Fr. Roger J. Landry
Conversations with Consequences Podcast
Homily for the Solemnity of the Epiphany, Vigil
January 6, 2024
To listen to an audio recording of the brief homily, please click below:
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The following text guided the homily:
* This is Fr. Roger Landry and it’s a joy to have a chance to ponder with you the consequential conversation God wants to have with us this Sunday, as the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, his “manifestation” to all the nations represented by the wisemen coming from afar.
* In recent days, the importance of wisdom has become even more obvious. We’ve had the presidents of two of our most prestigious universities resign because of their incapacity to see and state the obvious and condemn Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attacks, any and all calls for the genocide of Jews whatever the context, and anti-Semitism, blinded by modern Marxist ideologies that have infected many places of higher education. We’ve likewise had a senior Vatican official charged with defending and promoting the Catholic faith unbelievably release a declaration, the week before Christmas, on blessing same-sex couples and those in irregular situations, changing the focus from the good news of great joy for all the people to the obviously confusing headlines of whether the Church is changing her teaching on sexual sins and marriage. And in a presidential election year, many are more prone to see the evident lack of wisdom in those competing for our support and in their policies and ideas. All of these situations and others reveal the crucial importance of wisdom in an age in which political, cultural and even religious leaders are increasingly confused.
* That’s why it’s so important for us, on the Solemnity of the Epiphany, to learn from the men whom tradition has always called “wise,” to go on pilgrimage with them to Bethlehem, and to learn from them invaluable lessons not just about how we’re called to relate to the coming of God into the world but on how to grow wise. We can ponder five lessons.
* The first thing we learn from the wise men is the importance of seeking God.
* To be wise, we must look at things from God’s perspective, and that requires effort. When they saw the star at its rising, they not only interpreted that God was trying to communicate something to them in general, but that God, in accordance with ancient Sybilline prophecies, was specifically heralding the birth of the newborn King in the east, who would be a universal king. 2000 years ago, in the deserts of the Middle East and on the seas, people were highly dependent on the fixed stars in the sky as references for their direction. They firmly believed that God had made them this way for that reason. Whenever anything happened in the sky that was new — like the appearance of a comet, or meteor shower, or a planet’s or star’s shining more brightly — the ancients thought that it had to bear some message from the creator of the heavens. When they saw the star at its rising, they didn’t respond as curious astrologers but as those who hungered to find what they sought. Led by the star, and their simple trust in its supposed meaning, the wise men went on a journey toward the Holy Land. We don’t know how long their pilgrimage took, but the Gospel gives us indications that it wasn’t brief. After Herod asked them the exact time of the appearance of the star, and then, a short time later, after they did not return to him, he proceeded to kill every boy in Bethlehem under two years of age. So the time of their preparation and the journey to get there probably took 18-24 months...
