Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12
O
ur celebration of the Epiphany this Sunday is one of the most significant feasts of the whole Christmas season. In " The Essential Advent and Christmas Handbook ," the authors define epiphany" as being from "the Greek word epiphaneia, which means "manifestation." The authors continue to note that "the term refers primarily to the feast of the Epiphany- and celebrates the manifestation of the Lord to all the world as represented by the Magi or the Three Kings." In Matthew 2:1-12, "Magi from the East arrived in Jerusalem" asking of King Herod where "the newborn King of Jews" was. Although news of Jesus' birth greatly troubled" King Herod, it brought joy and ful- fillment to the Magi and all those who would later seek Christ in faith as they did. The passage begins in verse 1 wherein St. Matthew tells us that "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea." The footnotes on this passage in "The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament" inform us that Bethlehem was "a small village south of Jerusalem" whose "He- brew name means 'House of Bread.'" The footnotes go on to explain that Bethlehem also "came to be known as 'The City of David' (because) - it is (also) the site where David was anointed king." The fact that the Hebrew name of Bethlehem means 'House of Bread' is significant because Jesus would later identify himself as "The Bread of Life" in John 6:48, explaining that he would become the Eucharist upon which God's people would feed and enjoy as spiritual sustenance. St. Matthew notes that Jesus "was born - in the days of King Herod" the Great. "The Catholic Bible Diction- ary" tells us that Herod was "King of Judea from 37-4 B.C." serving as one of the petty kings administering small portions of the Roman Empire. The authors of the text explain that "with considerable energy, Herod convinced (the Emperor) Augustus of his worthiness to remain as Rome's chief Pales- tinian client ruler" but, once confirmed as such, initiated a "tyrannical and at times paranoid regime" over the people of Israel. Herod's cunning and duplicity is reflected in Mat- thew 2:3-8. In "The Word on Fire Bible: The Gospels," Bishop Robert Barron ex- plains "under the pretense of piety, (Herod) called the Magi to himself and inquired after the star's first appearance and then he asked (the Magi) to go to Bethlehem and find the exact locale. Why? To stamp out this new baby king, this king who threat- ened to undermine Herod's tyrannical rule." But, who were the Magi who had appeared at King Herod's court? In "The Dic- tionary of The Bible," author John McKenzie explains that the Magi may have been "member(s) of the Persian priestly caste." He goes on to state that "their coming from 'the East' is vague, but probably Babylonia, in the New Testament, the traditional home of astrology, is meant." McKenzie also suggests that "the story of the Magi is primarily theological in interest and purpose. Jesus is presented as the King-Messiah of the Gentiles, recognized by the Gentiles but not his own people-" This is where, therefore, the Epiphany as "manifesta- tion" is shown. The Magi's long trek to Bethlehem from Babylon shows that Christ has been manifested as God to them and their journey reflects their faith in him.
T
he powerful temptation to build earthly king- doms has been a painful thorn lodged deep within the human psyche from ancient times to the present day. Kingdoms from Babylon to Persia, from Greece to Rome, from Ottoman Turkey to Great Britain, have come and gone. And the days of the modern kingdoms of the U.S., Russia and China are numbered as well. Yet, the powerful cling to their kingdoms at all costs - costs that have always crushed the weak, poor and vulnerable, and continue to do so to this day. From abortion to war - and the arms industry which feeds it - from poverty to hunger, from untreated sick- ness to euthanasia, from human trafficking to child labor, from homeless people on our streets to fleeing refugees waiting at our borders, from pollution to climate change, from corporate greed to militaristic nationalism countless fellow human beings are endur- ing tremendous suffering in a world that is largely indifferent to their cries - what Pope Francis calls the culture of indifference." Boldly challenging this "culture of indifference," the Holy Father repeatedly declares that we are morally obligated to justly meet the needs of the world's poor and vulnerable, and link them with the needs of our common earth home. In his cutting-edge environmental encyclical letter Laudato Si', On Care for Our Common Home," Pope Francis writes "Today, however, we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in de- bates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor" (see: https://bit. ly/3ejJ980). In hearing the cry of the earth, the pope warns, "A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the cli- matic system." Adding that "the problem is aggravated by a model of development based on the intensive use of fossil fuels" - that is coal, oil and gas. And in hearing the cry of poor, Francis astutely observes that living comfort- able lifestyles far removed from the poor, often leads to a "numbing of conscience" and to a cold impersonal analysis. "At times this atti- tude exists side by side with a 'green rhetoric.' '' In Laudato Si', Francis tries to awaken the consciences of all - especially the economi- cally and politically powerful - to the plight of the poor. He writes that in political and economic discussions the poor seem to be brought up as an afterthought. "Indeed, when all is said and done, they frequently remain at the bottom of the pile." All of this indifference and injustice is rooted in self-cen- tered decisions to build our national and individual kingdoms. The only remedy to this cold-hardness of heart and mesmerized path to self-destruction is a full rejection of "my kingdom come," and a full embrace of "Thy kingdom come!" Those of us desiring to build the kingdom of God need to be growing in the fruits of his Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faith- fulness, gentleness, self-control - and to actively use these fruits to end the suffering of our heavily bur- dened brothers and sisters and deeply wounded moth- er earth. And we need to tirelessly work to transform the "structures of sin" - as St. Pope John Paul II called them - which exist in our cultures, governments and corporations into structures aiding the building up of God's kingdom.
Giving ourselves to the Christchild Building God's kingdom in new year
DECEMBER 31, 2021 THE CATHOLIC FREE PRESS
COMMENTARY 5
SUNDAY'S GOOD NEWS Father Michael N. Lavallee MAKING A DIFFERENCE By Tony Magliano
FUNDAMENTALS OF CATHOLICISM I
T
he Nicene Creed embodies our official profession of faith as Roman Catholics. The three major sec- tions concern the Holy Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the final section we profess our faith in the Church, baptism, resurrection of the dead and eternal life. Let us reflect on our faith in the Church. If you think about it for a minute, it is truly astonish- ing that we say we believe in "the Church." Non-Catholic Christians do not look upon the Church as we do. For many of them, the Church is an historical "accident" not intended by Christ something that just happened after the death of Jesus. They do not look upon the Church as a structured body, a hierarchical institution or a perfect so- ciety that was founded by Christ on Peter, the "rock," and intended to perdure until the Second Coming of Jesus in glory. For the Catholic, however, the Church is all of that and more. The Church is also the pilgrim people of God on its way to the glory of the Father; it is the mystical body of Christ a body because it is structured, visible and histori- cal, and mystical because it is animated by the spirit of Jesus Christ; it is the bride of Christ which he loves and for which he offered his life; it is a holy temple composed of many parts; it is a sacred community, held together by one faith and one baptism, which operates through the seven sacraments given to her by her founder. No matter which image or images are used to describe the Church, none of them is completely adequate because the Church is a "mystery." This means that the total real- ity of the Church ultimately escapes the confines of hu- man concepts and images. The principle which makes the Church possible in the first place is from above, for the Church is from God and transcends the capacity of the human mind fully to comprehend it. In early Christian mosaics, the Church was often represented by Noah's Ark, the idea being that just as Noah and his family were saved from the flood by the ark, so also the Church is the only "ark" of salvation for us. Thus, we find St. Cyprian in the third century saying that "outside the Church there is no salvation," an idea that has been repeated in Church documents since that time (Vatican II, Constitution of the Church, 14). The formula was narrowly understood by Father Leonard Feeney in the late-1940s, but in clarify- ing the Church's position on the matter the Holy Office, in 1949, in a letter that was approved by Pope Pius XII, explained that those who are in a state of invincible ig- norance about the necessity of belonging to the Catholic Church can be saved if they have at least an implicit de- sire to enter the Church and if their hearts are informed with perfect charity. When we say that "we be- lieve in the Church" we are making the Church an object of supernatural and divine faith. When we believe in something by divine faith, this means we accept it as true on the word of God him- self who has revealed it to us. Thus, the very existence of the Church, including her essential structure and her outstanding characteristics, has been revealed to us by Jesus Christ. Accordingly, we profess our belief in the one Church of Jesus Christ when we pray the Nicene Creed. Since the Church was founded by Jesus, but on the human foundation of Peter and the other Apostles, it has both divine and human dimensions. Because the Church is also human, she has some defects - scandals that sometimes drive people away from her. But we must never forget that, with all the faults of her ministers and people, she is still the only bride of Christ. Above all, she is our mother since she gave us birth into the supernatu- ral life of grace that makes us adopted sons of God and heirs of the kingdom. We not only believe in her; we also love her as the one mother who will never fail us. NEXT WEEK: ONE CHURCH: "It has been estimated that there are more than 200 religious groups in the United States that call themselves Christian. St. Paul said that we are "one body" in Christ, but our painful experience tells us that the body of Christ is divided into many.
Faith in the Church
The Church is also the pilgrim people of God ...
BY FATHER KENNETH BAKER, SJ
CATHOLIC QUIZI
Copyright by CatholicQuiz.com - Reproduce for educational use
CatholicQuiz of the Week The Epiphany of the Lord January 2, 2022 1. According to Isaiah, which ancient city has a central place among the nations of the world?
a. Bethlehem b. Nineveh c. Jerusalem
2. According to Isaiah, what kind of light shined on the city while everywhere else was in darkness?
a. a full moon b. a falling star c. the glory of the LORD
3. According to the vision of Isaiah, what symbols of wealth would come forth from Sheba and mark a time of peace and prosperity for a restored Israel?
a. large herds of sheep and cattle b. gold and frankincense c. an abundance of rain and new crops
4. In the Letter to the Ephesians, what was not known in previous generations, but now revealed through the Holy Spirit?
a. that the Gentiles are coheirs of the promise of Christ b. that a new temple would be built again in Jerusalem c. that the Jews would be free of the dominance of Rome
5. Who was the King of Judea when Jesus was born?
a. Pontius Pilot b. Caiaphas c. Herod
6. According to Matthew, who came from the East to visit the baby Jesus after his birth?
a. the chief priests b. the Queen of Sheba c. the Magi
7. In Matthew's Gospel, whose prophecy foretold Bethlehem to be the birthplace of the Messiah?
a. Micah b. Isaiah c. Jeremiah
Answers and References
1 c. Jerusalem (Isaiah 60:1) 2 c. the glory of the LORD (Isaiah 60:1-2) 3 b. gold and frankincense (Isaiah 60:6) 4 a. that the Gentiles are coheirs of the promise of Christ (Ephesians 3:5-6) 5 c. Herod (Matthew 2:1) 6 c. the Magi (Matthew 2:1-2) 7 a. Micah (Matthew 2:5-6)
THE CREED
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