HOMILY FOR JANUARY 6th 2024, SOLEMNITY OF EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD, YEAR B
HOMILY FOR JANUARY 6th 2024, SOLEMNITY OF EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD, YEAR B
THEME: The visit of the three Magi.
BY: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA
READINGS OF THE DAY
Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalm 71:1-2,7-8,10-13
Ephesians 3:2-3,5-6
Matthew 2:1-12
LITURGICAL COLOUR
WHITE
INTRODUCTION
Good morning my dear brothers and sisters in Christ.Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ.
ALSO RECOMMENDED: HOMILY BEFORE EPIPHANY, SATURDAY – YEAR B
WHAT IS THE FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY?
The word Epiphany, comes from the Greek word, epiphaneia which means, ‘appearance.’ This feast originally celebrated on January 6 which was popularly known as the feast of the Three Kings. Epiphany commemorates and celebrates principally the self-revelation to the Gentiles (non-Jews, the magi) and thus to our ancestors in the faith, of Jesus Christ as the Savior as portrayed by the coming of the three wise men or magi in today’s gospel bringing with them gold, the gift bestowed on kings; frankincense, used to worship at the altar of God; and myrrh, used to prepare the dead body for embalming after death. It is the feast of the universal church.
FROM OUR FIRST READING
In our first reading today, we heard the words of the prophet speaking to the people of God in Israel and Judah, telling them of the coming of the salvation in God, which would come soon through the Messiah, the Saviour which God has promised to all of them. The prophet was encouraging a people that by then had suffered a lot of hardships and difficulties, obstacles and challenges. He told them that the Lord would not forget about them, and He would send them His deliverance.
FROM OUR SECOND READING
In our second reading, the apostle Paul, calls on the church in Rome to ‘present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship’. The offering of our lives to God ensures that our whole lives are, in a sense, an act of worship. We offer ourselves to God, to the Lord, by placing ourselves, our gifts, at his disposal, by leaving ourselves open to whatever the Lord may be asking of us.
FROM OUR GOSPEL READING
According to the gospel reading, when the wise men found the child for whom they had been seeking, the first thing they did was to do him homage; they worshipped him. We hear at the end of the gospel reading that, after the wise men had offered the child Jesus their worship and their gifts they returned to their own country by a different way. The journey back from Bethlehem was different to their journey to Bethlehem, because at Bethlehem they had encountered the Lord.
CONCLUSION
As we seek the Lord, as we worship him and offer him our lives, the Lord will often prompt us to go on by a different way. Our own way never fully corresponds to the Lord’s way. Throughout our lives we hear the call to take a different way, a way that conforms more fully to the Lord’s way. This is the call to ongoing repentance, that continuing turning more fully towards the Lord and his way. The more we seek the Lord, the more we worship him and offer him our lives, the more clearly we will hear that call of the Lord to take a different way.Today’s feast invites us, in the words of today’s first reading again, to lift up our eyes and to look around; it calls on us to have a generous vision so that we are open to the many different signs of the Lord’s presence and call, wherever they are to be found.
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