Jan 5 — Epiphany of the Lord
Epiphany, also known as Theophany in Eastern Christian traditions, is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God incarnate as Jesus Christ.
In Western Christianity, the feast commemorates principally (but not solely) the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child, and thus Jesus Christ’s physical manifestation to the Gentiles. It is sometimes called Three Kings’ Day, and in some traditions celebrated as Little Christmas. Moreover, the feast of the Epiphany, in some denominations, also initiates the liturgical season of Epiphanytide.
Eastern Christians, on the other hand, commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, seen as his manifestation to the world as the Son of God. The spot marked by Al-Maghtas in Jordan, adjacent to Qasr al-Yahud in the West Bank, is considered to be the original site of the baptism of Jesus and the ministry of John the Baptist. The traditional date for the feast is January 6. However, since 1970, the celebration is held in some countries on the Sunday after January 1. Those Eastern Churches which are still following the Julian calendar observe the feast on what, according to the internationally used Gregorian calendar, is January 19, because of the current 13-day difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars.
- Wikipedia
Is 60:1-6
Eph 3:2-3,5-6
Mt 2:1-12
…your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines on you though night still covers the earth and darkness the peoples. Above you the Lord still rises and above you his glory appears. The nations come to your light and kings to your dawning brightness.
Especially during the Christmas season, LIGHT is all around. Generosity, kindness, goodness just flowing, overflowing even, all around. Happy people. Yummy treats. Warmth. Shared meals. Laughter, hugs, kindness to strangers (and even family!). Everything lit up and glowing this time of year. Even people seem to shine with an inner light…of goodness.
And then, just like that, it’s back to the common actions of self, self, self. Even most Christians don’t celebrate the TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS. They take down and pack up the Christmas decorations before the first of the year — the secular year — and stop celebrating the Christmas season within a day or two of 25 December.
It’s the way of the 21st century — the age of enlightenment. We created humans proudly boast of our enlightenment. Enlightened by our own ‘light’, we have moved ourselves out of the darkness — or so we want and/or are led to believe. How has the enemy made us believe that darkness is light and light is…old-fashioned?
We Christmas people, we Easter people should be living in the light, not the darkness. And yet, we don’t. Oftentimes, we too, live in a darkness of our choosing. Why do we buy into the lie of the enemy when we KNOW the light? The enemy is the opposite of LIGHT – but not an equal. It is my selfishness that gives the enemy power over me. And the manipulation of the enemy easily has me believe that there is light within me without God. Of course he doesn’t say those words; no, he speaks to me in the same way that he spoke to Eve and Adam. And he only needs to whisper, for me to hear him when I freely step out of the light into the darkness. And I know better — I know that the words of the enemy are eternal darkness, death itself — no matter how twinkling the lights around his words are.
So this Sunday of the EPHIPANY of the Lord (the day the Church acknowledges the revelation of Jesus to the Gentiles represented by the visit of the Three Wise Men to the infant Jesus) is the perfect time of year to reflect on the LIGHT – and acknowledge that we are not the light – that we have no light (of our own) inside us to lay claim on. That we, the created, are in the dark and cannot create, manifest or invent light. God, our loving Creator, IS the LIGHT, and that fact alone should give us peace, and joy. Great peace, because that means that we are not here to do something we are incapable of — to save ourselves or anyone else. The LIGHT that is given freely to us, that lives in us, gives us the freedom to live in love — to live in THE LIGHT. Full-out gratitude at all times is how we should be living! So, rejoice and be glad! Of course, circumstances can bring great darkness, but we are still to rejoice and be glad in God — He is always LIGHT. Always. Even when we can’t rejoice in temporary dark circumstances, we are called to rejoice in GOD, who overcomes all circumstances. As scripture tells us in Psalm 139:12, “even the darkness is not dark to You. The night is bright as the day for darkness is as light with You.”
Every day we can CHOOSE LIGHT. In the words of Dr. Peter Kreeft, “If you want what I am, I will give it to you. If you want light and life and love, the light of truth and the love that is a participation in the very life of God, the love that is his very being, the love that I will show you in my life and death, the self-forgetful, self-giving love that is life’s supreme meaning — if that is what you want, then that is what you shall get. If you want something else, go to somebody else. For that is what I am and that is what I offer to you — myself.”
(Today’s OXYGEN by Gina Ulicny)
Prayer: Father God, give us the grace to walk in Your light, and the awareness to always turn from darkness.
Thanksgiving: Lord God of all, thank You for being the Light that never goes out.
OXYGEN 
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