Epiphany Message from Bishop Joseph Strickland

 

Random Thoughts on the Feast of the Epiphany

• I'm laughing a little this morning over God sending us a white "little Christmas" on the Feast of the Epiphany. Camp Kreitzer is a winter wonderland. And the snow makes everything very quiet and still. It brings my thoughts back to the "blessed hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold." Even our chicken coop reminds me of the rough stable. I shoveled a path to make it easier to get out there. Did God clear a path for the three wise men as they traveled so many miles to visit the newborn king?

• One of my favorite paintings of the Epiphany shows an elderly king kneeling before the manger kissing the foot of Baby Jesus. But I recently saw a painting by Scottish painter William Brassey Hole who died in 1917, the year my dad was born. He did many industrial paintings, but as the century changed, he travelled to Palestine to gather background for biblical paintings. He later published the life of Jesus with 80 watercolors. 

An Epiphany Gift to Say Thank You to the Three Kings!

Adoration of the Magi by Giotto -- I love this!
Even the camel seems to be singing the praises of the newborn King. 

Every now and then, the English major comes out in me with a desire to write poetry. I admit, it isn't much on the scale of poetic excellence. It probably rises to a two out of ten (if that). But it gives me pleasure and I hope it pleases you as we celebrate the octave time after Epiphany. There are several different forms of the sonnet, but I focus on the English form of three four-line stanzas and a couplet.

Sunday Meditation: "Do Whatever He Tells You."

The wedding feast at Cana

This morning my husband and I went to the 8:30 Mass at St. John the Baptist in Front Royal which was an ad orientem high Novus Ordo -- very reverent, Gregorian chant, incense -- lovely. But I have to say the sad thought came to me that, no matter how well it's done, the Novus Ordo is a poor imitation of the Traditional Latin Mass. It will never be the Mass of the Ages and we lost the unity, the oneness, of all people worshiping in the same language. 

Let Us Seek the Truth Like the Wise Men of Old!

Adoration of the Magi, Albrecht Durer 1504

Meditating on the Magi is a humbling experience. Think of the immensity of their project. It was over a thousand miles from their home in Persia to Bethlehem. As pagans, what did they know about the coming Messiah? They must have been great seekers of truth. And so they received a call from truth Himself. How else could they have the courage to even take the first step.

Welcome the Wise Men!

Velazquez, Adoration of the Magi, 1618

I love the Epiphany! What a story: signs in the sky, a long journey into the unknown to find a treasure beyond all counting, an encounter with evil along the way, and another with angels. Yes, it is an adventure to rival all adventures.

We would be wise to imitate the magi. After all, doesn't every home need wisdom? What could be wiser than to leave everything to seek Him who is the way, the truth, and the life as the magi did?

If we are wise, we will imitate them. We will use 2014 to enrich our relationship with Jesus -- to seek him every morning when we rise and every evening before we go to bed.

What lover doesn't go out of his way to try to please the beloved no matter the effort involved. Jesus longs for us, for an intimate friendship. We are children of the Father; every hair on our heads is counted. Should we not respond to such love with as great a measure as we can?

Yes indeed, wise men and women still seek Him and will until the end of time! Let's not waste the new year chasing after trash that will rust and rot. I want to choose the treasure I can take with me into the next world -- the love of Jesus, May I respond to Him and become a burning furnace of love in return!

The Coming of the Wise Men

I love the Epiphany! What a wonderful story -- three wise men watch the skies for signs and portents, men of action ready to head off across the world on a pilgrimage following a star. And why? To seek the one who is all truth, all beauty, and all goodness, the Word made flesh, the newborn king. What do they do when they get to their destination? They prostrate themselves in humility before God made man. The three kings illustrate as much as any figures in Scripture the reality that "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Our God is an awesome God who inspires "fear" in the sense of  "awe and wonder." That the high and mighty are humble enough to see their God in a feedbox testifies to both their wisdom and humility.

"He came to His own and His own received Him not." They could not see the glory of God in the Son of a carpenter. But the wise men never faltered. Outsiders, gentiles, nevertheless they saw with the eyes of faith and acted with love.

You can't go wrong following in the footsteps of the wise men on a pilgrimage to the house in Bethlehem, a house filled to the rafters with holy truth. There you will meet, and see through the eyes of faith  the just man, the queen of heaven and earth, and the Savior of the World, Him through whom all things were made. Hosanna in the highest!