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Sacred Scriptures/Liturgy- Commentary on Sunday's Readings |
The Signs
of the Times
on the Epiphany of the Lord
Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFMCap, Pontifical Household Preacher
www.zenit.org
Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6;
Matthew 2:1-12
"We celebrate three wondrous events on this holy day: Today the star
leads the Magi to the stable, today the water is changed into wine
at the wedding feast at Cana, today Christ is baptized by John in
the Jordan for our salvation." With these words the liturgy
describes today's feast; it consists in the triple revelation of
Christ: to the magi, at the wedding feast at Cana, and in Jesus'
baptism in the Jordan. Since ancient times, that which has brought
about the unification of these three events in a single feast is
their common theme of manifestation (in Greek "epiphania"). In these
events Jesus progressively reveals what he is in reality, the
Messiah and savior.
Christ reveals himself to all peoples and to each category of
persons with signs appropriate and comprehensible to them. To simple
shepherds he sends an angel; to the wise who scrutinize the courses
of the heavenly bodies he sends a star; to the Jews attached to
signs, he gives a sign, that is, a miracle: He changes water into
wine.
With what signs does Christ manifest himself to the men of our time?
The Second Vatican Council gave important attention to the "signs of
the times" ("Gaudium et Spes," No. 11). Among these are the sense of
solidarity and the interdependence that is developing between
nations, Christian ecumenism, the promotion of the laity, the
liberation of women, the new sense of religious freedom.
When Jesus spoke of the "signs of the times," he meant above all the
messianic signs: "The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are
healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good
news preached to them" (Matthew 11:5). Are there such signs today?
Certainly there are! The blind receive the light of faith and hope
through contact with the word of God; the spiritually lame (and
sometimes the physically lame) get up and walk; those who are
prisoners in themselves, of evil, or of men, are freed from their
chains; in sum, people are converted and live through the power of
Christ and his Spirit.
Jesus insists on one of these signs in particular: "The good news is
announced to the poor" (Luke 7:22). Is not the concern, typical of
our time, that the Gospel be preached to the poor, a sign that
Christ is at work in the Church? Perhaps today we are able to
discover a new meaning in that saying of Jesus: "The poor you will
always have with you but you will not always have me" (Matthew
26:11); that is to say: When I am no longer with you physically, the
poor who represent me will be with you: do to them what you would do
to me!
The bringing of the Gospel to the poor may sometimes appear too slow
and uncertain and not always consistent, but it would be unjust to
deny that there is alive in the whole Church an interest, a zeal --
which is also a positive sign -- a strong feeling in regard to the
poor, whether they be individuals or an entire people. It is a new
consciousness that "manifests" the power of the word of Christ.
These are some of the signs of the epiphany of Christ that continue
to manifest themselves among us. We all have the task of discovering
and evaluating these signs and becoming ourselves a sign of the
presence of Christ in the world!
ZE07010629
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