Franciscan Friday: 5 Reasons Epiphany Matters

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Fr. Jason Welle (OFM) breaks it down:

1. Nature obeys Christ from before his birth and speaks a message of hope.
– By the light of a star, those who worshipped the stars learned to worship the Sun of Justice and to know the Dawn from on High.

2. The magi come to do homage.

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– They ask nothing of the newborn king but make free offerings to him. They worship not to prompt reward; their offering flows solely from their joy.

How often do we worship in this way?

3. The magi are a new beginning.
– They represent the journey of humanity toward Christ, the inner aspirations of the human spirit. All true worship and human reason flow toward him.

4. The magi leave by another road.
– After meeting Christ, their former path will not suffice. Do we allow the Christ child to change us?

5. We still don’t know who the magi were and that’s the point.
– Tradition gives them names, but all Scripture says is that they were magi from the East. Wise people still seek Christ and we all live east of somewhere.

Fr. Jason Welle (OFM) is a Franciscan friar of the Assumption BVM Province. He currently resides at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington DC, where he pursues a Ph.D. in Georgetown University’s Religious Pluralism program, focusing on Christianity and Islam. A friend of Franciscan Mission Service, he leads training sessions and celebrates Mass for our missioners in training.