Adoration of the Magi
Jan de Bray [Web Gallery of Art]
In most countries where English is widely used The Epiphany is celebrated on this Sunday, 5 January 2020. However, in Ireland, where it is a holy day of obligation, the feast is observed on its traditional date, 6 January.
Readings
(New American Bible:
Philippines, USA)
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
Gospel Matthew 2:1-12 (New Revised
Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)
In
the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from
the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the
child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its
rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all
Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of
the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be
born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been
written by the prophet:
“And
you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.”’
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.”’
Then
Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact
time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to
Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have
found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there,
ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it
stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the
star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his
mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their
treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod,
they left for their own country by another road.
Matthew 2:1-12 in Filipino Sign Language
While based in Britain from 2000 till 2002 I was
able to spend Christmas with my brother and his family in Dublin, a short
flight from England, in 2000 and 2001. During the holiday in 2001 I saw a
documentary on RTÉ, Ireland's national broadcasting service, about Filipino
nurses in Ireland. These began to arrive in 2000, initially at the invitation
of the Irish government to work in government hospitals. Very quickly there was
an 'invasion' of Filipino nurses and carers, now to be found in hospitals and
nursing homes in every part of the country.
One of the nurses interviewed told how many
Filipinos, knowing that the Irish celebrate Christmas on the 25th, unlike the
Philippines where the culmination of the feast is on the night of the 24th,
offered to work on Christmas Day so that their Irish companions could be with
their families. This also helped to dull the pain of being away from their own
families.
I was moved to tears at the testimony of one nurse,
from Mindanao as I recall, speaking about her job and her first Christmas in
Ireland in 2000. She spoke very highly of her employers, of her working
conditions and of her accommodation, which she contrasted with that of the Holy
Family on the first Christmas night. She spoke of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in
this situation as if they were members of her own family, as in a very deep
sense they are, or we of their family.
Here was a young woman from the
East powerfully proclaiming, without being aware of it, that the
Word became flesh and lived among us. The fact that she wasn't aware of it,
that she was speaking about her 'next door neighbours', made her proclamation
of faith all the more powerful. She would have known many in her own place, and
very likely knew from her own experience, something of what Joseph and Mary
went through in Bethlehem. Her faith in the Word who became
flesh and lived among us wasn't something in her head but part of her
very being.
For much of the last century thousands of Catholic
priests, religious Sisters and Brothers left Europe and North America to preach
and live the Gospel in the nations of Africa, Asia and South America. Some of
the countries and regions from which they left, eg, Belgium, the Netherlands,
Ireland, Quebec, have to a great extent lost or even rejected the Catholic
Christian faith. The Jewish people had, in faith, awaited the coming of the
Messiah for many centuries. But when He came it was uneducated shepherds who
first recognised him and later Simeon and Anna, two devout and elderly Jews who
spent lengthy periods in prayer in the Temple.
Today's feast highlights wise men from the east, not 'believers' in the Jewish sense, led by God's special grace to Bethlehem to bring gifts in response to that grace, explaining, We . . . have come to pay him homage.They reveal to us that God calls people from every part of the world to do the same and to bring others with them.
Will nurses from the Philippines and from Kerala in India, migrants from Korea and Vietnam, from the east, bring the gift of faith in Jesus Christ once again to the many people in Western Europe and North America who no longer know him in any real sense? Will they by the lives they lead as working immigrants gently invite those in the West who have lost the precious gift of our Catholic Christian faith to once again come to pay him homage?
Today's feast highlights wise men from the east, not 'believers' in the Jewish sense, led by God's special grace to Bethlehem to bring gifts in response to that grace, explaining, We . . . have come to pay him homage.They reveal to us that God calls people from every part of the world to do the same and to bring others with them.
Will nurses from the Philippines and from Kerala in India, migrants from Korea and Vietnam, from the east, bring the gift of faith in Jesus Christ once again to the many people in Western Europe and North America who no longer know him in any real sense? Will they by the lives they lead as working immigrants gently invite those in the West who have lost the precious gift of our Catholic Christian faith to once again come to pay him homage?
Vidimus stellam
Music by William Byrd, sung by The Cardinall's Musick
Antiphona ad Communionem Communion Antiphon Cf Matthew 2:2
Vidimus stellam eius in Oriente,
et venimus cum muneribus adorare Dominum.
We have seen his star in the East,
and have come with gifts to adore the Lord.
Adoration of the Magi
Francisco de Zurbarán [Web Gallery of Art]
1 comment:
Indeed Filipinos from the East are bringing back the faith to Europe and America. They now fill churches there and recently the Holy Father began a truly Filipino tradition of dawn novena Masses for Christmas. God has not abandoned His people in the West but bringing people from the East to restore their lost or waning faith. Modesto P. Sa-onoy
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