Homily for the Solemnity of the Epiphany 2015, Year B I has been a little over 3 years since we underwent a fairly major change in the English speaking Catholic world. On the First Sunday of Advent, 2011, we experienced Mass for the first time in the newly revised English translation of the Roman Missal (that large red book the priest uses to celebrate Mass). All in all we have begun to get the hang of it. The Gloria is being sung with greater ease, we are still working on mastering those tricky words like consubstantial, the kids at school have become accustomed to responding to the priest And With Your Spirit, and so on and so forth. Where the greatest change took place in this new edition of the Roman Missal was the composition of the different celebrant prayers; that is The Collect, The Prayer over the Offerings and The Prayer after Communion. When you observe how these prayers are now presented in the Missal compared to what they looked like in the previous sacramentary, you will notice a major difference in how they are composed and prayed during the Mass. They do not roll off your tongue as easily as before, often a dictionary will be required to look up some of the words that are used, and the structure
of the prayers are odd for an English speaker since they are a direct translation from Latin which has a much more regimented and specific formulation for these prayers. But it is in their strangeness to the English speaker, their elevated language and theological precision that we find beautiful prayers that give us great insights into the mysteries we are celebrating. Sadly, it seems these prayers get passed over quickly during Mass; priests do not always take time to look over them before they are recited and so stumble over them, some priests even feel the need to change them because they dislike how they were composed. But if we take the time to appreciate what they are trying to convey to us, we can Sunday after Sunday begin to appreciate more profoundly the beauty and wisdom that are inherent to the liturgical prayers of the Church. There is an old saying in Latin that goes Lex Orandi, lex Credendi, which translates loosely to the law of prayer is the law of belief, or what we pray is an expression of what we believe as Catholics. These prayers of the Mass embody this principle well as they are not simply there to occupy space to give our celebration structure and form. They
are intended to also help you appreciate and contemplate what it is we are celebrating. The solemnity of the Epiphany is a great example where these celebrant prayers help us appreciate what this feast is all about, and so today I will not preach on the biblical readings, but the prayers of this feast. In the Collect, the Church invites us to ponder how God offered a celestial sign, a majestic star, to guide not only the wise men to worship the new born king of the Jews; but that these ancient sages represented all of humanity, summoned to Bethlehem to see the mercy of God made incarnate in the infant Christ. For those of us who already believe in Christ, our mission is to not simply keep this message to ourselves and our parish, but to bring the truth of the Lord s Epiphany to all peoples, so that all of us may together one day behold the beauty of God s sublime glory in heaven. In one short and theologically rich prayer, we have a beautiful summary of what today s feast is all about. It invites us to recall what happened long ago and realize it is not meant to be some nostalgic memory from the past, but a call to bring this portion of the gospel to others. A Christian is not called to simply inform someone about Jesus, but inspire others to be enraptured by the
beauty that comes from Christ, as his divine beauty desires to instill clarity, awe and wonder in a heart that truly seeks what is most beautiful in this life. In the Prayer over the Offerings, we ask God to once again look with favour not only on the bread and wine that will become the Body and Blood of Christ, but also to look lovingly on all our own personal prayers and intentions we bring to this Mass: all the people, circumstances and souls of those who have died that we unite to the sacrifice offered by the priest. And while it is not gold, frankincense and myrrh that we offer to the Lord today, what we offer is far greater than these earthly treasures. It is Christ himself who is once again offered to his heavenly Father, since each and every Mass is our opportunity to participate in the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ that is sacramentally made present once again. In the Prayer after Communion, we implore Jesus Christ to go before us with heavenly light. Here we testify that he is always with us, not only in the Eucharist we receive but also in the manifold ways he daily enters into our lives and informs us to act in right conduct. We ask him also in this prayer that the Eucharist, the true light and life of the world, be constantly on our minds, making us anxious for our next
sacramental communion and inspired to show others that what we celebrate at Mass is not merely a one hour weekly obligatory time of prayer. Rather, the Eucharist is meant to be pondered throughout our week and seen as that which strengthens us to continue to live the Christian life with authenticity and consistency. In three short prayers we are offered a beautiful reflection on what the Epiphany is meant to inspire in us. It is no mere memory from the past but the realization that Christ, the light of all nations, is continually being manifested in our midst, calling us to proclaim this truth of our faith to others, and to continually offer the Lord a fitting sacrifice of praise, in both the Eucharist we celebrate and the Christian lives we live. I encourage you to take time each Sunday to look over all the prayers of the Mass. Meditating on the scriptural readings is certainly a beautiful way to prepare yourself, but do not omit looking at the other prayers of the Mass as well that are offered from the rich liturgical tradition of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.