Liturgy Alive: Models of Celebrations

January 4, 2004 - Sunday, Solemnity of the Epiphany

A. The Guiding Star of All Nations
B. People In Search

Readings:
Is 60:1-6; Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13; Eph 3:2-3, 5-6; Mt 2:1-12

Commentaries / Gospel Reflections from:
Sunday's Into Silence • Diario Biblico • Daily Gospel

Greeting

May the star of Jesus our Lord shine on you
and on all the nations of the earth.
May you live in his light
and may the Lord Jesus be always with you. R/ And also with you.

Introduction by the Celebrant

A. The Guiding Star of All Nations

The celebration of Epiphany, meaning "manifestation," is like a second Christmas. It is, in fact, the Christmas of the Eastern Churches. It proclaims that the child Jesus belongs to and is given to the whole world as its Savior. He is given to us, but with the magi the world brings to him its variety of gifts: its varied cultures, its many-sidedness, its different identities. And we here, like people from other nations, bring him the gift of ourselves: our faith, our fidelity, our love, as we meet him in prayer and in people, especially in the poorest.

B. People in Search

Today we celebrate the other great feast of Christmas, the Epiphany, or popularly Three Kings. Here we meet the magi, who came from afar in search of the newborn king sent by God. They are for us the image of seekers, people who try to find God. We too are called to be seekers of God. Do you think we have found him once and for all? Keep seeking, and you will find Christ in a deeper and richer way. Keep seeking, and you will know and love him more. He is here with us. Encounter him. And when you have met him, go and tell others about him, until everyone knows him.

Penitential Act

One of the offerings we bring to Jesus today
is our sorrow for the sins we have committed.
Let us ask him to forgive us.
         (PAUSE)

Lord Jesus, you radiate your light
on all the nations of the earth:
All praise to you!
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Jesus Christ, you offer justice and peace
to all willing to accept you:
All praise to you.
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, you have pity on the weak
and save the lives of the poor:
All praise to you!
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

May your judgment on us
be a judgment of mercy and love,
for we recognize our poverty.
Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray to God our Father
that Christ may be the light of all
         (PAUSE)
God of all nations, peoples and cultures,
this is the day you have made bright
with your light and your love
destined for all.
Guide us on the new ways of your Son.
Let your kindly light shine everywhere,
that all peoples may praise you
in their own language
and enrich your Church with their own gifts.
We ask this in the name of Jesus,
our Lord and Savior for ever. R/ Amen.

Scripture Readings

First Reading Introduction: God's People a Light to All Nations
      In a vision the prophet sees an immense number of peoples flocking from everywhere to God's light.

First Reading: Is 60:1-6

Arise, shine, for your light has come.
The Glory of Yahweh rises upon you.

Night still covers the earth and gloomy clouds veil the peoples, but Yahweh now rises and over you his glory appears.

Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Lift up your eyes round about and see: they are all gathered and come to you, your sons from afar, your daughters tenderly carried.

This sight will make your face radiant, your heart throbbing and full; the riches of the sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you.
A flood of camels will cover you, caravans from Midian and Ephah.

Those from Sheba will come, bringing with them gold and incense, all singing in praise of Yahweh.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13

R. (cf. 11) Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king's son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts;
the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute.
All kings shall pay him homage,
all nations shall serve him.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Second Reading Introduction: All Nations Are Called in Christ
     Jesus Christ came to unite all: all peoples, without any discrimination, are called to join God's people.

Second Reading: Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6

You may have heard of the graces God bestowed on me for your sake. By a revelation he gave me the knowledge of his mysterious design, as I have explained in a few words.

This mystery was not made known to past generations but only now, through revelations given to holy apostles and prophets. Now the non-Jewish people share the Inheritance; in Christ Jesus the non-Jews are incorporated and are to enjoy the Promise.

Gospel Introduction: We Followed His Star
      Those who are familiar with God's promises do not seek him; the powerful fear him. But those who come from afar to seek the Savior find and recognize him. God accepts all with their own gifts and potentials.

Gospel Reading: Mt 2:1-12

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea, during the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem. They asked, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw the rising of his star in the east and have come to honor him." When Herod heard this he was greatly disturbed and with him all Jerusalem. He immediately called a meeting of all high-ranking priests and the scribes asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

"In the town of Bethlehem in Judea," they told him, "for this is what the prophet wrote: And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are by no means the least among the clans of Judah, for from you will come a leader, the one who is to shepherd my people Israel."

Then Herod secretly called the wise men and asked them the precise time the star appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem with the instruction, "Go and get precise information about the child. As soon as you have found him, report to me, so that I too may go and honor him."

After the meeting with the king, they set out. The star that they had seen in the East went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. The wise men were overjoyed on seeing the star again. They went into the house and when they saw the child with Mary his mother, they knelt and worshiped him. They opened their bags and offered him their gifts of gold, incense and myrrh.

In a dream they were warned not to go back to Herod, so they returned to their home country by another way.

Commentary

THE Greek word "epiphaneia" means "appearance," and in the Western churches Epiphany commemorates the appearance (or revelation) to the Gentiles of Jesus as Savior. This is portrayed by the coming of the Magi or Three Wise Men from the East to do him homage. It is an ancient feast: it is known to have been observed earlier than 194 AD, and is therefore older than the celebration of Christmas. Notice one sentence of today's reading. "From you, Bethlehem, will come a leader, the one who is to shepherd my people Israel." Yesterday we saw Jesus as a lamb, today we see him as a shepherd. How can he be both? He is both. Like God whose throne he shares, he is "the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end" (Rev 1:8; 21:6; 22:13). The ecstatic poet Rumi wrote:

I am the candle and the moth that circles around it,
The rose and the rose-drunk nightingale.

Jesus will continue forever to appear to us in new lights. He is not two-dimensional like our ideas, he is alive. It is forever the feast of Epiphany.

Read also Sunday's Into Silence:  Pope John Paul II and Prayer

General Intercessions

On this day when peoples from afar came to worship Jesus the Lord, let our prayer be as wide as the world. Let us say to the Father: R/ Let the light of Christ shine on all people.

- That the light of Christ may shine on all nations far and near and that the Church may welcome them with the diversity of their cultures, let us pray: R/ Let the light of Christ shine on all people.

- That in our day justice may flourish and peace come to the entire world, let us pray: R/ Let the light of Christ shine on all people.

- That God's people may hear the poor when they cry, have pity on the weak and open their hearts and hands to the needy, let us pray: R/ Let the light of Christ shine on all people.

- That those who persecute the Lord in those who try to follow him may see his light and be converted, let us pray: R/ Let the light of Christ shine on all people.

- That all who look for a star to guide them may discover the goodness of the Lord in people full of faith and love, let us pray: R/ Let the light of Christ shine on all people.

- That in our Christian communities we may learn, like the wise men, to share the treasures of our goods and hearts, let us pray: R/ Let the light of Christ shine on all people.

Lord our God, we rejoice that you have become near to us in Jesus your Son. Let him be our light of life now and for ever. R/ Amen.

Procession for the Preparation of the Gifts

The procession could stress the theme of the light and the gifts by having not only bread and wine brought forward but also lights and incense, the latter not merely in the usual thurible but in a larger incense burner.

Prayer over the Gifts

God our Father,
we have no gold to offer you
but merely the poverty of our hearts
and the incense of our praise and thanks.
Fill us with the presence of Jesus,
and let him be the light
that guides our wavering steps.
And let us be humble lights too
that show to those who see them
the way to the light of the world,
Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

Christ shows himself today to us as the light and meaning of our lives and as the star of salvation of all peoples. Let us thank the Father with Jesus and pray that one day all may sit at the table of the Lord.

Invitation to the Lord's Prayer

Jesus came to gather all
as children of one Father.
In our Lord's owns words
we pray now to our Father in heaven: R/ Our Father...

Prayer for Peace

Lord Jesus Christ,
let the star of your peace rise today
on the body of the Church
and on all who believe in you.
In its light, may we learn
to love and to serve one another
and to share the joy of your peace
with all willing to accept it,
now and for ever. R/ Amen.

Invitation to Communion

This is Jesus, the Son of God
and the guiding star of our lives.
Happy are we to be called
to share his table
and to bring his light to all. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

Prayer after Communion

Lord God, our Father,
you have shown us your Son today
in the words he spoke to us
and in the bread of life
by which he shared himself with us.
Let his light shine in us,
the light of our hope and our joy,
that our communities and all of us
may show forth his goodness and peace
for all to see.
We ask this through the light of our lives,
Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Blessing

Today we too have seen the star of Jesus.
How deeply he lights up our life!
Don't keep him to yourself,
but give him to your neighbor far and near
by the way you love him and live his life.
To us is entrusted the mission to make him
the light and star of everyone on earth.
Let his star shine in you
with the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

Go in the peace of Christ
and walk in his light. R/ Thanks be to God.

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