Epiphany of our Lord

Today we commemorate an episode which is recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew — the epiphany or “manifestation” of Christ to “wise men from the East” or the “Magi.”  Such “wise men” were the high priests of an religion whose chief centres lay in Mesopotamia. They were supposed to have special insight into the ways of nature, interpreting dreams and reading the stars in order to determine the will of their gods.

The appearance of a strange star in the heavens manifested to them the birth of “the one who is born king of the Jews” and led them to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem. Because the Magi were not Jewish, the star came to represent the proclamation of the Gospel to the pagan nations outside Israel.

-adapted Excerpt from “All the Saints” (pg 42)