Class 11: Sacred Tradition - Hermeneutic of 3 Magi & Epiphany

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Come,_O_Come,_Emmanuel#/media/File:Veni,_veni,_Emmanuel.jpg

https://thomisticinstitute.org/

https://aquinas101.thomisticinstitute.org/videos/five-ways-to-prove-god-exists

https://aquinas101.thomisticinstitute.org/courses/aquinass-proofs-for-gods-existence

1 We three kings of Orient are;
bearing gifts we traverse afar,
field and fountain, moor and mountain,
following yonder star.

Refrain:
O star of wonder, star of light,
star with royal beauty bright,
westward leading, still proceeding,
guide us to thy perfect light.

2 Born a King on Bethlehem's plain,
gold I bring to crown him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
over us all to reign. [Refrain]

3 Frankincense to offer have I;
incense owns a Deity nigh;
prayer and praising, voices raising,
worshiping God on high. [Refrain]

4 Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume
breathes a life of gathering gloom;
sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
sealed in the stone-cold tomb. [Refrain]

5 Glorious now behold him arise;
King and God and sacrifice:
Alleluia, Alleluia,
sounds through the earth and skies. [Refrain]

https://hymnary.org/text/we_three_kings_of_orient_are

https://hymnary.org/person/Hopkins_JohnHJr1820

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. We're going to pray from the sheet itself. So on that first page, you'll see the gradual. It's number 10 of the boxes. And then we're going to flip the sheet and go to eight. So, one thing I ask of the Lord, this I seek, to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Happy they who dwell in your house, O Lord. Continually they praise you. Alleluia, Alleluia. Truly you are a hidden God, the God of Israel, the Savior. Alleluia. Let us pray. O God, you who by the guidance of a star this day revealed your only begotten Son to the Gentiles, mercifully grant that we who know you now by faith may come to behold you in glory. Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So good morning. And if you were here before, you'll remember my name is Jamie Hickman, and I'm the director of faith formation, so I work here at the parish. And normally you see the men in black wearing a cassock or maybe a clerical suit, right? And uh so obviously Father Hare, Father Thompson love teaching the class, and I'm excited to kind of join the team a bit here and there, probably about once a month, more or less. Um so our come and see program expands. We're almost at capacity as I look out today. There's like a couple empty seats, so that's awesome. Uh we'll have to provide more tables next time, maybe. Really good to see the growth. Um, so a happy new year to you, blessed new year, happy and Merry Christmas to you. Uh, we're also celebrating still like the season of Epiphany, it's the baptism of the Lord, Holy Family. There's so many mysteries really wrapped up into one. Today, of course, uh, if you got the bulletin, you might have seen the beautiful artwork. That's one of the great things about St. Louis Parish. We have these uh beautiful works of art, you know, and really high quality printing for our bulletin uh to really meditate upon. It's not just like hopefully the toss later, but it's something you could take to prayer, and so I invite you to do that. Start the new year with maybe a new habit of like reflecting on the sacred art that our parish provides. Um, and then you see here specifically, it's John the Baptist baptizing our Lord in the Jordan River, and then the Holy Spirit is descending in the form of a dove or like the appearance of a dove. And the angels are there to witness this, right? The angel means messenger, so they're gonna like spread this message of amazing um manifestation of God's divinity, because he just looks like a man, right? Jesus in the water getting baptized, but he's so much more, he's he's God incarnate. Uh, and then we see the scripture from Luke 3.22, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form as a dove. So I want to just recognize that, and there's a uh there's a wonderful message from Father O'Hare that we celebrate today, kind of in a way, the um the sharing of the priesthood of Christ in our baptism, because we participate in his life, death, and resurrection through our own baptism. So we're called to be disciples to really live our faith. And as he says, like, we are the in fact, I want to read it. Um there's one line, and he says to holy lay people are the church's showpiece, right? Holy lay people are the church's showpiece. It's right in the middle of his message for the pastor's message. And he says, read those words again and believe them. So I want you to believe them. You're the showpiece, right? We, the lay people, are the showpiece, because the Father says, go forth, right? The mass is ended. And he wants us to go forth and be on fire with the love of God to uh transform the world. And that's what we're called to every day, every moment of our lives, to be that showpiece, uh not with like an unhealthy pride, but like an amazing uh pride in what God has done in us because it first happened with Christ touching the waters of the Jordan and transforming um an earthly thing, just water, to make us new again, a new creation. So we're celebrating so many mysteries right now on this part of the year, and uh we're gonna unpack a little bit of that, but um obviously you're we're specifically here with our with our orange book uh to uh really get that introduction to Catholicism. So we're in chapter two, uh, and today what are we gonna do? Um kind of do a review of what Father O'Hare talked about two lessons ago, and review what I talked about back in December about a month ago. And uh so what did Father O'Hare say? He talked about the five ways, right? The five ways uh that St. Thomas Aquinas gave us, and he gave us far more than five, but he's really known for these famous five, um, and they're difficult. So we're gonna review that just very briefly, and then the topics that I had covered from chapter two this last time, we had um divine revelation, salvation history, and sacred tradition. So those are the things we're gonna review today, and then what I want to do is expand a little bit with some new uh that's really just reinforcing the old, which is uh like a thematic, liturgical, hermeneutic, or interpretive key of um how to understand and unpack, unlock tradition. Because that's that's how we live it out, right? That's that's the living of the divine revelation, that's the living of the salvation history uh is sacred tradition. How we live it out, we pass it on, right? Uh we're that showpiece. So it's not to draw attention to ourselves, but like spread it almost like a uh an infectious joy that uh that gets all over the place. We showpiece, people want to hopefully be uh and have what we have, which is the life of God. Um so the theme that I'll take is the epiphany and the baptism and the holy family. So just kind of keep that in the back of your mind. Um, so the five ways, uh, just very briefly, they're they're really important to understand if you want to convince somebody that God exists. I think all of us believe God exists. So uh to really understand those five ways, you need a metaphysical background, right? You need to be kind of a foundation in philosophy because they are um they're they're tough. Like there's like a page or so in the book that unpacks those very brief words on these five proofs for God's existence. But if you're like me, you read it the first time, you know, okay, I read, I saw what the English word was, but I don't really know what it means. Um it could even take years to unpack that. So I would just invite you to uh, if you're perhaps struggling with some of the five ways, or all of them, uh maybe just one, but there's a resource online, Aquinas 101, um, and that is an awesome uh it's YouTube, it's um regular, normal, you know, plain page uh website, um, that's that's also interactive, like there's all kinds of different ways of approaching it. And the Dominicans uh or the Order of Preachers, they've put together this Aquinas 101 to teach the basics of our faith. Um, and the basics can be tough. So if you remember the Summa Theologiae, uh the summary of theology that Thomas Aquinas wrote, that's for beginners, but like you know, it's usually for advanced, uh at least graduate students, right? Um so so we're not gonna try to unpack all of the five ways today, but I'm gonna invite you to some of the resources, like Aquinas 101. Um and because I want to interpret the last two lessons through the Epiphany in particular, I want to just ask you who are uh some people that that definitely believed in God and were able to find him that we can look back at the feast of the Epiphany and see as a model. For people that did believe in God didn't necessarily have the Bible in front of them, but they they knew God existed and they were willing to travel in order to encounter God. I think I'm hearing people say the wise men, right? So, and how many wise men were there that more or less? The three wise men, right? We hear the three kings. Uh so we're gonna keep that today. So obviously the wise men, they're not Christians, at least not at the start, right? Uh they're not even Jews. They're from, you know, maybe Arabia and other lands, Middle East, uh, and they're coming from afar, right? But they know God exists. They don't have Thomas Aquinas teaching them the five ways, uh, they don't have a copy of the Bible in front of them, they don't have a philosophy class that we might have at like Christendom College or Catholic U. Uh but they they're wise, right? They're seeking God in their life, and they're coming to believe definitely God exists, and they're able to find him in a little town called Bethlehem, right? They're they're able to find the Lord and meet him. And of course, by tradition, we believe like they're some of the first Christian missionaries. They go out and really spread the word because they've been changed by the peaceful Christ child, their encounter with a little child transforms their life, as it can with ours, our own lives, to uh to go out and be that showcase, right? They they show off the Lord, they don't show off themselves so much as what the Lord's encounter uh did in their life, and they go out and make new disciples. So uh the five ways, um, let's let's look at the three ways of the wise men, right? The uh the idea of seeking God in our life and letting it transform us. Um back to divine revelation, I'll just ask, what is a basic definition? If you remember the last lesson, I was hoping we might be able to put into our own words a definition of these words that seem pretty simple on the surface, divine revelation, but without using those two words, what is divine revelation? Uh okay, the Bible is part of divine revelation for sure. Absolutely. Is it uh is there anything outside the Bible that would account for divine revelation? Yeah, okay, all right, the word, the word Trinity doesn't appear in the Bible, but like that's a huge part of divine revelation, so absolutely. And Jerry, what were you thinking about? Okay, so now avoid revelation though, or reveal. Give me another word uh that's expressing the same thing. Could you say that again?

unknown 10:32

Enlightenment.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Enlightenment, perfect. That's that's wonderful, absolutely. There's a light that goes on and we're able to understand and see. Okay?

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Uh God communicating us things that we can't have through natural reasoning.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Okay, perfect. Um, so we can think really hard and come with you know great answers like two plus two is four, right? Uh special for little, that's a big deal to be able to get that. But to know like who God is, we need him to reveal himself. So the inner mysteries of the Lord. Um I'm gonna give another kind of brief uh definition. So God, because we're saying divine, so like you're saying God, um God unveils his inner life to and through creation. It's not a textbook answer, uh, but it's gonna do, right? So God uh unveils his inner life to and through creation. And like we saw before, the uh the bulletin's got the image of the baptism of the Lord, the the sin of the what appears to be a dove, right? It's obviously it's the Holy Spirit, but it looks like a dove, uh, so he's revealing himself. Uh, and then the waters are baptizing, uh washing clean, seemingly a man uh near Jerusalem. But the Holy Spirit uh and the voice of the Father speaks, and we're able to understand who this is. It's not just some man, this is Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. Um, so to and through creation. Fairly ordinary means, but but it's God acting, and so it's extraordinary, right? Um how did God reveal himself to the magi? We're talking about God revealing or unveiling himself, his inner life. How did he do that to the magi? Yes, man. Through the star. Okay. Uh it's in the sky? Um is it just in the old star? Absolutely. So we're talking about um a cosmological event. And uh and if we talked to I remember there was a meteorologist that spoke to my parish years ago when I lived in uh another part of Virginia. He's been studying these types of things, weather patterns, and um if you think the the uh there's a difference between astrology and uh let's say like astrophysics, right? So we don't we don't look for signs from the stars, but the stars can indicate things or planets, things that move in the heavens, uh which is just the sky, right? And uh so absolutely God reveals through seemingly ordinary means, brightness, um, constellation, planetary movements, in order for people that are with eyes to see, right, to uh to believe and to be open to God's voice, uh they're able to interpret that by God's grace, of course, only by God's grace, not just because they're smart, right? It's not just they're figuring out with their own human reason, but they're seeing what's around them and believing. And that moves them. They don't stay put, they go out. All right. Um excellent so far. This is really good. What's once they arrive at their destination, what might be an indicator that God is still speaking to the Magi? The three gifts? Okay, so no, God uh will speak through the way that the wise men will give these gifts, these kings will give gifts, but um about God speaking to them? Uh avoid Herod. Say it again?

unknown 14:18

Avoid Herod.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Okay, they're gonna avoid Herod. Okay, absolutely. Once they arrive at the destination, though, uh, because they will not travel back through um maybe the same way, but uh will they is there anything at like what's their destination? Or who is say it again? Jesus. Jesus, absolutely, he's the destination. God is the destination. So he's the origin, the starting point, but also where we're trying to get to. And so when they arrive and they encounter the Christ child, how is it there that God is speaking through that event? That encounter.

unknown 14:51

Is it that they fell down and adored him and worshiped him, even though there's a lowly child or children?

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Yeah, no, absolutely. They they bow down, they fall down in front of him, uh, which is not something we normally do for babies. We might like pull them close, but we don't necessarily I mean, maybe we will, but uh generally that's not the behavior. And in course, in this case, we're interpreting their falling down like a chinuflection, right? They're they are adoring in a worshiping sense, uh like a liturgical sense of bowing before God, yet he looks like a child. So is there anything that maybe he looks different than a normal child, or is there anything about his birth or other things that they might have heard from the parents, um, Ari and Joseph, about this? This is a different birth. Okay, so their uh expectations are met in a way. Um I do I do want to just kind of consider that the Christ child, uh, we we believe, of course, as Catholics it's a miraculous birth. Uh and there might have been, you know, whether it's some will say even a couple years after the birth that that the uh the visit takes place. We don't know exactly. Uh but for sure, it'd be weird if the parents didn't say there was a really special experience that we had when when he was born. And uh that'll be a normal, amazing thing to share from let's say Mary or Joseph to the wise men, this encounter that they had with God through birth. Um, and they're gonna share that message so it's like a confirming that what they expected, uh, yeah, this is not some ordinary child. The stars indicated all their um perhaps they had a copy of Isaiah, right? It's not unheard of for scrolls to be shared. It's easy to transport these sacred texts across the earth. Um at that point, the what we call now the Old Testament was already the Septuagint, right? It was already written in Greek for other um people around the world to be able to read, not just in Hebrew, right? So they're able to maybe read some of the texts, so they're interpreting these prophecies of old, and then they hear it confirmed through Mary, right? She maybe is the chief disciple, the chief evangelist. She's able to share, this is God. He's not just my little boy, he's more than that. Um salvation history. Can you think back or or real quickly right now, what is a definition of salvation history? Okay, great. Yeah, absolutely. The covenants is a good one. Um other I'm gonna come back to that for sure. The covenants is crucial. Other definitions uh without using the word salvation history to to define those that term We all know history, um story of events from the past that shape our lives. Um salvation. What's what's a basic definition of salvation? So that's a that's a culminating, right? The Paschal mystery is like that central part of uh that's why we divide time into A D uh for anodomy, the year of our Lord, but also before Christ with the B C. So he's that center point of history. But it starts long before. Absolutely, things of the past that are maybe foreshadowing a culminating event, which is Christ's uh whole life, and uh and then our impact having experienced the life of Christ now and going forward in light of that. Um a possible definition of salvation history, um we can consider it's the prologue of John, uh the uh Genesis all the way to the apocalypse, and um and everything in between that is telling us of the uh the means by which God will bring us healing in our life, right? Because there's gonna be that fall early on in Genesis, and there's gonna be the rising. So we fall, rise, and eventually we're in heaven, right? That's where our goal, our ultimate destination, because that's where God is. Um what are the six key covenants? To go back to what Jerry was saying. Um we've named already, obviously, Jesus is a covenant, um, Abraham's one of the covenants or mediators of these covenants. Can we think of some of the other key figures? Adam and Eve, that's where we start, absolutely. So the Adamic Covenant. Um with the Adamic Covenant, we can say there's uh one holy couple, and uh the sign of that covenant is marriage, so we can think of rings, um, and also the Sabbath, so a completion. And uh where where does that covenant take place? I'm sorry? Garden of Eden. And if we look at Ezekiel, another prophet that's really important for our understanding, our interpreting of history, uh specifically salvation history, is uh Ezekiel describes Eden as a not only a garden, but a mountain even. And so these mountains, I'm gonna say each time when I'm asking uh for where it takes place, it's always gonna be on a mountain. So we can say Mount Eden. Um and uh so that's why we want to read the Bible together as a whole. So if we just look at Genesis, it might be harder to see that that Eden is this mountain, but we know from reading a bigger portion or all of uh the Bible together that it's Mount Eden. The next to come after Adam, who is our next mediator that God chooses? Noah, absolutely. So the Noahic covenant. Um, the sign of that covenant. The rainbow, absolutely. What was the rainbow? Is it just uh uh an experience of colors, or what is what's that bow? Do you remember what the bow was signifying? Absolutely. So there was a flood, which is a destruction or a washing clean, right? And so the bow is a shape of a weapon, right? It's a we can think of a bow, an arrow, a crossbow, right? So God is not intending to have war with his creation anymore. He wants peace with his creation. Obviously, he always desires peace. And sometimes war is used as a means to bring about peace. That's the whole purpose of war, to re-establish the tranquility of order, right? So we have the sign of that covenant between God and all of God's people, of course, but through the mediator Noah. So that's one holy family that we've got saved through the ark. The sign being the bow. And what is the mountain? Where does the covenant take place?

unknown 22:48

Mount Ararat.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Mount Ararat, absolutely. You guys are awesome. Moving beyond Adam and Eve to Noah, and now we get to which we've already heard his name before?

unknown 22:58

Abraham.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

Abraham. So the Abrahamic covenant, what is our sign? Do you know the sign of the Abrahamic covenant?

unknown 23:06

Circumcision.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Circumcision, absolutely. And so that's a clear indicator that you're part of this covenant. And so it's a visible sign of something that's far deeper than the physical reality, right? There's an inner, bigger picture to consider. Where does that covenant take place? Initiated, God initiates that covenant between Abraham and his people through God. So it's a it's a great emphasis on what you're providing there. So it takes place between animals, but but I want to move forward to um what we heard, I think you were saying it before, that he's going to sacrifice his son Isaac, right? And that takes place on Mount Moriah, which is in Jerusalem, right? If you've been to the Holy Land, it's what an incredible place to go. Got to get there. Got a friend that lives there, he's saying it's safe, so definitely jump on a pilgrimage and see these things for yourself. Um so Mount Moriah is uh right next to another mountain we're gonna talk about in just a second, but um it's like a higher hilltop looking down on another significant mountain. Um so we have one holy tribe, right? The tribe of Abraham, and all of his children and generations after are part of that covenant. And then after Abraham, which mediator comes in? God chooses another mediator. Moses. Moses, absolutely. The Mosaic covenant is established through Moses. Uh we have now one holy nation, right? Move from a couple to a family to a tribe to a nation, and we have um the law, right? That's one of the signs of that covenant. And where does that covenant uh where is it ratified or brought into being? Mount Sinai, absolutely. The tablets. Um we have the law, not to uh burden us, but really to liberate us. The law sets us free. It's an ordered declaration from the lawgiver that that makes sense, right? And it's for the common good. Um okay, so now we move from Moses. We have who's the next mediator, and he's the last of the ones we're gonna consider from the Old Testament. Who was it?

unknown 25:31

David.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Yeah, I'm hearing David, absolutely. So the Davidic covenant, um David is chosen by God to establish one holy kingdom, right? So we have King David who sits on the throne, and also his son, Solomon, will build the temple. We've already got a place for worshiping God, um, which starts at Mount uh Mount Eden in the garden, but things are unsettled, and eventually we have uh, because of the calf, we've got this tent that they will have an encounter with the living God, and eventually in the temple that's built by Solomon in all of his glory, uh the Lord will dwell there so the people know there's part of this covenant. And then who's our final mediator? Who is the ultimate mediator? Jesus Christ, right? He is the, because the mediator goes between God and man. He is God and man, right? So he's the ultimate mediator who brings us together for the purpose of holiness, purpose of our salvation. And we're brought into the new covenant, right? Um, and he is the new covenant. So we say the sign of the new covenant is the Eucharist, and who is the Eucharist? It's Jesus, right? It's not a not a what, but a who. So it goes from lots of signs that are seemingly things to God Himself. He is the sign of our covenant, right? So the more we have God in us, we're that showpiece as the lay people to go out and bring God to others. Because we're part of that covenant, we're part of his family, and it matters. Um that is also ratified on a mountain. And what is the name of that mountain? What was it? Golgotha is is on that mountain, um Mount Calvary, right? So we can say Mount Calvary, and uh a lot of times we hear that as the name of a cemetery, uh Mount Calvary. It's where some of my grandparents are married. And um, so Mount Calvary, because that's the place where the covenant is like really brought together uh with his body, blood, soul, and divinity, right? That's on the cross. That's our sign of salvation. We see it on the cross, but we know it's there in the Eucharist, which we talked about last time, right? That what is the Eucharist? It's it's the cross, it's the it's the whole mystery of God. Um, because the the Mass is the sacrifice of Calvary, right? I think you might have been saying that in the last uh lesson. Yes, sir. Yeah, absolutely. I'm sorry, if I didn't mention it, uh Mount Zion.

unknown 27:57

Zion?

SPEAKER_01 27:58

Zion?

unknown 27:59

Zion.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

You could say Z or S, but Zion, uh, and then all we think of like daughter Sion, right? Who's married, right? She's uh you can think of the the hill, right, that the Lord is is ultimately gonna come spring forth from that mountain, right? Think of our lady of Guadalupe, that beautiful image of uh the expecting mother. Um so all these are a mountain. We can think of you go on a retreat, really fun experience, might have a mountaintop experience, right? But then you gotta go down the mountain and uh and you live your life, right? Um you can't stay in retreat forever. You gotta go out, be that showcase, just like we don't stay at church forever, that's what Father says in the bulletin today. Uh we gotta go out and spread the love of God by authentically living our faith. And um but every now and then we've got to go back to the mountain. So we can think of the transfiguration with uh Christ having this metamorphosis, that's what the Greek is, it's metamorphosis. Um the transfiguration with uh Moses and Elijah, right? They appear beside him, and uh we've got Peter, James, and John on the tabletop mound, Mount Tabor, right? There's a couple different uh interpretations go with Mount Tabor. So every now and then we've got to have our own mountaintop experience where we see something amazing of God and then go back down and bring that healing, that salvation to all the world. Um so sacred tradition really is all about that. What is a quick definition of sacred tradition? Say that again? Teaching of the church? That is uh um absolutely. And um so it it would seem that we teach things that we've already received. We hand them on to the next generation, right? It's one of the beautiful things about schools, right? You see dedicated uh educators that care about what they've received and they want to pay it forward, right? Pass it on to the next generation. So the church is teaching, and we're we're gifted with these wonderful priests here that have received a great education in their seminary. Uh we should always support those funds, right? Because they can come and pass on that treasure. So tradition itself, the word tra dare in Latin, um, coming from you can think of dare, d-a-r-e, to give, uh, and then we just change it to make it sound a little better. Tra dare, which becomes tra dare, and tra is like a cross. It's just a preposition you might think. So if you've been to Rome or been to Italy, hopefully been to Rome, the uh the river Tiber, right? You've heard of crossing the Tiber, it's one of the ways people become Catholic. They cross the Tiber, right? They come to Rome. Well, across from Rome, um, because now Rome's boundaries are much bigger, but in the ancient city it was a smaller geographical area. So to go across the Tiber, you went into um there was there's now this beautiful neighborhood called Trastevere, right? So some of the best restaurants and churches are there. It's a wonderful church to our lady, probably from like the fourth century, uh, maybe fifth century in Trastevere. And um so going across the river, right? So in this case, Tra to hand on, to give, right, to give over, to give over. That's the tradition. What do we've received? Amazing traditions, amazing gifts, treasures. We want to pass them on to the next generation. Um, and it's sacred, right? So I'm I'm gonna say for salvation history, or for a correction, for a sacred tradition, handing on what is holy, set apart uh for the purpose of sanctifying. So handing on what is holy, and holy just means set apart. It's for a specific purpose. What's the purpose here? For sanctification, for deification, uh, to become God, right? To share in God's own nature, we hear from, I believe, 2 Peter. Um so ultimately, just like really emphasizing today the baptism, um, that uh Christ changed those waters. The waters didn't change Christ, and now through our own baptism, we can be changed because of what God did. So the ultimate gift is the life of God, right? That's what we want to have passed on to us, to our kids, to our grandkids, make sure that baptism is being done and lived out. So it's not just a one-time event, of course, only one baptism, but it's it's an event that keeps going. It's a transformed life, new life in God. Okay, um, we also emphasized last time the liturgy uh is the primary place to pray the Bible, right? So we've heard the Bible, church history, things like that, or uh divine revelation, uh salvation history, sacred tradition. We look really look at the Bible. That's a might say the meat and potatoes. Uh it's awesome to have a little small copy you can carry with you, and if you're stuck in traffic or something, maybe pull it out real quick. Uh or even just seeing it, like touching it, can be a reminder. I need I need more of God in my life. Um, but the liturgy in particular, when we hear the readings proclaimed, maybe even sung at Mass, that's that's a really important time to really take it in and let it purify and lighten our minds, uh, make us new again. And um also we talked about Lexio Divina, right? Do you remember there were handout sheets I think that described and had an example of doing Lexio Divina? How many basic steps for Lectio Divina? A lot of times we'll hear four, but really want to say five. So that first one we want to read through it, that's the Lectio, to read this small short passage from Scripture, and then to um meditate on it, right? To really think through what did I just read? I saw it in English, but what does it mean? So we think through, that's the meditating. And then the third one was the uh oratio, right? It's just like an oration, a speech. You're gonna say to God, hey, this is what I read, this is what I thought about it, help me out, you're the amazing teacher up in heaven. Um and then after the uh the prayer, uh contemplatio, right? Or contemplation, and that's not thinking hard about it, right? That's the meditating, but now it's gazing out uh at the beauty, the amazing event that God is gonna reveal to us of what that meaning is all about that we've read about, that we've prayed about. Um He's gonna share something like a beautiful sunset, right, that we can take in and just enjoy, delight in God's goodness. And that's gonna lead us. That's why I want to say there's really five steps to action, right? To live it out. To not just stay there like the mountaintop experience, seeing God's glory, but going out, having been transformed by it. To live out and being showcased for the world to see the glory of God. Uh one easy way to do this is with the divine office. So last time we talked about the uh morning prayer, evening prayer, night prayer, and I gave you some of the prayers from night prayer in particular, and there's canticles that uh, if you pray these daily, they they're you memorize them very quickly. And then they they might pop up in your mind, hopefully instead of like a you know bad uh lyrics from an old song we used to listen to or can't get out of our head. We instead we have like these canticles stuck in our head, and we're thinking about God, it's renewing our mind all the time. Um so the Divine Office or the Brievery or the Liturgy of the Hours, so many different names for basically reading the Psalter and taking that in. And even uh better than just reading it is to sing it, right? To uh to make it come alive. Um and at least for me, if I read something I don't remember as well as if I've sung it many times. And it just uh brings joy to my life. Um okay, so with that, uh I would like to consider the Epiphany Mass proper. So we're on page two though. Uh and so if you turn the sheet, I know some of you are struggling to, this is really just the review before. Now we're moving into the new stuff. So the second page, you'll see an E at the top right in the box that's labeled eight. Everybody got that? So top right, it says collect in red, and then the Lord be with you and put thy spirit, right? So what I want to do is read Isaiah. Um and I'll read out loud, but you can follow along with me. We're gonna be only on the English side right now. So box number nine. Lesson from the book of Isaiah. Rise up in splendor, O 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 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 shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of nations shall be brought to you, caravans of camels shall fill you, dromedaries from Madian and Apha, all from Saba shall come bearing gold and incense, proclaiming the praises of the Lord. That's the lesson, right? Or we could think of it like the first reading. Uh the gradual continues right after that. This is really just repeating that first line, but also connecting it with Matthew. And that's what we want to do is consider the Bible as a whole, right? The Old and New Testament together. So the gradual is from Isaiah 60 verses 6 and 1, and then the gospel part there, Matthew 2, 2. So it reads, and this is Box 10. All they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the Lord. Rise up in splendor, O Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord shines upon you. Alleluia, Alleluia. We have seen his star in the east, and have come with gifts to worship the Lord. So we're connecting their Isaiah with the coming later, centuries later, of the wise men, the three kings. If you turn the sheet over to the next, to the back of that, you're gonna see in the top right in red, Matthew 2, 1 to 12. Okay, everybody there. Matthew 2, 1 to 12. And I'd like you to stand for this. This is not mass, I'm not pretending that, but I want you to stand because you'll notice something in red later on as we read this. Okay. So this is a very much participatory. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, Magi came from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. But when Herod heard this, he was troubled, and so was all Jerusalem with him, and gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. And they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, and you, Bethlehem, of the land of Judah, are by no means least among the princes of Judah, for from you shall come forth a leader who shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod summoned the Magi secretly, and carefully ascertained from them the time when the star had appeared to them, and sending them to Bethlehem he said, Go and make careful inquiry concerning the child, and when you have found him, bring word bring me word, that I may that I too may go and worship him. And now, having heard the king, went their way. And behold, the star that they had seen in the east went before them, until it came and stood over the place where the child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly. And entering the house, they found the child with Mary, his mother, and falling down, they worshipped him. And opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another way. Okay, please be seated. I was uh reading, but I think I heard movement when we came across the word Jenny Fleck in red, right? I think uh this is in the old mass, these were more common, these sorts of gestures that would happen while the priest or the deacon proclaims or even chants the uh the gospel or other things, like for instance with the uh the Ascension Thursday, the candle snuffed at the old mass, and the the uh smoke from the the uh paschal candle rises before the priest starts a homily. So this like this uh really fun experience during the liturgy, and uh and it teaches us stuff, right? Our faith is to be lived out, not just be learned like a book, uh knowledge from from school, but just something that go out. And when we genuflect like that, we remember that. It's something different about today's gospel. And we notice we we genuflected, we fell down to worship God, but who didn't from this story? Who didn't? He said he wanted to do it, but he didn't. King Herod, yeah, he's lying, right? He has bad intentions. We've got to have our good intentions to really live out our faith, to be a showcase, an authentic showcase of God's love in the world. Always with the best intentions, and then by grace, we do our best, right? It's not gonna be as bright as the amazing star that guided the magi to find God. But we're gonna do our best to be that showcase, to really pass on, right? To hand on the treasures we've received, which are uh far more than just like gold, frankincense, and myrrh, right? Um okay, I'm gonna we're we're getting a little bit low on time, so we're gonna skip a lot. Um but uh at this point, if you turn the page, you'll see the chapter uh hymn from Epiphany, that's the Lods or Morning Prayer Hymn. Uh we're not gonna read all that, but there's awesome recordings of that if if you're not familiar with the song. But real quick, it's from Prudencius. He wrote a lot of the hymns we we sing in our liturgy. Uh he lived from about from 384 to circa 413, and so this is a fourth century hymn. Um and uh it's still sung today, right? These are things we pass on, the treasures we've received, we hand them on. And if you read through this, there's just great um unpacking of God's divine revelation, of salvation history, of sacred tradition. It's an unpacking by this holy man, Prudencius, and we want to hold on to what we've received and then pass it forward. If you turn back to the back of that sheet, you'll see Vespers hymn for Epiphany, and this is sung over several days during the season of Epiphany. Cheleus Sedelius, who died about the year 450, who's a poet. So this is probably a fifth-century hymn that we still sing today. And there's tons of interpretations, so like there's different English translations set to different types of music for one voice or choirs with different voices. Um, and this unpacks why the Epiphany and baptism are really put together. We're thinking there's Christmas, the Epiphany with the Magi might have taken place, or the three Magi might have come maybe a couple years later, but all of a sudden we're like Jesus is 30 years old. We skip about maybe 28 years. So salvation history is going quick as we're reading through it in liturgical season. But all these, it's the manifestation of God in creation, right? To and through creation, manifesting God's inner life. So I invite you to read that. It even talks about the miracle of the wine, right, at the wedding feast of Cana. So so much in the one mystery of the baptism. Baptism and really Epiphany. And so I invite you to read through those later. But now turn the page to the last sheet. We three kings of Orient are. And then there's also a second hymn, When From the East the Wise Men Came. So last time, if you remember, we sang a song. I thought maybe we could do some more singing. I think people had a good time last time. If you hold this and maybe get the light to shine on it, you'll see most of the words are written in gold ink. So I'm holding on, passing on some gold to you again. And if you look at the bottom of this page, there's three stars. We got to think of three wise men. This is really to draw your attention, but we might remember the three wise men. So there's a challenge at the bottom. I want you to really put into action, hopefully, hopefully learned something today, or like reinforce something you already knew. And we can think of New Year's resolutions. So three concrete gifts you'll give to the Christ child this year, right? We want to be our own. We're wise men now, right? We believe in God. We're not fools who don't believe in God. We we truly believe it. And we want to pass it on. So what are our gifts we're gonna give to God in our life? Three things, I don't need to write those now. And if you turn the back, the three stars, I'm giving you a first, uh, a little line for first name, middle name, last name, signature, date it, and you're gonna take it home. I'm not gonna collect these, but maybe it's like a reminder, man, I made a resolution, I'm gonna give a got uh a gift to God, maybe three gifts, meaningful gifts, the way that I'm gonna live my life. Um and maybe have kids or grandkids and you know other family, this could be an easy activity, sing a fun song and then practical exercise, right? Put it into uh application. So why don't we rise if you're willing? Um, and we'll sing We Three Kings. You see in blue, uh those verses are are read or sung by interpreted as like those specific kings or are Magi, wise men, so Kaspar, Balthazar, and Melchior. Um but in today to make it easy, we'll just all sing it together. Okay, I don't know if anybody here has got those names.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

We three kings of Oriental Bearing gifts we traverse afar field and fountain more and mountain following yonder star of wonder, star of light, star with royal beauty bright westward leading, still proceeding kind as to thy perfect light born a king on Bethlehem's plain, hold I bring to crown him again King forever ceasing ever over us all to reign O star of wonder star of light star with royal beauty bright westward leading still proceeding guide us to thy perfect light frank and sense to offer have I incense night prayer and praising voices raising worshipping God on high Oh star of wonder star of light star with royal beauty bright westward leading still proceeding guide us to thy perfect light myrrh is mine its bitter perfume breeds a life of gathering gloom sorrowing sighing bleeding nine sealed in the stone called tomb Oh star of wonder star of light star with royal beauty bright westward bleeding still proceeding guide us to thy perfect light glorious thou behold him arise king and gold and sacrifice hallelujah sounds through the earth and skies star of wonder star of light star with royal beauty bright westward leading still proceeding guide us to thy perfect life that's pretty good um easier when we have maybe andrew on the organ or you know some accompaniment but uh pretty good the the other hymn we're not gonna sing that but it's by the same composer who is an Episcopal priest so if you turn the back page um a little biography of him that I found online John Henry Hopkins Jr.

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lived from 1820 to 1891 born in Pittsburgh and then uh says he had 12 siblings so a big family and I've put in bold here so I'm not gonna read the whole thing but his talent his artistic talents were apparent in designing stained glass windows um excelling in all that he did totally devoted to his parish people kind to anyone in need so he was he was an Episcopal priest right um and uh he delivered the eulogy at the funeral of President Ulysses S. Grant in 1885 so kind of an American legend you might say not like a Paul Bunyan but a real real guy and uh that hymn we all know that well but um how are we gonna you all give to your your parish in so many ways um really keep on doing it with your families that that's what Father O'Hare's message is to be that showcase to really pass on the faith and music is a great way to do it it brings joy and you see at the very bottom the bold says in the same volume there are translations of the Oantiphons so um that's one of the you know musical keys from last lesson was the Oantiphons possible New Year's resolutions I gave some examples and smart goals they're specific measurable attainable or achievable they're relevant and realistic and they're time bound so really come up with three uh not now but um soon and try to lose them out with God's grace so that's my challenge to you I'll conclude with a prayer which is going to be from the Epiphany Secret so if you turn to the front again and then turn to the second page and then ultimately to the third page where it has 19 in the box. Okay so that's the secret prayer you can see the context of when it is it's shortly before the the holy holy holy from mass so I want to end with that and then you've got chalk in front of you it's blessed Epiphany chalk so you can bless the door of your uh house um and you'll see the letters that include the three wives meant you know the first letter from their name so go home with that that's the gift from from me to you and it's Father Christensen blessed those uh like last night over at St. Rita's so um that will last you many years don't throw it away it's a blessed object uh but each year renew that custom of blessing your house and it's a good thing to do as a family so we we pray from the secret in uh box nineteen in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Amen O Lord look favorably upon the gifts of your church which are no longer gifts of gold frankincense and myrrh but as these gifts signify our offering is Jesus Christ your son our Lord who is now sacrifice and food who liveth and reigneth with God the Father and the unity of the Holy Spirit God world without end amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit Amen postscript um if you go back to the the last cheat with the hymns that we the hymn that we sang you can see bolded so that's gonna get the interpretation of what those gifts are gold frankincense and myrrh emphasizing God is king that that or that Jesus is king that he's God and that he will sacrifice and end up in the tomb. So he needs to be anointed with the myrrh uh really had some fun with you I hope you learned something had a good time come back and you'll you'll come and see okay God bless you