Vigils Reading – Epiphany of the Lord

KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUE LIGHT

From a commentary by St Leo the Great

◊◊◊

Dearly beloved, the day on which Christ first showed himself to the

Gentiles as the Savior of the world should be held in holy reverence among us.

We should experience in our hearts the same joy as the three wise men felt when

the sign of the new star led them into the presence of the king of heaven and

earth, and they gazed in adoration upon the one in whose promised coming they

had put their faith.

Although that day belongs to the past, the power of the mystery which was

then revealed has not passed away; we are not left with a mere report of bygone

events, to be received in faith and remembered with veneration. God’s bounty

towards us has been multiplied, so that even in our own times we daily

experience the grace which belonged to those first beginnings.

The Gospel story specifically recalls the days when, without any previous

teaching from the prophets or instruction in the law, three men came from the

far east in search of God; but we see the same thing taking place even more

clearly and extensively in the enlightenment of all those whom God calls at the

present time. We see the fulfillment of that prophecy of Isaiah which says: The

Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of all nations, and the whole world

has seen the salvation that comes from the Lord our God. And again: Those

who have not been told about him shall see, and those who have not heard

shall understand.

When we see the people being led out of the abyss of error and called to

knowledge of the true light, people who, far from professing faith in Jesus

Christ, have hitherto devoted themselves to worldly wisdom, we can have no

doubt that the splendor of divine grace is at work. Whenever a shaft of light

newly pierces darkened hearts, its source is the radiance of that same star,

which impresses the souls it touches by the miracle of its appearance and leads

them forward to worship God.

If on the other hand we earnestly ask ourselves whether the same

threefold oblation is made by all who come to Christ in faith, shall we not

discover a corresponding gift offering in the hearts in the hearts of true

believers? To acknowledge Christ’s universal sovereignty is in fact to bring out

gold from the treasury of one’s soul; to believe God’s only Son has made himself

truly one with human nature is to offer myrrh, and to declare that he is in no way

inferior to the Father in majesty is to worship him with frankincense.