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. What is the feast of the Epiphany about? According to the Catholic Church, the Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, Son of God and Savior of the world. The feast of Epiphany celebrates the wise men from the East visiting the Baby Jesus. The magi were from pagan religions. They came to Jerusalem to pay homage to the king of the Jews. . When is Epiphany celebrated? This celebration varies from country to country. In some countries, Epiphany is a holy day of obligation celebrated on January 6. In the United States, Epiphany is not a holy day of obligation and is celebrated on the first Sunday after January 1. . Why is Epiphany connected with January 6? Pope Benedict XVI explained: It is hard to say how far back the beginnings of the Christmas feast go. It assumed its definitive form in the third century. At about the same time the feast of the Epiphany emerged in the East on January 6 and the feast of Christmas in the West on December 25. The two feasts had different significance because of the different religious and cultural contexts in which they arose, but essentially their meaning was the same: the celebration of the birth of Christ as the dawning of the new light. . Who were the magi? Pope Benedict XVI explained: In the relevant sources, the Magi are understood to be members of the Persian priestly caste. They were regarded as rulers of individual religions, whose religious ideas were 'strongly influenced by philosophy.' . Why did the magi come to see Jesus? Prophesy allowed them to identify the birth of the new 'king of the Jews' astronomically. They were especially motivated to come see this king of the Jews because there was an expectation at the time that a universal ruler would shortly come from Israel. Pope Benedict XVI explained: We know from the Roman historians that speculation at the time was that the ruler of the world would emerge from Judah. . Why did they visit King Herod? The magi assumed the newborn king would be a son of Herod, the current 'king of the Jews.' Pope Benedict XVI commented: It is quite natural that their search for the newborn king of the Jews should take them to Israel’s royal city and to the king’s palace. That, surely, is where the future king must have been born. This, of course, played into Herod's obsession for his throne, and led to the killing of all male babies. . What was the star? It is said that the magi followed the bright star that eventually took them to Bethlehem. Some question whether the star was a natural phenomenon. Did the star move in the sky in a way that stars don't ordinarily move? Various proposals have been made, including a rare astronomical phenomena like the joining of certain planets in certain constellations. When they got to the house, they noticed the star was directly over the house, again, a coincidence arranged by divine providence but not necessarily an unusual motion for a star. The question of whether it could have been a natural phenomenon remains. Pope Benedict XVI remarked: Nevertheless, the question whether or not this was an astronomically identifiable and classifiable celestial apparition was not going to go away. It would be wrong to dismiss it on account of the theological character of the story. With the emergence of modern astronomy, developed by believing Christians, the question of this star continues a mystery. **** Source: National Catholic Register - January 5, 2020
References: • Aleteia,"Beautiful Epiphany Traditions for The Family" • Aleteia,"Cambridge King’s College Choir sings a heavenly 'We Three Kings'" | ||||||||||||||||||
