Epiphany
of the Lord – January 3,
2021
In Italy children are
fortunate because they receive gifts not only on the feast of Christmas but
also on the feast of the Epiphany. Whereas Santa Claus brings gifts on
Christmas day, an old woman on a broomstick, called La Befana, brings gifts on
the night of January 5. According to tradition, the wise men stopped at an old
woman’s cottage and asked her for directions to where the King of the Jews
was to be born. She couldn’t help them, but she
offered them hospitality. The next morning the magi asked if she would like to
join them. She declined because she was too busy. However, later on she had a
change of mind, and she went looking for the child herself. However, after much
searching, she never found the child. Every year on the evening of January 5, she
brings gifts to children, hoping that one of them will be the child Jesus. It
is a story that captures the deeper meaning of this feast. The wise men from
the East, like La Befana, were searchers, seeking after light and truth. Guided
by an unusual star, they set out in search of God’s truth.
Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in God.” We all have a restlessness for more than this life alone has to
offer, and so we search after the One who alone can fully respond to our
restless spirit.
We will only rest
fully in God beyond this earthly life. Yet, in this earthly life we can begin
to experience something of that eternal rest. Jesus called out to the restless,
“Come to me all you who labor and are overburdened, and I will give
you rest.” Jesus was speaking here of an experience of rest today, not just
one for the eternal future. The Lord is personally drawing us to himself, so
that we can experience something of his own rest, peace and joy. The Lord drew
the magi from the east towards himself by means of a humble star. One small
explosion of light in the darkness drew them to the one whom they wanted to
worship. The Lord provides a star of Bethlehem for each of us in response to
our search for him. Such a star can take different forms at different times.
God’s love will find different ways of bursting forth like a light that
pierces the darkness and demands our attention. Who or what is that star in my
life? For some, it might be some element of nature, as it was for the magi. For
others, it might be a wonderful painting. For others again, it might be a piece
of literature, a movie, a song, a play. One evening Edith Stein picked up an
autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila and read it all night. She subsequently
wrote, “When I had finished the book, I said to myself: ‘This is the truth.’” For many others,
the star will take the form of a person of faith through whom the Lord touches
their lives in some way. Once the Lord draws us to himself, he sends us out to
be the star of Bethlehem for others who are seeking. As we encounter the Lord
for ourselves, we are changed, and we become carriers of his light and truth to
others. It is said of the magi that after they finally encountered the infant
king of the Jews and worshipped him, they returned home by a different way.
They were changed.
The Lord does not
hide himself from us. He seeks us out with his love and draws us to himself.
The word ‘Epiphany’ means a
manifestation, a laying open. To use a contemporary term, there is a wonderful
transparency about the Lord. Epiphany is the feast of the Lord’s transparency. In contrast, there was nothing transparent about
King Herod. He asked the magi to let him know when they had found the child, so
that he could come and worship him also (untruth, darkness). In reality, he
wanted to kill the child. Like the magi, we can all find ourselves having to
deal with forceful hindrances that are hostile to our search for the Lord’s light and truth. Yet, the story of the journey of the magi teaches
us that the drawing power of the Lord’s loving presence is
stronger than all the obstacles we might encounter. In the words of Saint Paul.
“God is faithful and will not let you be tested beyond your strength.”
Fr Don, C.P.