Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
My dear friends, today we celebrate the solemnity of the Epiphany.
The word Epiphany means revelation.
We have a revelation of God, a theophany, as it were.
When there's a revelation of God, it's also called a theophany.
Theo meaning God, and phonis, revelation, just like the word epiphany.
A revelation, a great revelation.
As I mentioned there in the beginning, from the Responsorial Psalm,
all the nations of the earth will come and adore Jesus Christ.
My dear friends, in these difficult times in which we live,
we are very blessed to be where we are now and to have faith in Jesus Christ.
All the problems of the world today are because people have turned away from Jesus Christ.
They've turned away from God, and they will not be happy
until they turn.
They will not be happy until they turn and rest in God, as St. Augustine says.
Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.
And until the world comes back to God, there will be no peace.
So today we have this great revelation to the Gentiles.
The three kings were pagans.
They were good men, and because they were good men with good dispositions, God revealed
to them a great secret, as it were.
His coming of His beloved Son, the Messiah, the King of the world.
And they saw the star, and they came with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
This was all predicted, as it were, from the Scriptures.
Jesus fulfills all the Scriptures of the Bible.
We see from the first reading of the prophet Isaiah,
Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem, for the light has come, and the
glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
The inhabitants of Israel will come, all from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense,
and showing forth praise to the Lord.
So this would be revealed to the Gentiles, and they would also come, all from Saba.
And the book of Numbers, in which a pagan prophet, Balaam, prophesied, a star shall
rise out of Jacob.
And a scepter shall spring up from Israel.
And we see in the responsorial psalm, And all the kings of the earth shall adore
him.
All nations shall serve him.
This is, my friends, an incredible revelation.
Hitherto, as you know, the Jews were the chosen people.
And for thousands, two thousand years or so, they were given, prepared for the coming of
the Messiah.
They were given all the Scriptures about the Messiah.
That's why it's kind of ironic, in a way, very ironic, that now that he's here, and
he's over in Bethlehem, as it were, and the three kings come, and they say, we've come
to see the newborn king of the Jews.
And Herod says to the chief priests, where is he to be born?
And they said, Bethlehem.
And now Bethlehem shall be the least of the towns.
For from thee shall come the Messiah.
And you would think that the chief priests would want to go over and see what was going
on.
But they don't.
Herod also pretends, as you know, pretends to be interested in the Messiah.
But he's not interested in the Messiah or the king of the Jews, except to kill him,
as we'll find out.
This is also appropriate, not appropriate, but symbolic of our own times.
We see in the world today.
How many people are waiting for Jesus Christ?
How many are welcoming him on Christmas Day?
How many are living good lives to prepare for the coming of Jesus in their lives?
And especially at the end of their death and for the presence of Jesus when they come to
be judged?
How many people are really waiting on Jesus?
We see the Jews are represented by many, many Catholics today.
Who are indifferent.
They don't care.
Christmas is just another season for them.
It's not anything so great, lights and candles and so on.
They're not interested in peace on earth, the men of goodwill.
They're not obedient to the commandments.
They're not practicing their faith.
They're like the Jews who are indifferent.
Herod, of course, the Herods of the world are indifferent to Christ and hateful of Christ.
They want to destroy.
Christ.
They want to expunge Christ from Christmas.
And that's why we have what we call Xmas, which is really kind of, again, ironic.
What does Xmas mean?
It doesn't mean Christmas like we do mean it.
And that's what we have in the world.
They don't want to have Christmas trees.
They want to have seasonal trees or whatever else they have.
And you know, it's politically incorrect to have anything say happy, you say happy seasons
and so on.
And we say Merry Christmas.
So we see a world that doesn't care about God.
And here, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is being born among us.
And he's revealed to pagans.
Think about it.
Good pagans who, because of their good lives, they are given the privilege of being the
ones who welcome Jesus.
They come from afar.
Who knows how far they traveled?
How long it took them?
And they bring him wonderful gifts.
And they kneel down and give him treasures.
St. John Chrysostom tells us, for by gold, the power of a king is signified, by frankincense,
the honor of God, by myrrh, the burial of the body.
And accordingly, they will give him gold as king, frankincense as God, and myrrh as man.
So we can give God the same thing.
We can give God, Jesus Christ, we may not have gold, but we can give him gold, the gold of
our charity.
The gold of our charity by being charitable to others.
The frankincense of our adoration in our prayers.
So whenever we say a prayer to the Lord, or whenever we adore him, we give him frankincense.
As we see with today, we have the incense in the, in the, in the mass today.
Right.
with the gospel here today we have the insensation which is a wonderful thing because this gospel we
do it because this is the good news and the good news is that jesus christ is born jesus christ is
our savior jesus christ is established his church of which we're members and of which how blessed
we are how blessed we are to be in the catholic church and then we give jesus the myrrh as our god
the myrrh of our suffering and our sacrifices and we can give god we don't have to have these
special gifts some people might say i don't have any gold i don't have any frankincense
i don't have any myrrh i don't even know what myrrh is all right people will say i all right
i don't think i've ever seen myrrh to tell you the truth
truth but we can do that as i've just said the gold of our charity the frankincense of our prayers
and the myrrh of our sacrifices there's a lot as i said to learn here in this particular
feast day but especially i'd like to think about bring you bring to your attention how blessed you
are to be in the catholic church how blessed we are recently i've been preparing a talk on
you know the theology of the church and i'm going to talk about three things a little bit
of the님이ac community is a community of people that i think that are important to you and i'm not
Outside the church, there is no salvation.
And we can see that illustrated in today's liturgy,
how people who will not believe in Jesus Christ,
the Jews are indifferent.
They don't care.
Herod, the Herods of the world
don't want to belong to the church of Jesus Christ.
They hate the church of Jesus Christ.
And we see how God will come to the pagans,
those people of good faith and reveal to them,
which is a explicit teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas,
that God will reveal to good people
the truths of the church
and show good people how the Catholic church
is the true church.
If they live good lives
and if they're awaiting the coming of God
and keeping the natural law.
So that's an important point.
I recommend that you do a little Google search
on your computer.
Outside the church, there is no salvation.
You will be amazed at this doctrine.
It's so important for us to be in the Catholic church.
And that's what this feast is all about.
Where else are we going to get salvation
except in Jesus Christ?
Jesus Christ, who's come to save us from our sins.
St. Anthony Mary Claret says
that this is why Protestants should be
and others, schismatics and Jews and everybody
should be in the Catholic church.
Where else are they going to get rid of their mortal sins?
Think about the heavy burden
that so many people carry around with themselves
their whole lives.
Maybe they've been addicted to some sin.
They've committed some terrible sin
and they carry upon themselves the guilt
of that sin.
Where can you get your sins forgiven
except with Jesus Christ?
The Lord said to the apostles,
whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven.
Whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.
No other faith has the forgiveness of sins.
They laugh at it.
They criticize it.
They think we've got a confession machine
or a forgiveness machine or so on and so on.
They mock it.
And yet we, when we come to humble confession,
know that it's the most wonderful thing in the world.
When we leave the confessional box
and after receiving the sacrament of penance,
we know absolutely that our sins are forgiven.
This is the most wonderful thing.
All our guilt, all our sins are wiped away
with the absolution of the priest.
I absolve thee in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
What a wonderful thing.
How many churches have that?
How many churches have the mass that we have today?
The mass, the greatest act of worship there is.
They have sola scriptura, these churches.
They only believe in the Bible and faith.
But as St. James says, faith without good works is nothing.
And sola scriptura, they believe in the Bible,
but they don't practice what the Bible tells them.
Because the Lord says,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.
How are they going to get the life of grace in them
if they do not have the Eucharist?
And how blessed we are to have the body and blood of Christ
in our sacraments.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has life everlasting,
and I will raise him up on the last day.
I am the living bread that has come down from heaven,
if anyone eat this bread, he shall live forever.
And the bread I give is my flesh for the life of the world.
When you think about it, many of the people
who don't recognize Jesus Christ as God and his church
criticize that, right?
They say it's whatever, I don't know what they say.
They don't believe it, that's for sure.
They mock it.
They may say it's a symbol, but they don't say, as we know,
it is truly, as the church teaches,
the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ.
And if you don't believe that, anathema to you, the church says.
You must believe that.
So this all comes together today in a way,
a little bit of an allegory of our times
and the Catholic Church,
and how many people don't believe in Jesus Christ.
They don't believe in his church.
And will they save their souls?
They refuse to study the church.
They refuse to acknowledge their church.
Many of them know about the Catholic Church and its teachings,
but they laugh at them.
They laugh at the teachings of Jesus Christ.
And yet if they read the scriptures, they're all there.
Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven.
That's what the Lord said.
And he told us he'd give us his body and blood.
Unless you eat that body and blood,
and blood of Jesus Christ,
you shall not have life in you.
So this is all part of the great epiphany,
the revelation to the Gentiles.
How the Gentiles will be given the truth.
And they come and they worship the newborn King.
The newborn King who is the Messiah,
who is the Son of God, who is Jesus Christ,
the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings,
who has come to establish his kingdom on earth and his church.
And he wants all to come,
go there, baptize all nations in the name of the Father and the Son.
And unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
So this is why we need to pray for people.
Our Lady at Fatima says that we must pray and sacrifice for souls.
I always thought that that sacrifice was making little mortifications
and giving up candy,
or giving up this or giving up that.
Sacrifice, doing your duties, and it is.
But it also is sacrifice in a way,
going out and sacrificing your time
and practicing the corporal works of mercy to convert people.
We know the spiritual works of mercy, I mean.
We practice the corporal works of mercy,
feed the hungry, clothed the naked,
give drink to the thirsty.
What about the spiritual works of mercy?
St. John Chrysostom says they are more important than the corporal.
As you know, many people around today
don't need the corporal works of mercy as some,
especially here in America.
Alright?
But they need the spiritual
to counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant,
admonish the sinner.
Are we doing that?
Are we sacrificing ourselves
and telling people about the joys of the Catholic Church?
Outside of which there is no salvation.
Alright?
Look that up in your little Google.
Only in the Church, the Catholic Church,
outside the Church, there is no salvation.
And Google that and you'll see
pages and pages of teachings from the councils,
from the fathers of the Church,
from various theologians.
How important that is.
How important that is.
Because there's people who are out in the world,
they think they're in the right Church,
they think they're adoring God,
but they're not adoring Jesus Christ as He wants to be.
In fact, many churches don't even believe Jesus Christ is God.
Alright?
And of course they don't believe in the blessed Trinity,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
How are they going to be saved?
That's your purpose.
To go out and instruct them and tell them.
Admonish the sinner, instruct the doubtful.
Pray for souls.
That's another spiritual work of mercy.
We need to pray for our world, my friends,
as Our Lady said at Fatima,
is in desperate trouble.
Pray and sacrifice yourselves
for the salvation of souls.
May the Lord bless you.
Announcement of Easter and movable feasts for use January 6, 2013.
Know, dear brethren,
that as we have rejoiced in nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ,
so by leave of God's mercy,
we announce to you also the joy of the resurrection,
who is our Savior.
On the 13th day of February
will fall Ash Wednesday
and the beginning of the fast of most sacred Lenten season.
On the 31st of March,
you will celebrate with joy
Easter Day,
the Paschal Feast of our Lord Jesus Christ.
On the 9th day of May,
it has parentheses, 12 days,
so one of those,
depending on whether you do it on Thursday or Sunday,
will be the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.
On the 19th of May,
the Feast of Pentecost.
On the second day of June,
the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
On the first day of December,
the first Sunday of Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to whom is honor and glory forever and ever.
So in a way, what I've just told you is a summary
of the beautiful feasts of our Catholic Church
that we rejoice in and love
because they tell us about what Jesus has done for us,
to save us from our sins,
because Jesus has come to save us from our sins
in his Church.
May the Lord bless you.
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