Wednesday, January 06, 2021

Epiphany

 

Is it a coincidence that disastrous events in our nation have fallen on this day?

Today the Church celebrates the Epiphany.  According to Dom Gueranger in The Liturgical Year, January 6th was a date for celebrating the Nativity of the Lord until the year 376, when the Holy See decreed that the Nativity was to be restored to December 25th.  Since January 6th was a pagan Roman celebration of a triple triumph of the Emperor Augustus, the Church replaced this celebration with the triple triumph of the immortal King whose divinity was manifested today: the adoration of the Magi, representing the Vocation of the Gentiles; the Baptism of the Lord, when the Voice from Heaven acknowledged Him as the beloved Son of God; and the miracle of the water and wine at the wedding of Cana.

The point about today is that it is about the divine Kingship of Jesus Christ.  This Kingship we as a nation have explicitly rejected.  Even the overwhelming majority of Catholic bishops seem to have rejected it.  Today’s events are the result of this rejection.  We wanted to have things all our own way, and God is honoring our desire.

But maybe we have been allowed to reach our tipping point today, of all days, so that we could be reminded of our duty, and of what could be if we would turn to God instead of rebelling against Him.

None of us has any control over what the Great and the Powerful do — it becomes increasingly clear that We the People never did.  But we do have control over what we ourselves do.

We ourselves can repent and convert.  And pray the Rosary every single day.  It has not been laden with extraordinary graces for nothing.