Feast of the Epiphany
Reflection
Epiphanies usually tend to be private events. God’s truth is available to all people and Epiphany is the revelation of God to us. Most of us keep our personal experiences of the Holy to ourselves. Epiphanies are impossible to communicate fully and they usually flow out of the journey of our lives. All who seek God with a sincere heart are led to God shining through our human experiences. If we are attentive, we may find ourselves traveling in another direction and finding a new place.
Prayer
May I continue on my journey of discovery and transformation.
Action
How can you translate your personal epiphanies into your normal life? Try to understand the ways in which people express their search for God.
Suggested Reading
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod,
behold, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.”
Matthew 2: 1 -12
We are like the three Wise Men who journeyed to Jesus. Now, like those Wise Men, we return to the world from which we came, to the everyday life where we will witness to what we have seen.
John Paul II
And when they came and knelt down, they only did what they had in reality always been doing during their search and journey: they brought before the face of the invisible God now made visible, the gold of their love, the incense of their reverence, and the myrrh of their suffering.
Karl Rahner
Epiphany not only ends Christmas, it also fulfills it by celebrating the revelation of the Christ to the whole world. The light of the Epiphany illuminates the church’s year as it illuminates the human race from whom the kings came.
Phyllis A. Tickle
Without the quest, there can be no epiphany.
Constantine E. Scaros
Long after the angels disappear into the heavens, the shepherds return to their flocks, the Magi journey home and the great star sets, Jesus remains.
Connections
Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
You don’t create your mission in life – you detect it.
Viktor Frankl
Trust in what you love, continue to do it, and it will take you where you need to go.
Natalie Goldberg
Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we have learned here. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and the acceptance of love back into our hearts.
Marianne Williamson
It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.
Winston Churchill
A bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn.
Unknown