The Epiphany of the Lord
- Rev. Juan M. Hernandez Rivera MG
- Jan 5
- 3 min read
Cycle C
Homily on January 5, 2025.
The Hope That Iluminates
Once again friends, sharing a short homily. Today we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord, a feast that is marking the end of our Christmas season. Reading and meditating on today's readings, we find a deep joy described in them and at different times. In the first reading the prophet Isaiah comes to speak to us of the great joy that the promised land will have, where all will come to see him, where no one will be excluded from visiting it, the promise of the prophet is great, the light that will illuminate the world will make the heart enlarge and rejoice. Then we listen to the letter to the Ephesians, where St. Paul continues to speak of a promise that we can now all see. This promise of revelation is in our Lord Jesus.
St. Paul makes it clear that the promise in the past is found in Jesus and that it will no longer be necessary to wait for further revelation, because in Jesus every promise of God is fulfilled. And finally in the Gospel, we hear the story of three wise men who go to worship the Lord Jesus, offering him the gifts that identify him as our Lord, as king, as son of God and saviour of the world. But we also hear of one man's concern about losing his position and his power, where he tries to use his skills to deceive and benefit himself in order not to lose his rank, but he does not succeed, for the wisdom given by God cannot be compared to the lies and trickery of the evil ones.
Reading and meditating on these readings, I was thinking that it is very easy to want to be cunning and lie like Herod to benefit oneself, to take advantage of the innocent, probably the easiest thing in the world. And it is more difficult to look for a light in the world to guide our way, because to follow this light implies, firstly, patience to see it, secondly, the capacity to be amazed, because without this we would only see it as something else in the space where we live. Thirdly, trust in the knowledge that it is still there in spite of the darkness or the storms that make it impossible to see. And that is the big difference between the 3 wise men and Herod. The first ones chose the hard way, they decided to see, reflect and follow that light, they did not look for who would be their accomplice in their evil plans as Herod looked for those teachers of the law wanting to find answers for his benefit.
The three wise men, decided to take the risk to go and walk to meet that light, they did not wait, their heart moved them to go and look for what that light announced. And what they found was more than the light announced, they found the saviour, probably their hearts were enlarged and filled with joy as the prophet mentioned in the first reading. They now saw the promise of the revelation that God had made to all his people and they now received the grace to see our Lord Jesus as St. Paul also mentioned. Their heart is now content, the grace revealed has moved them to worship, they have met the Saviour, they know that light only guided them for a moment, for the truth was revealed to them in Jesus.
Finally, friends, the invitation today is not to lose that hope that comes with our Lord Jesus. It is true that many times the road can be long, the darkness can make us feel that we are on our own, the distractions on the road can be a difficulty, the people who can deceive us and distract us from the way to the Lord. However, we must not forget that the Lord always waits for us, that he remains with us and that the hope that comes with him allows us to live with dignity, makes us experience a joy in our heart, makes it bigger, and moreover this joy is not like the joy of the world which is only momentary, but remains in our heart and cannot be changed by superficiality.
And finally, in this 2025, may we continue to live in the hope of having met Jesus, to be part of his project and to let ourselves be guided by the wisdom that comes after we have had an encounter with him.
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