ANGELUS POPE
FRANCIS
SOLEMNITY
OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 6 January 2016
Wednesday, 6 January 2016
Dear
Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
In today’s Gospel, the
narrative of the Magi coming from the East to Bethlehem to adore the Messiah,
conveys a breath of universality to the Feast of the Epiphany. This is the
breath of the Church which wants all peoples of the earth to be able to
encounter Jesus, to experience his merciful love. This is the desire of the
Church: that peoples may find Jesus’ mercy, his love. Christ is newly born, he
does not yet know how to speak, and already people — represented by the Magi —
can meet him, recognize him, worship him. The Wise Men stated: “we have seen
his star in the East, and have come to worship him” (Mt 2:2). Herod heard this
as soon as the Magi arrived in Jerusalem. These Wise Men were prestigious men,
of a distant religion and different culture, and they were on their way to the
land of Israel to worship the newborn king. The Church has always seen in them the
image of humanity as a whole, and with today’s celebration of the Feast of the
Epiphany, the Church almost tries to direct, respectfully, each man and each
woman of this world to the Child who is born for the salvation of all. On
Christmas Eve Jesus manifested himself to shepherds, humble and scorned men —
some say brigands. They were the first to bring a little warmth to that gelid
cave in Bethlehem. Then the Magi arrived from faraway lands. They too were
mysteriously drawn by that Child. The shepherds and the Wise Men were very
different from each other; however, they had one thing in common: heaven. The
shepherds of Bethlehem immediately hastened to see Jesus, not because they were
particularly good, but because they kept watch in the night and, raising their
eyes to heaven, they saw a sign, they heard its message and followed it. It was
the same for the Magi: they observed the heavens, saw a new star, interpreted
the sign and set out on their journey, from afar. The shepherds and the Wise
Men teach us that in order to encounter Jesus it is necessary to be able to
lift our gaze to heaven, not to withdraw into ourselves, into our own
selfishness, but to have our heart and mind open to the horizons of God, who
always surprises us, to be able to welcome his messages and respond with
readiness and generosity.
When the Magi, the Gospel
says, “saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly” (Mt 2:10). For us too, there is
great comfort in seeing the star, in other words in feeling guided and not
abandoned to our fate. The star is the Gospel, the Word of the Lord, as the
Psalm states: “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”
(119[118]:105). This light guides us to Christ. Without listening to the
Gospel, it is impossible to encounter him! The Wise Men, indeed, by following
the star arrived at the place where they found Jesus. Here “they saw the child
with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him” (Mt 2:11). The
experience of the Magi exhorts us not to be satisfied with mediocrity, not to
“cut corners”, but to seek the meaning of things, to fervently explore the
great mystery of life. It teaches us not to be scandalized by smallness and
poverty but to recognize majesty in in humility, and to be able to kneel before
it.
May the Virgin Mary, who welcomed
the Wise Men in Bethlehem, help us to lift our gaze from ourselves, to allow
ourselves to be guided by the star of the Gospel in order to encounter Jesus,
and to be able to humble ourselves to adore him. In this way we will be able to
bring to others a ray of his light, and to share with them the joy of the
journey.
After the Angelus:
Dear brothers and sisters,
today let us express our spiritual closeness to our Christian brothers and
sisters of the East, Catholics and Orthodox, many of whom will celebrate the
Birth of the Lord tomorrow. May our wishes of peace and good will reach them,
along with a nice round of applause as a greeting!
Let us also remember that the
Epiphany is the World Day for Missionary Childhood. It is the feast of the
children who, through their prayers and sacrifices, help their neediest peers
by being missionaries and witnesses of brotherhood and sharing.
I express my warm greeting to
all of you, individual pilgrims, families, parish groups and associations, from
Italy and from various countries.
I wish a happy feast day to
all. Please do not forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch. Arrivederci!
© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Post a Comment