The End of the Christmas Season
As we come off of the Epiphany high of last week, we begin Ordinary Time on Monday, January 10th. The Christmas season concludes with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord which we celebrate today. The following weekend, January 15-16 the Gospel is the Miracle at the Wedding Feast at Cana. These three Gospel scenes: the visit of the magi, the baptism in the Jordan, and the wedding feast at Cana, have been interwoven throughout the Church’s history. During Evening Prayer for the Solemnity of the Epiphany, there is an antiphon that reads:
Three mysteries mark this holy day: today the star leads the Magi to the infant Christ; today water is changed into wine for the wedding feast; today Christ wills to be baptized by John in the river Jordan to bring us salvation.
All three of these mysteries point to the manifestation of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. According to Oxford dictionary, the word Epiphany means, “the manifestation of a divine or supernatural being.” All three of these events in the life of Christ manifest His divinity and messiahship.
The Magi come from pagan lands to worship Jesus Christ, the newborn king of the Jews. He is shown to them as the Messiah and leader to free God’s people. When Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River, the crowds hear the voice from heaven stating, “This is my beloved Son.” His Divine Sonship is manifested to the entire crowd. Finally at the Wedding at Cana, Jesus performs His first miracle. This first miracle shows that He is the Messiah coming to save God’s people. The divine healer and miracle worker is made known to the wedding guests.
This Sunday (January 9th) I’ll be heading out to visit my family for a week. In the fall my credit card company called to inform me that I had credit card points expiring (I didn’t know that I accumulated points). I used them to purchase a plane ticket to visit my parents, older brother and his family in Georgia for four days. Then I’ll fly up to Connecticut to visit my younger brother and his pregnant wife for the weekend. The daily Mass schedule will be slightly reduced and Fr. Eric Wood will be covering weekend Masses at Immaculate Conception and St. Lawrence on January 15/16.
You may remember back in June 2019, during the Covid shutdowns, we hosted Facebook live events called “Collars and Questions.” It began while Fr. Jarred Kohn was here and continued for a little while with Fr. Jedidiah until normal parish life picked up. One of the episodes of “Collars and Questions” featured my older brother Josh and was broadcast live from my parents’ house. We’ve decided to do a round two. Join us Monday, January 10th at 7:00pm on Facebook live. Feel free to come with your questions and curiosities.
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Sean Wilson
