Pope marks the Feast of Epiphany

January 6, 2014 - Pope Francis on Monday marked the solemn feast of the Epihany of the Lord, holding out the Magi as models of how to overcome danger and darkness in order to find Jesus, the Light of the World. Epiphany that commemorates the visit of the Three Magi, or Wise Men from the East, to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem, symbolizes the first manifestation of Christ, to all the people of the world outside the chosen people of Israel. “Like the Magi, every person has two great “books” which provide the signs to guide this pilgrimage: the book of creation and the book of sacred Scripture,” the Pope said in his homily at Mass in Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica. “Listening to the Gospel, reading it, meditating on it and making it our spiritual nourishment especially enables us to encounter the living Jesus, to experience him and his love.” Commenting on the Gospel of Matthew, the Pope explained that for a moment the Magi had lost sight of the guiding star when they arrived in Jerusalem at the palace of King Herod, which was gloomy and filled with darkness, suspicion, fear. Herod’s rules of the of the game were being turned upside-down, appearances were being unmasked and a whole world built on power, success, possessions and corruption was being thrown into crisis by a Child! However, the Wise Men were able to overcome that dangerous moment of darkness of worldliness in Herod’s palace, because they believed the Scriptures and the words of the prophets, and once more saw the star and experienced “a great joy”. Here the Pope pointed to what he called holy “cunning” - the spiritual shrewdness which the wise men from the East used on their way back, avoiding the gloomy palace of Herod. They teach us how not to fall into the snares of darkness and how to defend ourselves from the shadows which seek to envelop our life. We need to welcome the light of God into our hearts and, at the same time, to cultivate that spiritual cunning which is able to combine simplicity with astuteness, as Jesus told his disciples: “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves”. “They teach us not to be content with a life of mediocrity, of “playing it safe”, but to let ourselves be attracted always by what is good, true and beautiful … by God, who is all of this, and so much more! And they teach us not to be deceived by appearances, by what the world considers great, wise and powerful.