THE EPIPHANY:

I wish you all a very happy Feast of the Epiphany, a Feast of enormous significance and celebrated in some parts of the world with greater solemnity than Christmas. Unlike St Luke, whose Infancy Narrative concentrates on the birth of the Christ child and the way the shepherds are chosen as God’s first messengers, Matthew is concerned that we focus on the bigger picture. Christ has come for all men and women of all time. The Magi, these mysterious but wise visitors from the East, bring their symbolic gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. At every funeral, I delight in reminding the congregation that, before leaving the church we use incense to bless the coffin because it reminds us of the dignity of every person. The incense (Frankincense) points us to the mystery of the Incarnation whereby the Son of God became truly and fully human, so that we could be redeemed and regain our full dignity as children of God, and therefore brothers and sisters of Christ. The more we meditate on the meaning of all this, the more we come to realise the people Christ is calling us to be and how we are to live our lives.

The Gold speaks to us of the New Kingdom that is to be established in our hearts: a Kingdom of love, of peace, of reconciliation, of hope. Sadly, for that to happen we must be willing to accept Christ’s invitation to take up our crosses and follow him. The Myrrh reminds us of Christ’s Passion and Death: his body would be anointed after his death. As we set out on this New Year, I pray with you that we will continue to strive with all our minds and hearts to be that presence of the redeeming Christ in our world today.