I love walking at night when I travel to my family home—being in the West Ireland it is often cloudy, even miserable and cold. Imagine the joy I feel when the clouds part and the bright winter moon shines down illuminating the path, and showing a way forward. Suddenly, there is a confidence that supports us, even with difficulties and problems. The feast of Epiphany is a reminder of God's continued revelation to all of us. In the Old Testaments, the Prophets helped people to grow in their appreciation of God. Through their challenging words, they held up a mirror to the Jewish people. That reflection was not always something pleasant, but Prophets were not in the business of just appeasing their congregations.

In Matthew's Gospel, we see the fullness of God's revelation: Jesus Christ came for the entire global community. These exotic and mysterious strangers from the East represent a world beyond Israel. These gentiles are enveloped in the deep love of God. On Christmas Day, Luke presented the story of the poor Jewish shepherds visiting Jesus as they followed the instructions of the angels, the messengers from God. Today we see that 'social bubble' of Jesus expanding to include these non-Jewish foreigners—an indication of the universal reach of the Gospel. In many cultures today gifts are exchanged in memory of the gifts offered to the infant: gold, frankincense and myrrh. In recent years the practice of chalking the door of the house or church has become common as a sign of blessing for the new year. This year, as always, the pattern is simple:

20+C+M+B+23

The year is obvious represented by the numbers, while the letters are seen to represent the names given to the 'kings' according to tradition: Casper, Melchior and Balthazar. They are also an abbreviation of the Latin blessing 'Christus mansionem benedicat', which means, May Christ bless this house. This custom, often accompanied by simple processions of children accompanied by their parents, expressing the blessing of Christ through the intercession of the three wise men and is an occasion for gathering offerings for charitable and missionary purposes. Why not ask that blessing on your home today?

In the West the feast also marks 'Twelfth Night' the traditional end of the Christmas holiday when the tree, lights and decorations are taken down and our homes become 'ordinary' again. In my own family tradition, we see this feast as 'Little Christmas' or Nollaig na mBan, which translates from the Irish Gaelic as 'Women's Christmas.' In Irish tradition this was the day when the men of the house gave the women a day off from household chores-things were not so PC back in the day! If January 6th is 'Little Christmas', then December 25th is definitely 'Big Christmas' when the women did all the preparation for Christmas on top of the normal work on the farm. God rested on the seventh day, but the women of Ireland did not get to do the same until the twelfth and last day of Christmas! In modern Ireland the tradition now includes a chance for mums, grandmas, aunties and cousins to have a day out together, usually ending with a good meal and night out. Anything that celebrates the goodness of others, it's to be applauded. In Celtic spirituality, there is an awareness of the God who is all around. They see time as 'eternity in disguise' and that special feast days allow us to glimpse that beauty of God. They are transfiguration moments that we should celebrate and enjoy to the full, as the mystic and poet, John O'Donohue tells us:

They embraced the day as a sacred space. Christmas reminds us to glory in the simplicity and wonder of one day; it unveils the extraordinary that our hurried lives conceal and neglect. We have been given such immense possibilities. We desperately need to make clearances in our entangled lives to let our souls breathe. We must take care of ourselves and especially of our suffering brothers and sisters. Without realizing it, we are so privileged.

The Magi were seekers of the truth and, guided by the star, they found it in a child in the poor village of Bethlehem. Again, this is a living sign of what will be the ministry of the adult Jesus: learning from those on the margins. Even though they were so wise, they got things wrong and ended up in the wrong place; as we journey through 2023, let us pray that we get to the RIGHT places at the right time. As 2020 taught us, sometimes we are guided in directions that we never thought possible. While the pandemic certainly has brought us heartache and problems, it also helped us to discover our inner strength and power. The Magi knew that wherever they went, they carried the child, Mary and Joseph with them, no matter how separated, how far, in one area, out of another, through wars, through trials, through pandemic, through joys, and especially through happiness. The one thing that they learned when they came to Bethlehem was, Jesus did not stay in Bethlehem, Mary did not stay in Bethlehem, Joseph did not stay in Bethlehem, but they moved on and took up their lives in those who reached out to them in love and faith. This is the beauty of our faith: it will take us to exciting places this coming year if we are open. It is apt that we use Jan Richardson's 'Blessing in Chaos' as our prayer for the rest of the week. We can still find God and others:

Let what distracts you cease.
Let what divides you cease.
Let there come an end to what diminishes and demeans,
and let depart all that keeps you in its cage.

Let there be an opening into the quiet that lies beneath the chaos,
where you find the peace you did not think possible and see what shimmers within the storm.

Author: Fr Gerry O'Shaughnessy SDB

Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash