{"id":5021,"date":"2014-01-11T14:36:26","date_gmt":"2014-01-11T14:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=5021"},"modified":"2014-01-11T14:37:20","modified_gmt":"2014-01-11T14:37:20","slug":"the-epiphany-05-01-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=5021","title":{"rendered":"The Epiphany (05.01.14)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Epiphany (05.01.14)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Experiencing Epiphany<\/strong><\/p>\n

An epiphany is an experience of a sudden and striking realization. It brings clarity and, essentially, truth. The word, originating in ancient Greece, became clothed in Christian religious significance with the Birth of Jesus the Christ, God made Man. From the earliest days of Christianity, \u2018The Epiphany\u2019 (with definite article and a capital \u2018E\u2019) became synonymous with the pilgrimage of wise, foreign travellers to Bethlehem in search of Jesus that is celebrated on 6th\u00a0January.<\/p>\n

Our Gospel for this Feast (Matthew 2:1-12) gives us the question the wise, foreign travellers voiced on their arrival in Jerusalem:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere is the new-born king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Clearly, they were clueless about the political minefield they had entered and the murderous storm their question would unleash.<\/p>\n

King Herod (74\u20134 BC), known as Herod the Great, was the Roman \u2018client king\u2019 in\u00a0Judea<\/a>\u00a0when Jesus was born. Client states, both in antiquity and more recently, for example in the era of the British Empire, are economically, politically and\/or militarily subordinate to a more powerful state. Herod was a local despot subservient to the Roman Emperor. Fixated on power, Herod willingly murdered even his own family as well as many fellow Jews to protect his power base. He truly was \u2018the evil genius of the Judean nation\u2019 as well as the greatest builder in Jewish history. When the distinguished foreign visitors publicly asked:\u00a0\u201cWhere is the new-born king of the Jews?\u201d\u00a0<\/em>they caused Herod and his court to panic.<\/p>\n

The Epiphany scenario presents us with contrasting extremes. On the one hand, there is Jesus, God-made-Man, in who is the wholeness of Truth, Justice and Mercy. On the other hand, there is Herod enmeshed in unrelieved corruption and murderously evil duplicity. Yet one of Herod\u2019s personal epiphany moments was the arrival of these wise, foreign travellers. As a Jew he would have been schooled in the prophets of his people:
\n\u201cBut you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,<\/p>\n

from you shall come forth for me
\nOne who is to be ruler in Israel,
\nwhose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.\u201d
\n(Micah 5:2)
\nFor Herod, this epiphany moment came and went unrequited. Herod, blinded by his fear of losing power, did not choose the graced moment. Though he is long since consigned to history, the evil he represented continues. Within living memory are Stalin, Hitler, Mao, the Khmer Rouge and so many more still living and still delivering as yet untold evil across too many nations. Just think of those tiny infants delivered by their mothers to a paedophile for him to abuse last November.<\/p>\n

Thank God, Jesus remains with us:\u00a0\u201c<\/em>And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(Matt 28.20) Unbelievers will continue to shout, \u201cIf there is a God, why do these atrocities happen?\u201d The answer is the same now as it was in when Jesus was born. God empowered human nature with free will and the grace to know the difference between good and evil. When we think of people deprived of choice, the exercise of their free will, we may focus on the victims of such depraved regimes as currently exist in North Korea. But there are others, as free to roam as are we, whose repeat choice of evil has enslaved them to Satan. Media outlets carry titillating \u2018tip-of-the-iceberg\u2019 reports of human depravity and duplicity that enthrall readers and viewers. Tragically, so many people remain insufficiently alert to the mortal moral contagion that freely stalks our streets. If the citizenry were sufficiently alert, Christianity would be flourishing not declining in our countries.<\/p>\n

So, now in 2014, we are presented with The Epiphany scenario. The danger is in its very repetition. There\u2019s the temptation to adopt the attitude of \u2018been there, done that and got the \u2018T\u2019 shirt\u2019. Whereas, in truth, God is offering us an epiphany moment such as we have not previously experienced because we have not lived this very moment before. The past, like the future, is not within our grasp but we do exercise free choice over the present moment. We tend to answer a question such as, \u2018Do you believe in God?\u2019 in the past tense, \u2018Well, I used to pray \u2026 used to go to church \u2026 etc\u2019. The question was \u2018Do you \u2026. ?\u2019 not\u00a0 \u2018Did you .\u2026.?\u2019\u00a0 In so many instances people undermine their freedom of choice in the present moment by contaminating it with their historic failures.<\/p>\n

The thief crucified alongside Jesus on Calvary didn\u2019t say to Him, \u201cI would ask you to remember me when you come into your kingdom if it weren\u2019t for my previous sinfulness.\u2019 He said,
\n\u201cJesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>
\n(Luke 23:42)
\nIn his epiphany moment, the thief chose to recognize and accept the unconditional love of the One, also dying, on the cross next to him. Epiphany moments, like the gift of God\u2019s grace itself, occur in the \u2018real time\u2019 of the present moment. The wise, foreign travellers chose to listen to their consciences. They returned to their own countries without going back to Herod to identify the location of the \u201cInfant King of the Jews\u201d. Herod\u2019s trickery failed.<\/p>\n

Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus, in his epiphany moments listened to his conscience and took Mary home as his wife and, later for reasons of safety, took Mary and the Infant Jesus out of Bethlehem to the unknowns of Egypt.<\/p>\n

Our 21st\u00a0century Epiphany scenario is not religious history frozen in time. It is a \u2018real time\u2019 challenge. Am I as committed to seeking Jesus in the present moment as were the wise, foreign travellers in 1 AD? And, in formulating your answer, beware of the trickery of the Deceiver prompting you to say, \u201cWell, I would do more but there\u2019s just not the time what with the job, the home, the children and so forth, but I hope to in the future.\u201d At the same time, it is necessary to be aware that a committed caring for wife\/husband, children and home is the Baptized married layperson\u2019s prime location for seeking Jesus. For the Baptized single person, the focus includes the wider family, colleagues at work, competitors in sport and partners in recreation.<\/p>\n

Is our search for Jesus reduced to just one day a week; one Sunday a month or a year or ?? Contrastingly, at this time of a new year, we\u2019re awash with diaries, wall charts and spreadsheets, all pressurizing us about a future over which we have no ultimate control. Our Baptism calls us to live with the Lord in the present, moment by moment.<\/p>\n

A significant illumination was providentially provided for those wise, foreign searchers on their courageous journey. Likewise, for us, in the \u2018moment of our personal providential epiphany\u2019, should we choose to open our hearts and ears and lift our eyes to the Lord, there will be all the illumination we need.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.liverpoolcatholic.org.uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Epiphany (05.01.14) Experiencing Epiphany An epiphany is an experience of a sudden and striking realization. It brings clarity and, essentially, truth. The word, originating in ancient Greece, became clothed in Christian religious significance with the Birth of Jesus the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archdiocese-of-liverpool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5021"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5023,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021\/revisions\/5023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}