LECTORS: For the Prayers of the Faithful, please proceed to the altar in anticipation of your role, as the presider begins to introduce our prayers. Please do not wait in your seat for him to finish the introduction, therefore, placing quiet time between the introduction and the actual prayers. Thank you.
The First Reading is taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 60:1-6. The prophet is trying to cheer the exiles by foretelling the glorious future of the new Jerusalem which is not yet rebuilt. The special radiance of God will illuminate it. Gentiles will bring their riches to it. From East and West peoples will flock to it. The Feast of the Epiphany is the feast which commemorates the manifestation of God to the Gentiles. This manifestation began when the Wise Men from the East came to Bethlehem to pay their respects and offer their gifts to the newly-born king of the Jews. Though the words of Isaiah were not understood by his hearers as referring to this event, it was only in the coming of the Magi, to welcome Christ, that they were really fulfilled.
The Second Reading is taken from the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians 3:2-3; 5-6. St. Paul's thoughts in his prison in Rome are not for himself nor for the fate that awaits him. He is thinking instead of the mission Christ gave him, to evangelize the Gentile nations. He has done much already, and even in prison he does all he can to continue the good work. He writes to his Gentile converts from Rome, to remind them of their great privilege in being called to the Christian faith. They are now God's new Chosen People, they are now members of Christ's mystical body.
The Gospel of today's feast, is from the Gospel of Matthew 2:1-12. The Magi are the central personages in today's feast of Epiphany. They were pagans who did not know the true God of the Jews. Yet that true God revealed to them that the King he had promised to the Jews had come. The expected Prince was born. They came to Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, expecting, of course, to find the city and the whole country rejoicing. Instead they found suspicion and hatred in the reigning king—a hatred which in a few days turned to murder. Among the religious leaders they found knowledge of their past history, but utter indifference as regards the present and the future. These leaders knew the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem; they must have realized that the Magi were very sure of the truth revealed to them—they would not have come such a long journey on a "fool's errand." In spite of that, the thought of going to Bethlehem with the Magi never entered their minds. These were the leaders who some years later refused to listen to Christ and in spite of his miracles refused to admit his claim that he was not only the promised Messiah, but the true Son of God. These were men who rejected him because he had mercy on sinners, and spoke of a future life. What they wanted from their Messiah was political power and earthly freedom and prosperity. Like Herod they ended with murder—the crucifixion of the "King of the Jews." The pagan king was not much worse than the indifferent leaders of God's Chosen People. Let us resolve to make the Magi our models, to follow them to Bethlehem and offer Christ all that we have and are.