9781644135945

The Light of the World
we can make it a host which will undergo an eternal consecration with the resurrection of
the dead. “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in
incorruption” (1 Cor 15:42).
Prayer
Protect us, O Lord, who have consecrated ourselves to Thy service, that we may be concerned
with divine things, and live united with Thee in body and soul. Amen.
Sunday within the Octave of Epiphany (2)
“Christ has appeared to us” as the divine King. The sacred liturgy today leads us to Him that we
may pay Him homage. He is seated upon His exalted throne, and the angels are adoring Him.
“Upon a high throne I saw a man sitting, whom a multitude of angels adore, singing together:
Behold Him the name of whose empire is forever. Sing joyfully to God all the earth; serve ye
the Lord with gladness” (Introit).
We stand in wonder at this appearance of God in the form of a twelve-year-old boy in the
temple. He has not returned to Nazareth, as Joseph and Mary supposed, but has remained in
the temple. There He mingled with the aged doctors of the law of Israel and astonished them
by the sagacity of His questions and the wisdom of His answers. “And all that heard Him were
astonished at His wisdom and His answers” (Gospel). Even Joseph and Mary are astonished at
finding Him in the temple. His mother speaks to Him and asks: “Son, why hast Thou done so
to us?” Thus she reminds Him of His duty as her child. But Jesus reminds His mother that He
has a higher duty to perform as the Son of the eternal Father. “Did you not know that I must
be about My Father’s business?” These are the first spoken words of Christ that are recorded in
the Gospels; these are the only words that have been recorded of His childhood. These words,
like the last words He was to speak on the cross, are of His heavenly Father. These words are
a clear and enlightening revelation of His consciousness that He is the Son of the Father, and
that He shares the divine nature of the Father. It reveals to us further that He belongs entirely
to the Father and He has surrendered Himself completely to the will of the Father. The child in
the midst of the learned doctors of the law reveals His hitherto hidden wisdom. He is the Son
of God. And this child who is the Son of God retires with Joseph and Mary to the seclusion of
Nazareth, where He is “subject to them.” Astonished, deeply moved, and in adoration the sacred
liturgy stands in wonder at this revelation of God in the form of a twelve-year-old child. “Sing
joyfully to God, all the earth, serve ye the Lord with gladness; come in before his presence with
exceeding great joy, for the Lord He is God” (Offertory). At this very hour He will appear in
our midst in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This is the blessed epiphany of the altar. “Behold
Him whose rule endureth forever.”
The feast of Epiphany is and should be a feast which is celebrated in honor of Christ the
divine King. We pay our homage to Him by our prayers and by our celebration of the liturgy,
which we share with the Church in heaven and on earth. We pay homage to Him by submitting
our intelligence to faith, to His words, to His teachings, to His gospel, to His Church
and its dogmas. And even if all others were to desert Him, yet we should remain true to Him
and cry out with St. Peter, “Thou hast the words of eternal life” ( Jn 6:69). We honor Him by
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