Epiphany - Symphony of synonyms,

Thursday after Epiphany – Community Mass. We had the Solemnity of the Epiphany on Sunday. But today, 6th January,  the Pope is celebrating the Epiphany. Pope Benedict xvi greets a child on Hospital Ward visi The Days after Epiphany, different days, suggest some kind of fragmentation. In fact there is no fragmentation, just the opposite. There is a in richness. manifestation fulfilled revealed epiphany appearing hearing listening The words are concepts but this Gospel passage of Luke,  4:14-22, this morning conveys the reality in the Spirit. Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. Jesus said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Father, Gather us together in the communion of love by the power of the Holy Spirit, through Christ our Lord. + + + A symphony of synonyms of Epiphany only scratches from the surface in Google. Fulfilled revealed manifested epiphany About 57,000 results (0.26 seconds)  Search Results 1.   The Epiphany of the Lord - Catholic East Anglia Jesus is 'made manifest' (epiphany = manifestation) as Messiah not only for his own ... The Scriptures are fulfilled. This Messiah is born into danger, ... of the whole world that God's love has been revealed in the birth of Jesus. ... www.catholiceastanglia.org/liturgy/index.php?module... -

Wednesday after Epiphany John 4:11-18

Crib in Abbey Church

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Mark
Sent: Wed, 5 January, 2011 15:26:56
Subject: Intro to Mass...

 

Introduction to Mass                                   Wednesday after Epiphany In today’s Gospel reading Jesus goes to his disciples as they struggle to row against the winds on the Sea of Galilee.  This particular incident is not so much a rescue story as an epiphany ─ a revelation of God on the waters.  It demonstrates that Jesus is the One who comes among his own people to reveal and to save. This is the same Jesus that we acknowledge and celebrate in this holy season. Penitential Rite: 1.     Lord Jesus,    You came to reveal the Father’s love for us.                                  Lord, have mercy. 2.                             You come to save us and be our help.                               Christ, have mercy. 3.                             You sustain us with the bread of life.                                   Lord, have mercy.   Prayer of the Faithful Conclusion:  God our Father, We come to you in our need.  You reveal your presence and help us in the realities of our daily lives.  We thank you for your gifts and for your life among us. Through Christ our Lord.

Comment Baptism Epiphany

Monday after Epiphany : Mt 4,12-17, Mt 4,23-25

Dear William,

Monday of Epiphany skips leaps the Weekdays of the Christmas Season the Rome anchored on Epiphany on 6^th January.

Happily you observe that the Commentary of Saint Chrysostom illuminates further the epiphanic (Ben xvi) dimension powerfully illustrates the Gospel.

Thank you.

Donald

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: William J
Sent: Mon, 3 January, 2011 11:39:44
Subject: The Lord's baptism... such a perfectly simple explanation!

Dear Father Donald,

I have often pondered over Jesus' baptism, perhaps requiring that I should always look for theological reasons. DGO has a perfectly simple explanation today:

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Saint John Chrysostom (c.345-407), priest at Antioch then Bishop of Constantinople,
Doctor of the Church
Sermon on the Baptism of Jesus Christ and on the Epiphany 

Christ was manifested to all, not at his birth but at his baptism. Before then, few knew him; almost no one knew he existed or who he was. John the Baptist said: “There is one among you who you do not recognise,” (Jn 1,26). John himself shared the same ignorance of Christ up until his baptism: “I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptise with water told me: ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit”…
Indeed, what is the reason John gives for the Lord’s baptism? It was, he said, so that he might be made known to all. Saint Paul says the same thing: “John baptised with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him,” (Ac 19,4).

 This is why Jesus receives baptism from John. To have gone from house to house presenting Christ and saying he was the Son of God would have made John’s testimony extremely difficult; to have led him to the synagogue and designated him as the Saviour would have made his testimony hardly credible. But that, in the midst of a large crowd gathered on the banks of the Jordan, Jesus should have received this testimony clearly expressed from heaven above and that the Holy Spirit should have descended on him in the form of a dove: this indeed confirmed John’s testimony without any shadow of doubt. “I myself did not know him,” John said. Who made him known to you, then? “He who sent me to baptise.” And what did he say to you? “On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.” Thus, it is the Holy Spirit who reveals to all he whose wonders John had proclaimed, by coming down to designate him, so to speak, with the touch of his wing.
http://www.dailygospel.org  

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Tuesday after Epiphany : Mark 6,34-44

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Nivard ...
Sent: Mon, 3 January, 2011 17:11:27
Subject: Epiphany - Tues - Multiplication of loaves

   "Jesus said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to the disciples."

"We cannot live without the Mass". In the year 304, the Emperor Diocletian forbade Christians, on pain of death, from possessing the Scriptures, from gathering on Sundays to celebrate the Eucharist.

  

In Abitene, In Tunisia, 49 Christians were taken by surprise one Sunday. They were arrested and questioned. They replied to the charges. "We cannot live without joining together on Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist. We would lack the strength to face our daily problems and survive.”

In taking flesh, the Son of God could become Bread. He is our nourishment on our journey in this world towards Heaven. We need this Bread to face the fatigue and weariness of our journey.

                                 *****************

Tuesday after Epiphany :
Mc 6,34-44

Commentary of the day Pope Benedict XVI
Homily for the Italian Eucharistic Congress, 29/05/05 (cf DC 2339, p. 634 ©Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

"Jesus took the loaves... and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke them , and gave them to (his) disciples"

"Without Sunday we cannot live" - takes us back to the year 304, when the Emperor Diocletian forbade Christians, on pain of death, from possessing the Scriptures, from gathering on Sundays to celebrate the Eucharist and from building places in which to hold their assemblies. In Abitene, a small village in present-day Tunisia, 49 Christians were taken by surprise one Sunday while they were celebrating the Eucharist... They were arrested and taken to be interrogated... There they replied to the charges: "Sine dominico non possumus": that is, we cannot live without joining together on Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist. We would lack the strength to face our daily problems and not to succumb.

In taking flesh, the Son of God could become Bread and thus be the nourishment of his people, of us, journeying on in this world towards the promised land of Heaven. We need this Bread to face the fatigue and weariness of our journey. Sunday, the Lord's Day, is a favourable opportunity to draw strength from him, the Lord of life. The Sunday precept is not, therefore, an externally imposed duty, a burden on our shoulders. On the contrary, taking part in the Celebration, being nourished by the Eucharistic Bread and experiencing the communion of their brothers and sisters in Christ is a need for Christians, it is a joy; Christians can thus replenish the energy they need to continue on the journey we must make every week.

Monday, January 3 Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25

Monday of Epiphany

On Sunday we looked for the Epiphany Address by the Pope.
Not surprisingly it did not appear on the Net and should have well anticipated the traditional Solemn Feast of the Epiphany on the 6th of January.
As we await the epiphanic words from Benedict xvi on 6th January the daily Mass commences the Weekday of Epiphany.


MATTHEW 4:12-17, 23-25
 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (v 17).

The Navarre Commentary 

Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25

Preaching in Galilee - The Announcement of the Kingdom

[RWP:Mat 4:12 -

Now when he heard (akousas de). The reason for Christ’s return to Galilee is given here to be that John had been delivered up into prison. The Synoptic Gospels skip from the temptation of Jesus to the Galilean ministry, a whole year. But for John 1:19-3:36 we should know nothing of the “year of obscurity” (Stalker). John supplies items to help fill in the picture. Christ’s work in Galilee began after the close of the active ministry of the Baptist who lingered on in prison for a year or more.]

Mat 4:13 -

Dwelt in Capernaum (Katōikēsen eis Kapharnaoum). He went first to Nazareth, his old home, but was rejected there (Luke 4:16-31). In Capernaum (probably the modern Tell Hūm) Jesus was in a large town, one of the centres of Galilean political and commercial life, a fishing mart, where many Gentiles came. Here the message of the kingdom would have a better chance than in Jerusalem with its ecclesiastical prejudices or in Nazareth with its local jealousies. So Jesus “made his home” (katōikēsen) here.]

{Gill: Mat 4:14-15 - That it might be fulfilled which was spoken,.... Christ's dwelling in Capernaum accomplished a prophecy of the prophet Isa_9:1 and he went and dwelt there, that it might be fulfilled which he had spoken: the meaning of which prophecy is (x), that as those parts of the land of Israel, there mentioned, had suffered much by Tiglathpileser, who had carried them captive, 2Ki_15:29 and is "the vexation" referred to; so they should be honoured, and made very glorious, by the presence and conversation of the Messiah among them, and which now had its literal fulfilment: for Christ now came and dwelt in Capernaum, which lay between the lands and upon the borders both of Zabulon and Nephthalim; was situated by the sea of Tiberias, beyond Jordan, and in, "Galilee of the nations"; the upper Galilee, which had in it people of other nations besides Jews. The ancient Jews expected the Messiah to make his first appearance in Galilee; which expectation must be grounded on this prophecy; for so they say (y) expressly,

"the king Messiah shall be revealed בארעא דגליל, "in the land of Galilee."''

And in another place (z) explaining Isa_2:19 they paraphrase it thus,

""for fear of the Lord"; this is the indignation of the whole world: and for the "glory of his majesty"; this is the Messiah; when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth, when he shall arise and be revealed בארעא דגליל, "in the land of Galilee": because that this is the first place to be destroyed in the holy land; therefore he shall be revealed there the first of all places.''

Here Jesus, the true Messiah, made his first appearance publicly; here he called his disciples, and began his ministry.

(x) See my treatise upon the "Prophecies of the Messiah", &c. p. 147, &c. (y) Zohar in Gen. fol. 74. 3. (z) Ib. in Exod. fol. 3. 3. & 88. 3.

 15-16.  Here St Matthew quotes the prophecy of   Isa_8:23  -  Isa_9:1  . The territory referred to (Zebulun, Naphtali, the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan), was invaded by the Assyrians in the period 734-721 B.C., especially during the reign of Tilgathpilneser III. A portion of the Jewish population was deported and sizeable numbers of foreigners were planted in the region to colonize it. For this reason it is referred to in the Bible henceforward as the "Galilee of the Gentiles". The evangelist, inspired by God, sees Jesus' coming to Galilee as the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. This land, devastated and abused in Isaiah's time, will be the first to receive the light of Christ's life and preaching. The messianic meaning of the prophecy is, therefore, clear. 

 17.  See the note on  Mat_3:4  . This verse indicates the outstanding importance of the first step in Jesus' public ministry, begun by proclaiming the imminence of the Kingdom of God. Jesus' words echo John the Baptist's proclamation: the second part of this verse is the same, word for word, as Matthew  Mat_3:2  . This underlines the role played by St John the Baptist as prophet and precursor of Jesus. Both St John and our Lord demand repentance, penance, as a prerequisite to receiving the Kingdom of God, now beginning. God's rule over mankind is a main theme in Christ's Revelation, just as it was central to the whole Old Testament. However, in the latter, the Kingdom of God had an element of theocracy about it: God reigned over Israel in both spiritual and temporal affairs and it was through him that Israel subjected other nations to her rule. Little by little, Jesus will unfold the new-style Kingdom of God, now arrived at its fullness. He will show it to be a Kingdom of love and holiness, thereby purifying it of the nationalistic misconceptions of the people of his time. The King invites everyone without exception to this Kingdom (cf.  Mat_22:1-14  ). The Banquet of the Kingdom is held on this earth and has certain entry requirements which must be preached by the proponents of the Kingdom: "Therefore the eucharistic celebration is the center of the assembly of the faithful over which the priest presides. Hence priests teach the faithful to offer the divine Victim to God the Father in the sacrifice of the Mass, and with the Victim to make an offering of their whole lives. In the spirit of Christ the pastor, they instruct them to submit their sins to the Church with a contrite heart in the sacrament of Penance, so that they may be daily more and more converted to the Lord, remembering his words: 'Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand"' (Vatican II, "Presbyterorum Ordinis", 5).

[RWP:Mat 4:17 - Began Jesus to preach (ērxato ho Iēsous kērussein). In Galilee. He had been preaching for over a year already elsewhere. His message carries on the words of the Baptist about “repentance” and the “kingdom of heaven” (Mat_3:2) being at hand. The same word for “preaching” (kērussein) from kērux, herald, is used of Jesus as of John. Both proclaimed the good news of the kingdom. Jesus is more usually described as the Teacher, (ho didaskalos) who taught (edidasken) the people. He was both herald and teacher as every preacher should be.]

 23.  "Synagogue": this word comes from the Greek and designates the building where the Jews assembled for religious ceremonies on the sabbath and other feast days. Such ceremonies were non-sacrificial in character (sacrifices could be performed only in the temple of Jerusalem). The synagogue was also the place where the Jews received their religious training. The word was also used to designate local Jewish communities within and without Palestine.

[RWP: Mat 4:23 -

Went about in all Galilee (periēgen en holēi tēi Galilaiai). Literally Jesus “was going around (imperfect) in all Galilee.” This is the first of the three tours of Galilee made by Jesus. This time he took the four fishermen whom he had just called to personal service. The second time he took the twelve. On the third he sent the twelve on ahead by twos and followed after them. He was teaching and preaching the gospel of the kingdom in the synagogues chiefly and on the roads and in the streets where Gentiles could hear.

Healing all manner of diseases and all manner of sickness (therapeuōn pāsan noson kai pāsan malakian). The occasional sickness is called malakian, the chronic or serious disease noson.
Mat 4:24 -

The report of him went forth into all Syria (apēlthen hē akoē autou eis holēn tēn Syrian). Rumour (akoē) carries things almost like the wireless or radio. The Gentiles all over Syria to the north heard of what was going on in Galilee. The result was inevitable. Jesus had a moving hospital of patients from all over Galilee and Syria.

“Those that were sick” (tous kakōs echontas), literally “those who had it bad,” cases that the doctors could not cure.

“Holden with divers diseases and torments” (poikilais nosois kai basanois sunechomenous). “Held together” or “compressed” is the idea of the participle. The same word is used by Jesus in Luk_12:50 and by Paul in Phi_1:23 and of the crowd pressing on Jesus (Luk_8:45). They brought these difficult and chronic cases (present tense of the participle here) to Jesus. Instead of “divers” say “various” (poikilais) like fever, leprosy, blindness. The adjective means literally many colored or variegated like flowers, paintings, jaundice, etc. Some had “torments” (basanois). The word originally (oriental origin) meant a touchstone, “Lydian stone” used for testing gold because pure gold rubbed on it left a peculiar mark. Then it was used for examination by torture. Sickness was often regarded as “torture.” These diseases are further described “in a descending scale of violence” (McNeile) as “demoniacs, lunatics, and paralytics” as Moffatt puts it, “demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics” as Weymouth has it, (daimonizomenous kai selēniazomenous kai paralutikous), people possessed by demons, lunatics or “moon-struck” because the epileptic seizures supposedly followed the phases of the moon (Bruce) as shown also in Mat_17:15, paralytics (our very word). Our word “lunatic” is from the Latin luna (moon) and carries the same picture as the Greek selēniazomai from selēnē (moon). These diseases are called “torments.”

Mat 4:25 -

Great multitudes (ochloi polloi). Note the plural, not just one crowd, but crowds and crowds. And from all parts of Palestine including Decapolis, the region of the Ten Greek Cities east of the Jordan. No political campaign was equal to this outpouring of the people to hear Jesus and to be healed by Jesus.]

20. The Announcement of the Kingdom

Mat 4:17	Mar 1:14-15	Luk 4:14-15
17  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.	14  Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15  And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.	14  And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 15  And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

Epiphanic Homily Pope

Cologne Cathedral - Shrine of the Magi

SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Matthew 2:1-12

Chapter Sermon after Lauds.

The liturgy Solemnity of the Epiphany

A Christmas greeting is from a friend, Vera, from Johnstone, Scotland, tells me that Fr D. Cotter of the three parishes is still giving fine Biblical Homilies. You remember he was our retreat giver last year.

Homilies vary.

The Glenstal Bible Missal has the Epiphany meditation is by William Barclay - Barclay’s very neat commentary on the Magi and gifts of gold and incense and myrrh. In fact it is almost exact from the Golden Legend by the medieval Dominican Archbishop of Genoa.

Even more, the details are embodied in the famous shrine of the Magi in the Cathedral of Cologne.
Dating from c.1200, the beautiful Shrine of the Magi is the largest reliquary in the western world. Pillaged from Constantinople during the Crusades. Inside are three golden-crowned skulls, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, believed to belong to the Magi. These relics were taken from Milan by Fredrick Barbarossa and given to the Archbishop of Cologne in 1164.

 

If we carry on with the Trivia Pursuits among the good Biblical Homilies can keep us up to date with the Raymond Browns etc.

In Bethlehem. the Holy Family remained about two years.

We do not know that the men were kings. All Matthew tells us is "magi from the east arrived one day in Jerusalem."

Tradition has us speak of the magi as three. Yet Matthew does not use a number. We say three since he speaks of three gifts. Happily Matthew specifies the gifts for us - gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

·        In the 8th century, Venerable Bede, gave us the traditional interpretation of their symbolism. However, someone prefers the charming explanation of the 13th century Frenchman, Bernard of Clairvaux. The gold was to pay off the bills at the supermarket. The incense was to fumigate the house. The myrrh was intended to be a herbal medicine against worms in the Child.

 

Beside all this, Trivia or Treasure to pursue, there is better nothing to compare to Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope, and surpassing so many Homilists.

 

These are excerpts  from

  Pope Benedict XVI’s Epiphany Homily: January 6, 2008.

The liturgy Solemnity of the Epiphany

. . .

The source of this dynamism is God,

One in Three Persons, who draws all things and all people to himself.

The Incarnate Person of the Word is presented in this way as the beginning of universal reconciliation and recapitulation (cf. Eph 1: 9-10).

He is the ultimate destination of history, the point of arrival of an “exodus”, of a providential journey of redemption that culminates in his death and Resurrection. Therefore, on the Solemnity of the Epiphany, the liturgy foresees the so-called “Announcement of Easter”:  indeed, the liturgical year sums up the entire parable of the history of salvation, whose centre is “the Triduum of the Crucified Lord, buried and risen”.

Christmas an entire “epiphany”.

In the liturgy of the Christmas season this verse of Psalm 98[97] frequently recurs as a refrain:  “The Lord has made his salvation known:  in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice” (v. 2).

These are words that the Church uses to emphasize the “epiphanic” dimension of the Incarnation:  the Son of God becoming human, his entry into history, is the crowning point of God’s revelation of himself to Israel and to all the peoples.
In the Child of Bethlehem, God revealed himself in the humility of the “human form”, in the “form of a slave”, indeed, of one who died on a cross (cf. Phil 2: 6-8). This is the Christian paradox.

Indeed, this very concealment constitutes the most eloquent “manifestation” of God. The humility, poverty, even the ignominy of the Passion enable us to know what God is truly like. The Face of the Son faithfully reveals that of the Father. This is why the mystery of Christmas is, so to speak, an entire “epiphany”.

CHURCH context of Epiphany

The mystery of the Church and her missionary dimension are also revealed in the liturgical context of the Epiphany. She is called to make Christ’s light shine in the world, reflecting it in herself as the moon reflects the light of the sun.

The ancient prophecies concerning the holy city of Jerusalem, such as the marvellous one in Isaiah that we have just heard:  “Rise up in splendour! Your light has come…. Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance” (Is 60: 1-3), have found fulfilment in the Church.

The Church is holy, but made up of men and women with their limitations and errors. It is Christ, Christ alone, who in giving us the Holy Spirit is able to transform our misery and constantly renew us. Christ is the light of the peoples, the lumen gentium, who has chosen to illumine the world through his Church (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 1).

MARY

“How can this come about?”, we also ask ourselves with the words that the Virgin addresses to the Archangel Gabriel. And she herself, the Mother of Christ and of the Church, gives us the answer:  with her example of total availability to God’s will – “fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum” (Lk 1: 38) – she teaches us to be a “manifestation” of the Lord, opening our hearts to the power of grace and faithfully abiding by the words of her Son, light of the world and the ultimate end of history.
So be it!

Cologne Elder Bible Window (c.1260) Adoration of the Magi

Conclusion.

Pope Benedict xvi will give us another EPIPHANIC HOMILY this morning in St. Peter’s.

And we pray for the Pope, that he may be enlightened by the Holy Spirit in his great teaching.