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“Where Is the Healing?” (Mark 1:29-39) Every year during the Epiphany season, we get Gospel readings in which Jesus is doing the activities of his public ministry. We see Jesus busy with things like preaching, teaching, and healing the sick. For example, take the readings from Mark 1 we’ve had these last few weeks. Two weeks ago we heard Jesus preaching, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Last week Jesus was in the synagogue teaching, and “he taught them as one...

“The War of the Worlds” (Mark 1:21-28) Have you ever heard of “The War of the Worlds”? No, I’m not talking about H. G. Wells’s classic novel about Martians invading Earth. Nor am I talking about Orson Welles’s radio version of “The War of the Worlds,” which had some people thinking it was an actual news broadcast. And I don’t mean the movie versions that have been made, either. No, “The War of the Worlds” I’m talking about today is no piece of fiction. It is very real, and it has been going on for a very long time. It...

Green Semidouble THE VARIATION OF EASTER SUNDAY necessitates almost every year a different arrangement of the Sundays after the Epiphany from that in which they stand in the Missal. Septuagesima often comes in January and the Feast of the Purification is occasionally later than Quinquagesima Sunday; hence the office of these four last Sundays may have to be transferred to another season of the liturgical cycle. We have inserted here the third and fourth Sundays as usually falling in Christmastide, while the office of the fifth and sixth Sundays will be found near Septuagesima and the second after Pentecost,...

“Hold Lightly to the Things of This World” (1 Corinthians 7:29-31) Are you married? Some of you are, some of you aren’t. OK, so let’s broaden the field. How about these questions: Are there times when you mourn? Are there times when you rejoice? Or how about these: Do you ever buy goods? Do you ever have dealings with the world? OK, now I think I’ve got everybody covered. Well, here’s what I want you to do today. Two words: Stop it. That’s it: Stop it. Stop doing those things! Live like you’re not married. Stop mourning. Stop rejoicing. Live...

A former Planned Parenthood health center director says her main goal is not to make abortion illegal or even to defund Planned Parenthood, but, instead to make the entire idea of abortion “unthinkable.” Abby Johnson, now a national pro-life leader, tells Breitbart News that, as the March for Life approaches Friday, it is understandable many pro-life activists are focused on eliminating taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood. “But, if I’m totally honest, my main goal is not to defund Planned Parenthood,” Johnson said during an interview. “My main goal is not even to make abortion illegal. My goal is to make...

Green Semidouble THE THIRD MYSTERY of the Epiphany shows us the completion of the merciful designs of God upon the world, at the same time that it manifests to us, for the third time, the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Star has led the soul to faith; the sanctified Waters of the Jordan have conferred purity upon her; the Marriage Feast unites her to her God. We have been considering, during this Octave, the Bridegroom revealing himself to the Spouse; we have heard him calling her to come to him from the heights of Libanus;...

White Greater Double (privileged Octave Day) THE THOUGHTS of the Church today are fixed on the Baptism of our Lord in the Jordan, which is the second of the three Mysteries of the Epiphany. The Emmanuel manifested himself to the Magi after having shown himself to the Shepherds; but this manifestation was made within the narrow space of a stable at Bethlehem, and the world knew nothing of it. In the Mystery of the Jordan, Christ manifested himself with greater publicity. His coming is proclaimed by the Precursor; the crowd that is flocking to the river for Baptism is...

HAVING LAID their offerings at the feet of Jesus as a sign of the alliance they had, in the name of all mankind, contracted with him, and laden with his graces and blessings, the Magi take their leave of the Divine Babe; for such was his will. They take their departure from Bethlehem, and the rest of the world seems a wilderness to them. Oh! if they might be permitted to fix their abode near the newborn King and his incomparable Mother!—but no; God’s plan for the salvation of the world requires that everything savoring of human pomp and...

THE MAGI were not satisfied with paying their adorations to the great King whom Mary presented to them. After the example of the Queen of Saba, who paid her homage to the Prince of Peace in the person of King Solomon, these three Eastern Kings opened their treasures and presented their offerings to Jesus. Our Emmanuel graciously accepted those mystic gifts and suffered them not to leave him until he had loaded them with gifts infinitely more precious than those he had vouchsafed to receive. The Magi had given him of the riches which this earth produced; Jesus repays...

THE MAGI have reached Bethlehem; the humble dwelling of the King of the Jews has been thrown open to them; there, says St. Matthew, they found the Child with Mary his Mother. Falling down, they adore the divine King they have so fervently sought after, and for whom the whole earth has been longing. Here we have the first commencement of the Christian Church. In this humble Stable, we have the Son of God made Man, presiding as Head over his mystical body; Mary is present, as the co-operatrix in the world’s salvation, and as the Mother of divine...

THE STAR foretold by Balaam having risen in the East, the three Magi, whose hearts were full of the expectation of the promised Redeemer, are immediately inflamed with the desire of going in search of him. The announcement of the glad coming of the King of the Jews is made to these holy Kings in a mysterious and silent manner; and hereby it differs from that made to the Shepherds of Bethlehem, who were invited to Jesus’ Crib by the voice of an Angel. But the mute language of the Star was explained to them by God himself, for...

THE GREAT MYSTERY of the Alliance of the Son of God with the universal Church, and which is represented in the Epiphany by the Magi, was looked forward to by the world in every age previous to the coming of our Emmanuel. The Patriarchs and Prophets had propagated the tradition; and the Gentile world gave frequent proofs that the tradition prevailed even with them. When Adam, in Eden, first beheld her whom God had formed from one of his ribs, and whom he called Eve, because she was the Mother of all the living—he exclaimed, “This is the bone...

“The Heavens Being Torn Open” (Mark 1:4-11) How many of you know when your baptismal birthday is? Mine is September 10. What’s yours? It’s good to take note of and remember the day of your baptism, that happy day when all your sins were washed away and you became a child of God. So if you don’t know your baptismal birthday, you might want to go ahead and find out when it is and then celebrate it. But did you know there’s a baptismal birthday going on today? And that it’s one all of us can celebrate? Because today is...

Walking with the Wise – A Homily for Epiphany Msgr. Charles Pope • January 6, 2018 • There are so many wonderful details in the Epiphany story: the call of the Gentiles, their enthusiastic response, the significance of the star they seek, the gifts they bring, the dramatic interaction with Herod, and their ultimate rejection of Herod in favor of Christ.In this meditation I would like to follow these Magi in their journey of faith to become “Wise Men.” As magi, they followed the faint stars, distant points of light; as wise men they follow Jesus, who is the...

(If the Epiphany fall on a Saturday, the Mass and Office we now give are said on the following Day. Otherwise, they are deferred to the day within the Octave which is a Sunday.) MASS.—It is the Kingship of the divine Infant that the Church again proclaims in the opening Canticle of the Mass for the Sunday within the Octave of the Epiphany. She sings the praises of her Emmanuel’s Throne, and takes her part with the Angels who hymn the glory of Jesus’ eternal Empire. Let us do the same, and adore the King of Ages, in his...

January 7, 2018 The Epiphany of the Lord Reading 1 Is 60:1-6 Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come,the glory of the Lord shines upon you.See, darkness covers the earth,and thick clouds cover the peoples;but upon you the LORD shines,and over you appears his glory.Nations shall walk by your light,and kings by your shining radiance.Raise your eyes and look about;they all gather and come to you:your sons come from afar,and your daughters in the arms of their nurses. Then you shall be radiant at what you see,your heart shall throb and overflow,for the riches of the sea...

“What Epiphany Tells Us about Worship” (Matthew 2:1-12) The Festival of the Epiphany of Our Lord always falls on January 6, regardless of the day of the week. In that respect, it’s like Christmas, which always falls on December 25. Both are what are called “fixed-date festivals.” And so right after the twelve days of Christmas comes Epiphany. This year Epiphany, January 6, falls on a Saturday, and that’s why we’re here today. Epiphany has long been part of the church’s worship. In the early church, Epiphany was observed perhaps even more than Christmas. This was because, while at Christmas...

reflecting on seasonal topics as observed in a southside Chicago neighborhood during WWII

White Double of the First Class (Privileged Octave of the Second Order) THE FEAST of the Epiphany is the continuation of the mystery of Christmas; but it appears on the Calendar of the Church with its own special character. Its very name, which signifies Manifestation, implies that it celebrates the apparition of God to his creatures. For several centuries, the Nativity of our Lord was kept on this day; and when in the year 376 the decree of the Holy See obliged all Churches to keep the Nativity on the 25th of December, as Rome did—the Sixth of January...

White Semidouble (Privilege of the Second Class) THE FEAST OF CHRISTMAS is over; the five Octaves are closed; and we are on the Eve of the Solemnity of our Lord’s Epiphany. We must spend this fifth of January in preparing ourselves for the Manifestation which Jesus, the Angel of the Great Counsel, is about to make to us of his glory. A few more hours, and the Star will stand still in the heavens, and the Magi will be seeking for admission into the stable at Bethlehem. This Vigil is not like that of Christmas, a day of penance....