Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Today we celebrate this Feast of Epiphany.
And the word Epiphany means manifestation or appearance.
And so today is the celebration of the manifestation of the Son of God on earth.
And not only to the chosen people, the Israelites, but to the Gentiles as well, to the whole world.
And this, of course, is symbolized in the three wise men who come to visit our Lord.
The scripture talks about there being a light.
First of all, the state of the world being in a condition of darkness and in need of enlightenment.
And it speaks of the coming of our Lord as the light coming to dispel the darkness.
Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem, for thy light has come, and the glory of the Lord is upon thee.
This is from the first reading.
Isaiah.
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth and amiss the people.
And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising.
The darkness refers to sin and error.
Sin, which is a weakness of man's will.
We could say the wickedness of man's will.
While error was that not knowing the truth.
The truth about God and about man.
About why we're here and where we are supposed to be going and the way to get there.
And so it's our Lord who comes as the light.
As our Lord said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
He reveals to us the truth about God.
He reveals to us the truth about man, about ourselves.
He explains to us where we are going.
And the way to get there.
Pope Benedict XVI, in his encyclical, Spe Salvi, on the theological virtue of hope.
Takes this scene of the adoration of the Magi.
And compares it to the situation of the world today.
He says the two are very similar.
He starts off in paragraph 5 by taking a quote from St. Gregory Nazianzen.
And he says,
That at the very moment when the Magi, guided by the star,
Adored Christ the new king,
Astrology came to an end.
Astrology came to an end.
That is, the wise men had used astrology as their means
To discern the answers to the ultimate questions of life.
To explain why we are here,
Where it is we are to be going,
And the way to get there.
And St. Gregory points out that with the coming of Christ,
This all comes to an end.
Christ, the true light,
Which enlightens every man that comes into the world.
The Pope continues,
This scene, in fact, overturns the world view of that time,
Which in a different way has become fashionable once again today.
That is, a materialistic view of the universe, of our own lives.
Denying any spiritual realities,
The existence of God,
Life after death.
To try and explain all things in a natural way,
As everything proceeding blindly under the influence of natural forces.
Evolution, for example.
And as a result, we've all come to the,
Well, not all of us,
But many have come to the discernment that
There is no meaning in life.
Nihilism, so widespread today.
All is meaningless and nothing.
The Pope continues,
It is not the elemental spirits of the universe,
The laws of matter,
Which ultimately govern the world and mankind.
But a personal God governs the stars,
That is, the universe.
And this is what Christ reveals.
This is what this episode of the Adoration of the Magi reveals.
That God is the one who governs the universe.
And he governs mankind as well.
It's the miracle of the star.
A miracle produced by God,
That led the Magi to Bethlehem.
So God is in charge of the physical universe.
And it's also an intervention by God,
Which directed the Magi,
By means of their dream,
Not to return to Herod,
But to return to their country,
By another route.
A personal God is in charge,
Not blind forces of nature.
It is not the laws of matter and of evolution
That have the final say,
But a reason, will, love, a person.
And if we know this person,
And he knows us,
Then truly the inexorable power of material elements
No longer has the last word.
We are not slaves of the universe,
And of its laws,
But we are free.
You see, if we know this person,
If we come to find the child and his mother,
As the Magi did,
It is the seed of eternal life.
As the scripture says,
Now this is eternal life,
That they may know thee,
The only true God,
And Jesus Christ,
Whom he has sent.
And upon knowing this person,
We are free.
And this is what our God,
Our Lord came for,
To free us from sin and from error.
And you shall know the truth,
And the truth will set you free.
Life is not a simple product of laws
And the randomness of matter,
But within everything,
And at the same time above everything,
There is a personal will,
There is a spirit,
Who in Jesus has revealed himself as love.
You see how the truth,
And love,
Go together.
God is love,
And God is the truth.
And this is what we find,
As we make our way to the grotto of Bethlehem.
Now,
We notice that there are more people than usual here,
For this Epiphany Mass.
And we can say that,
It is the stars in heaven,
That have led you all here.
It is the saints in heaven,
Those who have found the Christ.
Those who have lived,
According to the truth,
And loved,
According to the truth.
So today,
Let's turn to these,
Our new protectors this year,
To be our guides,
To bring us always into contact,
With Christ and his Holy Mother.
In the name of the Father,
And of the Son,
And of the Holy Spirit.
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Many people don't accept the truth about Jesus Christ as the truth.
I'm afraid that we won't have time to reject the truth,