerned in the least to render homage to “the born king of the Jews” Actually, Herod has the project to kill him.

Nevertheless in Is 60, 1-6 the city of Jerusalem is called to “Arise, the glory of the Lord has risen on you” and now in Mt 2,2, we witness a reaction of rejection on the part of the king and of Jerusalem in regard to the Messiah born in Bethlehem. Such an attitude prefigures the beginning of the hostility which will lead Jesus to be condemned precisely in Jerusalem. Not withstanding that reaction which prevents the Magi to have access to salvation precisely in the city elected to be the instrument of communion of all peoples with God, the event of the birth of Jesus move things to Bethlehem. God who guides the events of history makes the Magi leave Jerusalem and they set out again on the journey and find the Messiah, in Bethlehem, the city which was the hometown of David. In this city David had received the divine investiture: not with oil but in the Holy Spirit (1, 18,20). The peoples, now go up to this city, represented by the Magi, to contemplate the Emmanuel, the God with us, and to have the experience of peace and faith.

b) The symbolism of the journey of the Magi:

i) A journey bristling with difficulties, but at the end it reaches success

The moving force of their itinerary is the appearance of a star, connected to the birth of a new king: “We have seen his star emerging”. Here, the star is only a sign, an indication which communicates to the Magi the initiative to set out on the journey. At the beginning perhaps they were impelled by curiosity, but, then this was transformed into the desire to seek and to discover. It is a fact that the indication of the star moved the persons and impelled them to seek in order to find a response: perhaps a profound desire? Who knows! The text shows that the Magi have a question in their heart, and do not fear to repeat it, even making themselves inopportune: “Where is the King of the Jews?” 
They ask the question to King Herod and, indirectly, to the city of Jerusalem. The answer is given by experts, the high priests, the scribes: it is necessary to look for the new king in Bethlehem of Judah, because this was the prophecy of Isaiah: “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are by no means the least among the leaders of Judah, for from you will come a leader who will shepherd my people Israel” (Mt 2, 6). The prophetic text comes to solve the difficulties of the Magi: The Word of God becomes light for their journey.
With the strength of that information, taken from the prophecy of Isaiah, and comforted by the reappearance of the star, the Magi set out again on their journey having as goal, Bethlehem. The star which guides them stops on the house where they find Jesus. It is strange that those who lived in Bethlehem or in the surroundings of the house where Jesus is found did not see that sign. Besides, those who have the knowledge of the Scripture know the news of the birth of the new King of Israel, but do not move to go and find him. Rather, the question of the Magi, had instead, provoked in their hearts fear and disturbance. Definitively, those who were close to the event of the birth of Jesus are not aware of what has taken place, while those who were far away after having followed a difficult journey, at the end find what they were looking for. But, in reality, what do the eyes of the Magi see: a child with his mother inside a poor house. The star which had accompanied them was, in last instance, that simple and poor child, in whom they recognize the king of the Jews.
They knelt down before him and offered him symbolical gifts: the gold (because he is king); the incense (because behind the humanity of that child the divinity is present); the myrrh (that celestial being is an authentic man, destined to die). 

ii) The journey of the Magi: a journey of faith: 

It is not an error to think that the journey of the Magi was an authentic journey of faith, it was an itinerary of those who, though not belonging to the chosen people, found Christ. At the beginning of a journey there is always a sign which asks to be seen there where every man lives and commits himself. The Magi searched, studied the heavens, in the Bible, the see of the divinity, and from that had a sign: a star. But to begin a journey of faith it is not sufficient to search or study the signs of the presence of the divine. A sign has the function of arousing the desire which demands a certain time to carry it out, a path of search, of waiting. The expression with which Edith Stein describes her journey of faith is significant: “God is truth. The one who seeks truth, seeks God, consciously or not”.
A true desire provokes a question. In the meantime, the Magi find Jesus because in their heart they have strong questions. Such an experience of the encounter with Jesus is, truly, a provocation for pastoral ministry: there is the need of not privileging a catechesis made of certitudes or concerns about offering prefabricated responses, but rather of arousing in man of today significant questions on the crucial questions of humanity. This is what a Bishop from Central Italy suggests in a pastoral letter: “To present Christ and the Gospel in connection with the fundamental problems of human existence (life – death, sin – evil, justice – poverty, hope – disillusionment, charity – hatred, interpersonal family, social, international relationships ...), in order to avoid the confusion between the questions of humanity and our responses” (Lucio Maria Renna).
The response, as we are taught by the experience of the Magi, is found in the Bible. And it is not a question of only an intellectual knowledge or of knowing about the content of the Bible, like in the case of the scribes, but of approaching it guided by the desire, by the question. For the Magi that just indication of Sacred Scripture was enlightening to complete the last stage of their journey: Bethlehem. Besides, the Word of God allowed them to see in the humble signs of a house, of the Child with Mary, his mother, the King of the Jews, the expected one of Israel. 
The Magi adore him and discover in Jesus the One whom they had been seeking for a long time. The reader, on the one side, is surprised by the disproportion which exists between the gestures and gifts of the Magi and the humble reality which is present before their eyes; but on the other side, it is certain that the Child whom the Magi adore, is precisely the Son of God, the expected Saviour of the world. And thus the itinerary becomes the itinerary of every reader who reads this significant story of the Magi: he who seeks, even though he is far away from God, can find him. Instead, those, who presume to know everything about God and believe that their salvation is assured, run the risk of depriving themselves of the encounter with him. In a catechesis held in Cologne on the occasion of the XXth World Youth Day, the Archbishop Bruno Forte expressed himself as follows: “The Magi represent all those who seek truth, ready to live their existence as an exodus, on the way toward the encounter with the light which comes from on high”.
Besides, the experience of the Magi teaches us that in every culture, in every man there are deep expectations which demand to be fulfilled. From here comes the responsibility of reading the signs of God present in the history of men.

5. To meditate

- After the reading of this passage of the Gospel am I ready to relive the journey of the Magi?
- What difficulties do you find in the profound knowledge of Jesus Christ? How can you overcome them?
- In your seeking for truth do you know how to trust, to set out on the way and to listen to God?
- In the light of the Word, what can you change in your life?

6. Psalm 72, 1-11

It is a royal Psalm, composed to celebrate the king on the day when he ascends to the throne. The primitive Christian community had no doubt in seeing in this image the person of the Messiah.

God, endow the king with your own fair judgement, 
the son of the king with your own saving justice,
that he may rule your people with justice, 
and your poor with fair judgement.
Mountains and hills, 
bring peace to the people! With justice
he will judge the poor of the people, 
he will save the children of the needy and crush their oppressors.
In the sight of the sun and the moon he will endure, 
age after age.
He will come down like rain on mown grass, 
like showers moistening the land.
In his days uprightness shall flourish, 
and peace in plenty till the moon is no more.
His empire shall stretch from sea to sea, 
from the river to the limits of the earth.
The Beast will cower before him, 
his enemies lick the dust;
the kings of Tarshish and the islands will pay him tribute. 
The kings of Sheba and Saba will offer gifts;
all kings will do him homage, 
all nations become his servants.

Doxology 

We also give you glory,
Holy Father, whose name is sublime;
with the Son and the Holy Spirit
always glory forever and ever.

7. Final Prayer

Yes, Amen!
We say it to you, Oh Father,
with all our heart
in harmony with the heart of your Son
and of the Virgin Mary.
We say it with the whole Church
and for the entire human race.
Grant us, that gathered together in love,
after the “yes” in the hour of the cross
we may be able in a unanimous voice,
in a powerful choir,
in voiceless splendour, 
sing this eternally
in the sanctuary of Heaven.
Amen! Alleluia!
(Anna Maria Canopi)

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