{"id":7257,"date":"2015-01-10T12:26:27","date_gmt":"2015-01-10T12:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=7257"},"modified":"2015-01-10T12:26:27","modified_gmt":"2015-01-10T12:26:27","slug":"the-epiphany-04-01-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=7257","title":{"rendered":"The Epiphany (04.01.15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Epiphany (04.01.15)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Recognising epiphanies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Christians put a definite article before the word epiphany and give it a capital \u2018E\u2019. Thus \u2018The Epiphany\u2019, for those who believe in Jesus, identifies the unexpected arrival in Bethlehem of wise foreign dignitaries seeking \u2018The Infant King of the Jews\u2019. The celebration is observed this Sunday though its traditional date is January 6th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

On its own the word \u2018epiphany\u2019 is not commonly used. Consequently, some may ask what is the meaning of ‘epiphany’. It can be described as an amazing and unexpected revelation that could be called an \u2018eye opener\u2019! It may indicate the dawning of an understanding, the development of appreciation, and an explosion of delight or being captured by wonderment. There is no time limit to an epiphany\u2019s duration. Related, fragmentary, epiphany experiences can happen over a period of time leading a person to finally exclaim, \u201cHow could I have been so blind all these years?\u201d Equally, an epiphany moment can be complete in just that, a moment.<\/p>\n

Christians identify with The Epiphany and thereby may make it harder for them to identify epiphanies in their own journey of life for what they are, invitations to receive God\u2019s gratuitous grace.<\/p>\n

Could public wonderment at the impressive and wide-ranging discoveries in science and technology be obscuring God\u2019s initiatives revealing his love? The Creator has gifted people with a natural spiritual sensitivity. Is this sensitivity being surreptitiously overlaid by a commercially irresponsible avariciousness, infected with addictive sensual immorality? The epidemic level of overuse of alcohol and illegal substances, along with an addictive social behaviour which ignores the Ten Commandments, reduces a person’s ability to see the hand of God at work in their life or even the need for God.<\/p>\n

Mary and Joseph would have viewed the arrival of distinguished foreigners at their humble Bethlehem abode as a further, inexplicable, manifestation of God’s goodness to them. The Gospel tells us that Mary stored these \u2018epiphanies\u2019 in her heart (Luke 2:19). Mary and Joseph\u2019s sensitivity to God’s nearness began with the warmth of their earliest home-life experience that would have helped compensate them for the harshness of Roman Army oppression. Their early nurturing with prayer and fidelity to the Law of Moses was the foundation enabling their later sensitive openness to God\u2019s unique revelations.<\/p>\n

When Pope Francis visited Albania recently he laid aside his prepared speech. He had met and listened to two Albanians survivors describe their forty years of painful oppression under the cruel Communist dictator Enver Hoxha. Francis called them ‘living martyrs’. It sounds as though it was another epiphany moment for the Pope. Equally, meeting Pope Francis must have been an epiphany moment for those Albanian survivors.<\/p>\n

To be present at and witness, at first hand, another\u2019s epiphany moment is a privilege. Those accompanying Pope Francis and other Albanians nearby shared a very special moment but did they recognize it? Our celebration of \u2018The Epiphany\u2019 in 2015 is an opportunity to reflect. Are we so distracted, even mesmerized, by secular attractions that we miss out on moments of proffered grace either in our life or reflected in the lives of those closest to us?<\/p>\n

We can draw an analogy with the mobile phone. Customers complain about \u2018dead zones\u2019 where there\u2019s either no signal or only a weak one. The spiritual equivalent of a mobile \u2018dead zone\u2019 is when Satan is able to block God\u2019s call to us. Wittingly or unwittingly we can place ourselves in spiritual \u2018dead zones\u2019 by allowing the build up of spasmodic or even broken contact with God. We\u2019re too busy to pray, too busy to get to Mass, disinclined to make use of the Sacraments, especially Reconciliation \u2013 which could be dubbed \u2018reconnection\u2019.<\/p>\n

To deliberately turn away from God\u2019s proffered love is quite different from never having been \u2018tuned into it\u2019! The more dangerous situation is the former. Turning away from God implies a measure of deliberate choice. We may not realise how spiritually perilous is our chosen detachment. Spiritual separation can come about slowly. It\u2019s a sort of \u2018epiphany\u2019 in reverse taking us in small, fragmentary steps away from communion with God. Our entry into a spiritual \u2018dead zone\u2019 is almost unnoticed. Satan, God\u2019s and our enemy, uses his \u2018dead zones\u2019 to disrupt our conscience\u2019s communication with God, often by heightening our sensual appetites. In this Satan is greatly assisted by so much that is broadcast daily on TV and radio and written in the press. Our ears and eyes are constantly under assault.<\/p>\n

Young people, denied a family life with a spiritual foundation, are like people whose mobile is in a semi-permanent \u2018dead zone\u2019. Peter, the fisherman, once hit a spiritual \u2018dead zone\u2019 when Jesus was within touching distance! Jesus had appeared walking on the water in the midst of a storm. Peter, though terrified by the apparition, issued a challenge crying out: \u201cIf it is you, Lord, then tell me to come to you across the waves.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u201cCome,\u201d<\/em> said Jesus. Peter stepped out of the boat on to the sea. But as soon as he felt the force of the wind, Peter panicked, \u201cSave me, Lord, I\u2019m sinking!\u201d Jesus reached out and held him. \u201cMan of little faith,\u201d Jesus said, \u201cwhy did you doubt?\u201d<\/em> (Matthew 14: 27-31)<\/p>\n

We may assume that our relations with Jesus are \u2018satisfactory\u2019 whereas they have been disintegrating beneath the surface of our distracted lives. One stormy winter, not so long ago, properties along the front on the south shore of Llandudno Bay in Wales were badly flooded. The sea had been seeping in under the shoreline, removing the sand and then the footings until, silently one high tide; it flooded the basements and ground floors! No one had seen it coming!<\/p>\n

We know nothing of the Wise Travellers acknowledged by the Feast of \u2018The Epiphany\u2019 except that they brought gifts of significance \u2013 gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The commemoration of \u2018The Epiphany\u2019 reminds us that life on earth is a journey of multiple epiphanies until we are called to our eternal Epiphany \u2013 our encounter with the Risen Christ.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Epiphany (04.01.15) Recognising epiphanies Christians put a definite article before the word epiphany and give it a capital \u2018E\u2019. Thus \u2018The Epiphany\u2019, for those who believe in Jesus, identifies the unexpected arrival in Bethlehem of wise foreign dignitaries seeking … 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-7257","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\/7257","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=7257"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7258,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7257\/revisions\/7258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}