20 + C + M + B + 15

Don't forget to get your blessed chalk and mark the lintels of your homes! If your priest doesn't bless chalk at Mass or at another time, you might just get the text online and pop over to him with some chalk and ask him to bless it. Give him a little stipend for doing so, wish him a happy Epiphany and thank him for his service. Morale is low among priests, a little sign of appreciation can really do a lot. 

Happy Epiphany!

For Christmas Day I shared with you my favourite Christmas poem, so for Epiphany (Little Christmas/Eastern Christmas) I would like to share with you my favourite Epiphany poem: T.S. Eliot's "Journey of the Magi". 

It is a wonderful piece revealing the hardship of the magi's journey, the challenges they faced from those who did not understand and their realisation that everything has changed: the old way is gone, it is dead - the birth of the Christ is the death of the old world.  That has personal implications for all of us. Discovering Christ, embracing him, means that we too must die, our old life must die, as Jesus tells us in the Gospel. But it is death that brings a new life - Eliot alludes to the death and resurrection of Jesus here. 

Please find the text below, but I have also included a recording of Eliot reciting the poem - it is marvellous, it opens up the poem, so you might want to listen to the recording first.

Happy feast day. And remember, it is still Christmas until next Sunday! Keep celebrating.

The Journey Of The Magi

'A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
and running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kiking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arriving at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you might say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

Holy Epiphany - Still Christmas!

For many today appears to mark the end of Christmas - the Epiphany, Twelfth Night, yet we still have a week to go:  the Christmas Season lasts until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which this year falls on the 13th January.  So we have another week to feast and we can stave off the diet for a little longer, and yes, contrary to common practice, we can still wish each other a "Happy Christmas".  I think the time has come for us Catholics (and all Christians) to resist the secularisation of our feasts and seasons, and the best way to do that is to be true to liturgical time.  The secular world celebrates Christmas before Christmas and then rushes back into ordinary time after the day itself.  We should not rush into Christmas nor rush out of it, but rather linger in preparation (Advent) and then enjoy at leisure the festivities of the Lord's birthday. 

Christmas can be divided into various parts, all of which have a great deal of meaning for us.  We have Advent (the mini Lent) to prepare us, to rekindle the soul (lose a few pounds in anticipation for the feasting!) and reflect on the Jewish people's faithful waiting for the Messiah.  Then the great feast breaks out upon us on Christmas Eve evening and the Day itself which lasts for eight days - the Octave.  This solemnity is so important one calendar day is not enough for its commemoration - we need eight!  So Christmas Day lasts a week in calendar time. 

Then the Season continues as we revel in the birth of the Lord and prepare for his Epiphany.  You could say that as we feast we also accompany the Magi on their way to Bethlehem.  Today we celebrate that great Epiphany as we fall down with the magi before our Infant King, our Divine Messiah.   Then, in the days after Epiphany we may reflect on the Lord's hidden years - the Incarnation in our midst, as we prepare for the feast of the Lord's Baptism and the beginning of his public ministry.  All this time we continue to feast (mince pies, Christmas cake and the turkey curry!).  For the real diehards who just can't let go, we have the "Christmas outpost feast" - the Presentation of the Lord on the 2nd February - our feast of lights, Candlemas.  And then we are all ready for Lent!  Perhaps at that stage, we will need it!

There are people who think we Catholics are killjoys, dreary and no fun at all; well, if Catholics actually entered into the liturgical seasons they would realise that nothing could be further from the truth.  Traditionally Catholics were known for their revels (hence one of the reasons the Protestant reformers broke away from us - they wanted a more penitential approach to faith).  Now there were times when things got out of hand, and that was not good.  However a true living of the Christian faith is one where both fasts and feasts are kept and honoured.  As our Holy Mother Foundress once said: "there is a time for penance and a time for partridge".  Wise words indeed.

And speaking of wise words, today we turn to the wise men, or the Magi and their encounter with the Divine Child.  What an encounter that must have been.  These scholars who spent their lives looking for signs in the sky see the star and are led by it to that Divine Child prophesied by their philosopher Zoroaster.  The Scriptures tell us that they fell down and did the Child homage - they did not discretely bow, nor nod or do the liturgical hop, but rather fell down before him.  Such humility.  And what an insight - they have come to him whom they sought all their lives and they throw themselves before him, worshipping him, perhaps even thanking him.  Our Lady must have been astonished by their devotion - these were pagan men and yet they believed.  We think of the Lord's words about the centurion: "I have not found such faith in Israel" - I wonder, when he said that, if he was thinking of the Magi who came to see him as a baby: no doubt Our Lady, who "pondered all these things in her heart", would have told him of their faith.  Our feast today teaches us than God can work even in pagan lands and in other religions, planting a seed which is to lead the adherents of those religions to Christ.  That is what Vatican II speaks of in its documents.

We too must fall down before him and do him homage: worship and adore Christ.  Yes he became a man to be one with us, to speak to us and redeem us.  But he is also our God and our Lord and we must pay him that homage that is due to him. I remember when I was a seminarian we were told by a liturgist that we must not kneel for the Liturgy of the Eucharist: "We are a liberated people, so we do not kneel, we stand before God".  We are indeed a liberated people, but surely do we not kneel before our Liberator, to thank him if for nothing else?   And when our Liberator is the God who made the universe and us, well, then we must kneel, as do the Elders in the Book of Revelation.  I think the Magi, those wise men of the world provide us with a good example.

On this day our thoughts are, of course, on Bethlehem as we meditate on this event, but we should also pause and go in spirit to Cologne where, we are told, the bodies of three of the Magi are venerated.  Traditionally called Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, they are honoured as Saints in the Church, and if you go to Cologne you will see the tremendous devotion pilgrims have for these men.   The reliquary in which the relics of the three are preserved is the biggest reliquary in the world, and on this day, it is opened to reveal the three bodies, each one wearing a crown.   All of this points to the Epiphany as a historical reality, as discussed by Pope Benedict in his recent book, and that is no harm at all.  There are times when we need to be reminded that heaven has touched earth, that miracles do happen, that God became man and the story of his birth is no mere fantasy, but wonderful and true.  Some will say only a child would believe such stories, well then, let us be children - after all, as the Lord tells us, the kingdom belongs to little children.  So here we are: back to the humility and faith of the Holy Magi.

St Caspar, St Melchior, St Balthazar, pray for us; bring us to the Divine Child, the King of Love, and there let us fall down before him and adore.

The Reliquary Shrine of the Holy Magi in Cologne Cathedral

The Reliquary opened to reveal the crowned heads of the Magi

The Holy Magi

A happy feast day to you all: the great Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord.  Today we celebrate the Christ's first manifestation to the gentiles through the holy Magi.

The Magi have always fascinated me: tradition accords them the names Caspar, Balthazar and Melchior.  They were Persians, priests of the Zoroastrian religion, who saw the sign in the heavens which announced the birth of a divine king.  Their philosopher-founder, Zoroaster, predicted, in the manner of the ancient Sybils, the coming of the Saviour, pointing out that a star would lead to the "mysterious child" who is "the Almighty Word who created the heavens."

According to Christian tradition, the Magi were converted by St Thomas when he ministered in Persia, and they were said to have died as martyrs.  St Helen, in her quest to find the holy places and relics in the Holy Land, sent a delegation into Persia to find the tomb of the Magi.  The tomb located, she had the remains translated to Constantinople, from where they were brought to Milan and then to Cologne, where they now rest in the cathedral.

As we celebrate the solemnity today, we might remember to put ourselves in the place of the Magi, and there come to encounter anew the Lord Jesus who came down to us.  One of the most beautiful meditations on this "spirituality of the Magi", is that given by Blessed John Paul II in his last message to the young people of the world for World Youth Day 2005.  I think it is worth reading.

As we celebrate, let us also remember today Mgr Charles Brown, the new nuncio to Ireland, who is being ordained an Archbishop in Rome by Pope Benedict.  As he receives the fullness of the priesthood, and prepares for his mission, may the Lord grant him many graces and blessings.