Epiphany comes from the Greek word which means “Revelation”. At Christmas, Jesus was proclaimed as the long-awaited Messiah of the beloved people of Israel. Today is the day when we celebrate the Epiphany, the Revelation that Jesus is the Savior of the entire world. We recall those three wise men from the east, who tradition names Melchior, Balthezar, and Caspar: how the Christ Child was revealed to them as Savior of all people, all lands, all times, all places. Jesus is the universal savior.
In many parts of the world, the feast of the epiphany is celebrated with as much solemnity as Christmas. For, today, in many countries, is the day gifts are exchanged, recalling the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh brought in honor of the new born King.
Having followed the star from the east, to Jerusalem, they met with Herod, whose evil intentions towards the Christ Child were veiled, but evident. The wise men then continued to Bethlehem where they found the newborn Savior, they worshipped him and adored him. Then in a dream an angel told them that Herod had terribly vicious designs to kill the Messiah, to kill baby Jesus. So as we just heard, they departed for their country by another way, the went home another route.
A deep spiritual meaning is contained in that line: “they went home another route”. They searched for the savior, they found him, and upon finding him, were changed forever. There is the important spiritual truth: Once you meet Jesus Christ, once you adore Him, once his identity is revealed to you, once you have the epiphany, once you place your faith in Him, your life is changed forever. Once you meet Him, you go through life a different route.(There is a fresco by Giovanni da Modena of the magi returning home, not on camels, but in a large ship, perhaps a prefigurement of the Church founded by Christ.)
Throughout the centuries of the Church we have stories of people from all over the world who begin life one way, and upon encounter Christ their lives are changed forever.
Think of those first called by Christ, Peter, Paul, Andrew, and James. They began life as fishermen, but meeting Christ, encountering him, their lives were changed forever. They went from local ordinary fishermen, to miracle working world missionaries and martyrs!
I think too about Saint Paul. While a very stringent adherent of the Jewish law, he was putting Christians to death. But upon the road to Damascas, and he encountered the Risen Christ, his life was changed forever. Saint Paul definitely went home a different route.
I came across a book a few years ago, entitled “Saints Behaving Badly: The Cutthroats, Crooks, Trollops, Con Men, and Devil-Worshippers Who Became Saints.” Men and women who begin life one way, encounter the Revelation, the Epiphany that Jesus Christ is Lord and calls them to newness of life, and follow Him, and depart from that encounter changed forever.
Men like Saint Ignatius of Loyola, who begins life, arrogant, full of himself, seeking fame through war, full of ambition, vain about his appearance, addicted to gambling and dissolute in his dealings with women. He went everywhere armed, looking for a fight, obsessed with proving himself in battle. But an epiphany occurred in his life, which changed him forever.
After rushing into battle, his legs were shattered and wounded by a cannonball. And as he lay convalescing in bed, his sister-in-law gave him two books, a life of Christ and a collection of the lives of the Saints. There in his solace, shattered, broken, he met Christ. He repented of letting his vanity, and his pride, and lust, and violence rule his life. He began to pray, and dedicated himself to Christ. He founded the Jesuit Order and became a soldier in quite a different sense, soldiers in spreading the Gospel throughout the world—to the darkest jungles and most foreign lands.
We think of the Great Saint Augustine, who rebelled as a teenager from the faith of his mother, monica. While in college he flirted with the popular heretical faiths of his day, and embarked on a life of promiscuity, he even fell into thievery. Yet, through his studies he continued to search for the Truth. And he met him one day, through the preaching of the Archbishop of Milan, the great Saint Ambrose. Inspired by Ambrose to take and read the scriptures, Augustine came upon a powerful line from Saint Paul: “ Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness . . . . But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof." And Augustine said, that upon coming to the end of that sentence, it was the light of faith flooded into my heart and all the darkness of doubt was dispelled. That’s a life changing epiphany—an encounter with the Lord Jesus through his Word. Augustine was baptized, and ordained a priest and was later consecrated a bishop. Come to find out his mother had been praying many many years for his conversion.
Our Church history, our parish history is full of stories of such men and women, who come to encounter Christ through the prayers and faith of others and whose lives are changed forever. Our prayers for people’s conversion matter, as do our little acts of kindness. I think particularly of the men and women in our RCIA who have sought after Christ and found him here in the Catholic Church. And it is so often because of a book given to them or a conversation they have with a Catholic that God uses to bring them home.
But epiphanies are not just for the uninitiated. God wants to continue to reveal himself in epiphany moments in our lives as well. Our daily prayer, when we kneel, humbly before God with our desires for conversation and for peace and healing—those are meant to be epiphany moments.
Vatican II called Sunday Mass the source and summit of the Christian life: like the wise men who encountered the Christ child, we too who encounter Christ in word and sacrament and should return home a different route. Do you come to Mass desiring that, hoping for that, open to that epiphany moment, where your encounter with the Lord Jesus at Mass changes you, so that you go home a different person than when you came…
Priests and religious pray one of the Psalms every day that goes “if today you hear his voice, hardened not your hearts.” Because when the Lord does speak to you, in prayer, and in your service, harden not your hearts so you do not miss the opportunity to be changed, to grow in holiness and sanctity.
After encountering the Lord in the Eucharist today, the priest or deacon is going to send you forth into the world from Mass. Do not go home the same route you came, but think of how the Lord is calling you to change, that you can give better witness to the Lord to those you meet this week, to be more responsive to the ways the Lord is calling you to be servants of the grace which invites all peoples to Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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