Epiphany - a Manifestation

Deus, in adjutorium meum intende. Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.
O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me.

Today, the sixth day of January we celebrate the annual feast of the Epiphany. This day the Magi ended their journey to find the Christ-Child.  It represents the first presentation of Our Lord to the Gentiles as prophesied by Isaiah, lxxi. 10-11. "The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents: the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts: and all kings of the earth shall adore Him: all nations shall serve Him." The Holy Mass celebrated today uses this Psalm as its Offertory Prayer.

The feast has been kept in the East from the third century and spread to the West towards the end of the fourth.  It has been a custom to publish the date of Easter on Epiphany in cathedrals and principal churches. It is necessary to keep accurately the dates of moveable feasts of the year, and many Fathers of the early Church spoke of such an announcement. There is actually a chant of the formula, called the Noveritis. The chant for the Roman Rite is the most known. When it is sung, or read, in Latin, it is placed after the Gospel is read on the Feast of Epiphany.

In English, here is the translation for 2014:
   "Know, dearly beloved Brethren, that by the mercy of God, as we have been rejoicing in the Nativity of     our Lord Jesus Christ, so also do we announce unto you the joy of the Resurrection of the same our         Saviour.
   Septuagesima Sunday will be on the 16th day of February.
   Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the fast of most holy Lent will be on the 5th of March.
   On the 20th of April we shall celebrate with joy the holy Pasch of our Lord Jesus Christ.
   The Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ will be on the 29th of May.
   The Feast of Pentecost on the 8th of June.
   The Feast of Corpus Christi on the 19th of the same month.
   On the 30th of November will occur the first Sunday of the Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom are honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen."

For the more curious, go to newliturgicalmovement.org for 1/5/14 to see the various chants for the text and the history of the custom, with a quote from St. Athanasius in the year 369 A.D.

I found something else interesting in wdtprs.com. 1/6/14, Father Z's blog.  It is from a book written about St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, by Evelyn Waugh, simply called,  Helena. In the book Helena says a prayer to the Magi about those who are late in coming to Christ. Within the prayer she asks for the conversion of her son. Go to the blog to read the whole prayer. Father says, "This is a prayer by and for people who are talented, intellectuals, artists, who because of their intellectual gifts find it difficult to arrive at the same faith of simple people."

A little note about the gifts from the Magi.  Gold is a mark of our Lord's Kingship; incense of His Divinity, myrrh of His Humanity.

Antiphon 1 from Second Vespers of the day is Psalm cix.3: "Begotten before the day star, and before the ages, the Lord our Saviour was this day made manifest to the world. (Epiphany/Manifest)

1/6/14