I have come to see this week that we are in as an octave of the Epiphany, though you aren’t likely to find that referenced in any sort of recent Church document (at least not anything published since the mid-1950’s). I came to adopt this personal perspective as a way to wrap my head around the timing of the Christmas season and the realization that this is perhaps one of the most misunderstood and under-appreciated periods of the Church year.
For all intents and purposes Christmas music stopped playing on the 26th, and at that point the world stopped looking a lot like Christmas even though the season had hardly begun.
Unfortunately, we are not immune to following the tone of the world around us, which can cause us to slip from the Christmas spirit and fall into the spirit of the mundane. When this happens, we miss out on the full effect of the hope and joy that can be made manifest through the Epiphany.
There are actually three major events that we celebrate under the umbrella of the Epiphany (or the Theophany as we may hear from the Eastern Rites of the Church): the Visit of the Magi that we celebrated last Sunday, the Baptism of the Lord that we will celebrate this coming Sunday, and the Wedding Feast of Cana (which is the Gospel reading for the following Sunday). Each of these events were revelations of hope and joy to the world that can in turn strengthen virtues of hope and joy in our lives.
True to the season, today's readings seem to fall under this theme of Epiphany, reminding us that the true revelation of Christ is to be found in the Sacramental life of the Church, particularly, the water and blood that flows from the side of Christ on the Cross, representative of the Sacraments He instituted, ultimately the fount of Divine Mercy. It is a reminder that it is through the Sacramental life of the Church that we have true life, true hope, true joy, and true healing.
On Christmas Eve, our Holy Father opened the first set of Holy Doors to kick off the Jubilee Year of Pilgrims of Hope. Our Holy Father has called this Jubilee to be a restoration of a climate of hope, trust, renewal, and rebirth, particularly from a sacramental perspective.
He said, "Tonight, the door of hope has opened wide to the world" and "God speaks to each of us and says: 'there is hope also for you!'"
He said, "We can truly say: Hope is not dead; hope is alive and it embraces our lives forever!”
"With haste, therefore," he said, "let us set out to behold the Lord who is born for us, our hearts joyful and attentive, ready to meet him and then to bring hope to the way we live our daily lives. For Christian hope is not a 'happy ending' which we passively await, but rather, a promise, the Lord’s promise, to be welcomed here and now in our world of suffering and sighs."
Whether you are joining us on our Jubilee Pilgrimage to Rome in September, going to Rome with another group or perhaps on your own, or planning to participate locally at one of the nine Jubilee sites designated by Archbishop Rozanski, this is your invitation to allow yourself to fully enter into the true spirit of the Jubilee. Make this Jubilee your year of Sacramental rebirth and renewal. Make this Jubilee the year you truly experience the hope and healing we can only receive from Jesus Christ through the Sacramental life of the Church. May this Jubilee be a series of personal epiphanies for you that you may come to possess the Lord through the Eucharist in ever more powerful ways, increasingly praising the Lord with your entire being.
Our Holy Father concluded his Papal Bull announcing the Jubilee with the following: "Through our witness, may hope spread to all those who anxiously seek it. May the way we live our lives say to them in so many words: 'Hope in the Lord! Hold firm, take heart and hope in the Lord!' (Ps 27:14). May the power of hope fill our days, as we await with confidence the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and glory, now and forever."
Thanks be to God!
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