January 3, 2016

found it very interesting when I ‘googled’ Christmas traditions and customs and read about today’s feast of the Epiphany. “Epiphany The Feasts of The Three Kings” Epiphany is celebrated 12 days after Christmas on 6th January (or January 19th for some Orthodox Churches who have Christmas on 7th January) and is the time when Christians remember the Wise Men (also sometimes called the Three Kings) who visited Jesus. Epiphany is also when some Churches remember when Jesus was Baptized, when He was about 30 and started to teach people about God. Epiphany means ‘revelation’ and both the visit of the wise Men and His Baptism are important times when Jesus was ‘revealed’ to be very important. Some Churches use Epiphany to celebrate and remember both the visit of the Wise Men and Jesus’ Baptism! Epiphany is mainly celebrated by Catholics and Orthodox Christians. It’s a big and important festival in Spain, where it’s also known as The festival of the three Magic Kings’ - Fiesta de Los tres Reyes Mages, and is when Spanish and some other Catholic children receive their presents as they are delivered by the Three Kings! In Spain on Epiphany morning you might go to the local baker and buy a special cake/pastry called a ‘Roscon’ (meaning a ring shaped roll). They are normally filled with cream or chocolate and are decorated with a paper crown. These are normally a figure of a king (if you find that you can wear the crown) and a dried bean (if you find that you’re meant to pay for the cake!). In Catalonia it’s known as a Tortilla or Gateau des Rois and is stuffed with marzipan. In France you might eat a ‘Galette des Rois’, a type of flat almond cake. It has a toy crown cookie inside and is decorated on top with a gold paper crown. There are similar traditions in Mexico where Epiphany is known as ‘El Dia de los Reyes’ (the day of The Three Kings). It’s traditional to eat a special cake colled ‘Rosca de Reyes’ (Three Kings Cake). A figure of Baby Jesus is hidden inside the cake. Whoever has the baby Jesus in their piece of cake is the ‘Godparent’ of Jesus for that year. In Italy, some children also get their presents on Epiphany. But they believe that an old lady called ‘Befana’ brings them. Children put stockings up by the fireplace for Befana to fill. In Austria at Epiphany, some people write a special sign in chalk over their front door. It’s a reminder of the Wise Men that visited the baby Jesus. It’s made from the year split in two with initials off the name that are sometimes given to ‘the Three wise men’, Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, in the middle. So 2014 would be: 20’*C*M*B*14. The sign is meant to protect the house for the coming year. Some parts of Germany also have the tradition of marking over doors. The ‘Four Hills’ Ski Jumping Tournament also finishes on 6th January in Bischofshofen, Austria. At Epiphany in Belgium, children dress up as the three wise men and go from door to door to sing songs and people give them money or sweets, kind of like Trick or Treating on Halloween. Children in Poland also go out singing on Epiphany. In Ireland, Epiphany is also called ‘Nollaig na mBean’ or Women’s Christmas. Traditionally the women get the day off and men do the housework and cooking! It is becoming more popular and many Irish women now get together on the Sunday nearest Epiphany and have tea and cakes! In the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (which celebrates Christmas on 7th January), twelve days after Christmas, on 19th January, the three day celebration of Ethiopians Timkat starts. This celebrates Jesus’s baptism. Epiphany Eve (also known as Twelfth Night) markes the end of the traditional Christmas celebrations and is the time when you were meant to take Christmas decorations down - although some people leave them up until Candlemas.” What does all this mean to me? God is for all people. He is not the exclusive right of any religion, any culture, any tradition. God comes into our midst all the time. For years spiritual writers have referred to this as ‘God breaking into our lives.’ He comes when He comes…I have nothing to do with His coming…He just comes. I have found it an interesting reflection when usually at the end of the day I look back over the day and see where I have seen God present. Then I take time and see what did this mean and what was God’s message to me. Sometimes it just was being aware of Him which covers countless areas concerning His love, His compassion, His mercy, His gratitude for ‘me’. It brings His special notes on living and learning and remembering. The feast reminds me that God is always present and asks me if I am aware of His presence? In the gospel from Matthew, the magi who are seekers are contrasted to Herod who looks only at himself. The magi travel to clarify what they have seen and believed. Herod doesn’t want anything to interfere with his ‘almighty self’. It’s obvious he is afraid of losing what he hoards whereas the magi are anxious to learn and to be aware of this ‘God’ inside who is leading, caring and filling them with ‘new life.’ As important as these ‘kings’…’wise men’…’magi’ were they came to see Jesus. What a scene that must have been. It seems that most (I hope ALL) people are captivated by a new-born. God’s special gift is so tiny, so dependent, so lovable, so beautiful that one’s total focus just stays on the little one and somehow is totally absorbed by love…because this child is love…it is the gift of love. And it was only a gift of God that these ‘magi’ could have been moved to recognize in Jesus the one they were coming to worship: the long Expected One…the Messiah…God. Francis of Assisi understood so fully that God is not remote or distant. God didn’t create and then leave, but that God is always breaking into our lives and loving us. Sr. Ilia Delio O.S.F., a Franciscan sister and powerful author and scholar in an amazing book, The Humility of God writes a wonderful sentence: God is unstoppable goodness—a God who simply can’t wait to give everything away and to love us where we are. God comes to us—that is God’s humility—and we are called to love Him in return….The humility of God means acceptance—God accepts ordinary fragile human flesh to reveal His glory so that we in turn may accept others, as the revelation of God.” We catch so many glimpses of God that we miss because the ‘self’ in me overpowers the image of God’s love. The customs of these countries have given us glimpses on how God just comes and ‘FILLS’ each person. Sr. Ilia gives this wonderful insight into God: “We are at this point pondering the ‘inner life’ of God, as if entering into the awesome mystery of three divine persons in love. If we find this divine life too lofty to ponder, we can lower the bar of imaginations one notch and think of our own lives. Think of someone you truly love or have loved. What is the power of that love that draws you to that person? Do you love that person because you have to or because you want to? Does the attraction of love with the person draw you beyond yourself in such a way that if you stopped loving that person, something real and tangible would die, perhaps the spiritual bond of love between you? If you have had an experience of love, then you have had some insight into the Trinity of love. In fact, by loving another person you have been—yes, believe it or not—caught up in the Trinity of love. The Trinity is not three men at a tea party. It is a mystery of relationships—giving, receiving and sharing love. When we say ‘God is love’ we are saying that God is a mystery of persons-in-love.” This is todays feast God showing us He is in love with you and me right now, just the way we are. I am…each of you are this miracle!