Epiphanies and Homage

The homage that the Magi [the Wise men] gave to Our Lord at Bethlehem as he lay in a manger was different to the one that King Herod planned! Indeed, we can say that whereas God intends our good, human beings intentions range from those of the Wise Men to those of Herod. In the song of the Hosts of Angels at Bethlehem, the Gloria, it opens with these words: Glory to God in the highest. And on earth peace to men of good will. Here the angels declare that Praising God leads to Peace to men of good will, so there is a causal dependency between praising God, the good will of mankind and the gift of peace!

Worship matters for mankind because all human beings are made for worship, thus all human beings do worship, the problem lies in what they worship! Right worship is made visible by both the angels and the wise men who worship God in Jesus Christ, whereas the wicked, like Herod, show what they worship [power, fame, pleasure] by how they live and what they value, so unsurprisingly they would kill anyone who got in the way of their plans, as Herod was intending to do [see the Massacre of the Holy Innocents in Matt 2:16-18].

Epiphany is a word that means ‘appearing’ or ‘manifestation’ and is linked to the appearing or manifestation of the divine. But we find in the liturgy of Christmas that there are epiphanies, four epiphanies:

The Epiphany at the Nativity where Jesus appears to the Jews represented by the poorest of the poor, the shepherds;

the Epiphany to the Wise men where Jesus appears to the Gentiles represented by Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar;

the Epiphany at the Baptism of the Lord where Jesus appears as the Messiah to John the Baptist and all those at the river Jordan;

and the Epiphany at the wedding feast of Cana where Jesus turns water into wine and, as this is his first miracle, this is the appearance of his Divinity.

If we consider all these Epiphanies there is in each the intentionality of those who encounter Our Lord:

the good will, humility and hope of the shepherds;

the good will, perseverance, reverence and worship of the Magi;

the good will of sinners who came to the Baptist and responded to his words by repenting of their sins in anticipation of the Messiah who is then revealed before them when he came up out of the water and the Holy Spirit came upon him and his Heavenly Father spoke;

and the good will of servants who obey Our Lady’s command to them, concerning her Son, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Clearly, the work we must do is to intend and live for the good, for if we have good will to both God and Man then the promise comes true. If we show Good will to God by joining the angels in proclaiming in body and soul ‘Glory to God in the Highest’ and if we both have and show good will to our neighbour than we will receive the promise of the blessing of ‘peace to men of good will.’ Here we find that true and right religion when married to true and right acts of charity forge a divine fire that either builds or rebuilds a civilisation of love, one that is worthy of the Gospel, the Gospel of Life.

It is vital that we cultivate this intentionality towards the good of others by always intending good for them even if they disagree with us, do not share our vision, do not comform to our ways and even if they show themselves to be our enemies. Nothing kills supernatural charity in our souls faster than ‘othering’ others, scapegoating others, denouncing and snitching on others and wishing ill to others - out of this evil intentionality was born Auchwitz and Dachau were millions were delivered into camps for annihilation. Looking at Europe, Australia, Canada and New Zealand it is clear that both leaders and many members of the public in these countries have lost this intentionality and have forgotten this warning from history!

O Lord deliver our country and our churches from such leaders, from such people and from such clergy who serve the one who hates all of humanity, Lucifer, for they know not what they do!

Watch Neil Oliver on GB News who talks about ‘Synchronised patterns’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpqC1cb-RmU&ab_channel=GBNews