Explaining the Faith - Epiphany: What We Never Learned

hi i'm father chris aylar here at the national shrine of the divine mercy and welcome to our 80th episode of explaining the faith we've done 80 of these praise be to god as i've said i've gone back to seminary and i'm now taking you with us and so this is a honor and a joy for us when we started this back in the when kovitz started we had no idea we were going to keep going and uh you know of the 80 episodes uh 72 of these on youtube have over 50 000 views and when you add facebook to that probably over 100 000 views so praise be to god i i just saw an article that said of the 100 most watched tv programs last year of the 191 were sports events of the top 100 most viewed tv programs of last year 91 were sporting events and so this is tells me we're our prior now i'm a big sports fan so don't get me wrong but this tells us where our priorities are so praise be to god that you're with us for watching something that's a little bit more important maybe not as fun but definitely more important and so before we begin our prayer today we're going to be talking about the epiphany and if you saw our ewtn show on wednesday which we do every wednesday at 6 30 join us on ewtn for living divine mercy we talked a little bit about the epiphany and today i'm going to start with just a little recap of that but stay with us because if you watch you might say well gee i already heard brother chris talk about this no only the first few minutes of this would be a recap of what we talked about in ewtn but they're going to go into much more and so you can't get more important to loving your faith than knowing it and it begins with the church calendar we have to understand i never understood what was going on in the church calendar until i went to seminary and now as i'm learning what's happening and why the church calendar is the way it is i remember sitting in seminary going why doesn't the whole world know this and so my little bit of offering to god is trying to help teach that and thank you for joining us as we go back to seminary in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen heavenly father we give you great thanks for the gift of the revelation of your son as the epiphany means revealing we open our heart to receive that gift of which you have revealed to us in christ your son and in this time of the epiphany let us through the intercession of our blessed mother mary and saint faustina grow closer to you and we ask all this through christ our lord amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen well good again to have you with us and as i mentioned uh you saw in the slideshow we're talking about the epiphany and this is also known as three kings it comes from matthew chapter 2 verse 1 through 12. i'm not going to spend a lot of time reading the scripture because we're going to assume that you probably know the story of the birth of jesus and when the wise men came bringing the gifts of of gold frankincense and myrrh and then how herod tried to kill all the young boys because he heard this king was born and what were the wise men looking for now sometimes you might hear me say wise men sometimes magi sometimes three kings it's all the same but we're going to explain some important differences and add to what you heard on our ewtn show last wednesday so praise be to god and thank you for joining us now the feast of the epiphany the epiphany of our lord is one of the oldest christian feasts we have and we're the most misunderstood and forgotten and that's why it's so important for me to help explain to you why we need this feast and why we celebrate it now epiphany is a word that comes from the greek that means to reveal as i said so it's a time where christ is revealed as the son of god to us now the fact that he was born on december 26 was just the beginning we have a lot more to it so the feast as you may have heard benedict groeschel used to say all the time it's called a theophany a theophany also means a revelation a revelation of god to man that's why the book in the bible the last book is called the book of revelation it's a theophany revealing what to us oh father the book of revelations about the rapture and the antichrist no it's not you know what's being revealed to us in the book of revelation the mass and that's a whole other talk that we hope that you'll join us for and i've done some in the past on that now let's look at our next slide that brother mark can put up because the epiphany is basically all about divine mercy this is why father you guys are divine mercy priests why are you talking about all this because what you see on your screen right there is the image of divine mercy and that image of divine mercy is what the epiphany is all about god sharing his love with us you can't get greater than giving his son and we're going to go through all of this now epiphany also means mystery of the manifestation of our lord jesus christ to all people so let's take a look at our next slide now when we talk about a manifestation how has god been manifested how has jesus been manifested to us all right the epiphany was originally we always think of the three kings now the wise men but it was more the first and understood way to celebrate this day of the epiphany was originally in four different events the first listed on your screen is the nativity that makes sense god has revealed to man by being born christmas okay or now christmas but at the time it was all one the nativity next we have the magi the visit of the wise men the three kings it was revealed to the gentiles that being god next we have the baptism of our lord which we celebrate tomorrow and we're going to talk about this more where what happened the dove came down and revealed the god the father saying this is my son and so god is revealed as trinity because the holy spirit came down in a dove and he's the voice of the father said this is my son we have the whole trinity there and then finally surprisingly the wedding at cana all of these were celebrated as the epiphany all four events so the nativity is where god is revealed to us by becoming a man and what's the main point of the incarnation i bet you don't know this i didn't know this until i went to seminary you know the main reason jesus became man yes to die for our sins but to reveal the father and when you look on the image of the son the image of divine mercy as the holy father said it's the face of the father's mercy the purpose of the son is to reveal the father we all came from the father jesus job is to get us back there jesus is the way to get back to the father our ultimate goal surprisingly is not jesus what our ultimate goal is to the father through jesus he's the only way the way the truth and the life and what is jesus's goal to take us back to the father and how does he do that right here at the mass that is what jesus sacrifice is to the father the whole mass the prayers of the mass are not to jesus they're to god the father through the sacrifice of the son but remember they are one we don't want to treat them like they're two different gods here so when you say well father what do you mean we our goal isn't jesus yes it is our goal is god which includes the father son and holy spirit so i got to be careful how i phrase that but jesus incarnate his job is to reveal the father to you and that's what's happening right so then after the nativity where jesus reveals the father we had on that list the magi here jesus is revealed as a king this is why he got gold gold frankincense and myrrh so what is gold for gold's sh is a gift for a king he also got frankincense which means that he is divine or a high priest it's a gift for a priest or a divine high priest and then he got myrrh which means he's a man because that's a that's a spice for burial at death so basically at the magi jesus is revealed as god as king and his man all that happened to the visit of the three kings then next week or tomorrow i mean we will celebrate the baptism i just said a second ago what does that reveal the whole trinity not just jesus but it says that the dove dissented descended we heard the voice of the father say this is my son in whom i'm well pleased then finally the wedding feast of cana because if jesus was gold for a king priest for frankincense and man for for myrrh we also got to know he's he's divine and that's what happened at cana changing the water into wine is the miracle at cana and that revealed his divinity so god has shown us in these four ways the nativity the visit of the magi the baptism of jesus and the wedding feast of cana god has revealed to you everything you need to know in one feast and we don't even know what this feast is eighty percent of catholics didn't know what the murder epiphany meant and it's the whole basis of our faith that's why you're with us so the mystery of the rosary when we pray the rosary i've always noticed as people say the second mystery the wedding at cana the mysteries not the wedding the mystery is the manifestation of our lord being revealed as god and the miracle that's the second mystery of the rosary of the luminous mysteries all right so now what happened if we had the nativity the visit of the magi we have the baptism of our lord and the wedding feast of cana and they're all celebrated as the epiphany father what are you talking about they're no longer celebrated no they were split out and so over time the nativity was split out and it became its own feast called christmas we celebrate that on december 25th all right then for a while the epiphany then was still celebrated as the other three the visit of the magi the baptism of our lord and the wedding feast of cana so for a while those three were celebrated together but before we split those out there was a super good meaning here this is called christmas tide you all heard the term 12 days of christmas we did a video with brother stephen and the 12 days of christmas showing that they're not just about secular things but they're really a way to teach our catechism seven instead of seven swans of swimming six geese a laying you had seven sacraments six days of creation instead of five golden rings you have the five books of the torah instead of four calling birds you had the four gospel writers instead of three french hens you had the three theological virtues of faith hope and charity instead of two turtle doves you have the two uh testaments old testament new testament and instead of one partridge in a pear tree you have jesus the christ hung to a tree which now bears fruit so instead of a partridge in a pear tree you have jesus hung to a tree and the word pear means it was a fruit tree jesus is that tree that he was hung to now bears fruit so this we've already done i wanted to summarize all this i've already talked about these in other videos so anyway the epiphany is the last day of christmas tied or as you hear it that 12 days of christmas so the 12 days of christmas are from christmas day the 25th up until the epiphany and now the epiphany is usually celebrated january the 6th but sometimes it's moved to the sunday here in boston and many other diocese it's moved to the first sunday after january 1st and that just year happened to be january 2nd so we've already celebrated the epiphany on january 2nd even though technically it's january 6th and we moved it because as jesus told people about moses you hardened your hearts and the church knew that people probably wouldn't go to celebrate it during the week on january 6th so they make it january 2nd on a sunday all right god has to meet us where we're at sometimes but kind of a shame in one sense all right so why is this important okay because the 12 days of christmas from christmas day to the epiphany are the ones that you're familiar with as we said christmas began with the revelation of christ to israel his birth the nativity and who came the shepherds who were the shepherds jews christ was first revealed to the jews but then it ends 12 days later with the epiphany which we now celebrate of those four things we now link the epiphany with just one of them the magi the coming of the three kings the wise men that's what we think of when we say epiphany today why because they were all split out nativity was moved to christmas day and baptism was moved to the week after the epiphany and wedding feast of cana is moved to the week after that so guess what everybody starting tomorrow at sunday mass you're going to hear about the baptism and then the sunday after that you're going to hear about wedding at cana so now when you go to mass you're going to be like man i actually know what we're going to talk about and why because father chris explained it so hopefully it'll make sense to you as we continue all right so anyway christmas began with the revelation of christ to israel on christmas and that is the nativity to the jews the shepherd boys he was revealed then at the end of the christmas season the 12 days of christmas christ is revealed now to the gentiles the three kings those are not jews that's the epiphany so over the centuries we separated the rest of them out now let's look at our next slide because now we celebrate the epiphany as i mentioned just as the visit of the three kings on january the 6th now that's what you see on your screen the baptism as i said has been moved to the sunday after the epiphany and that begins ordinary time so guess what everybody starting monday we're back in ordinary time then it breaks or near time breaks and we do lent then we come easter season and then we go back to ordinary time i know it sounds confusing but we'll stay with us we'll walk you through it so then baptism is celebrated as i said tomorrow or the sunday after the epiphany and the winning at cana is commemorated on the sunday after the baptism as i just mentioned so these feasts all of these feasts about christ's divinity which is the magi he's a king the baptism jesus is lord cana he is divine they all complement the feast of christmas which is his humanity so these feasts of christ's divinity the epiphany complete the feast of his humanity christmas that's why the 12 days of christmas are so important the first day christmas is a celebration of his humanity 12 days later the epiphany celebrates his divinity now let's go to our next slide in the west as we said the focus of the epiphany has remained on the visit of the magi now who are the magi this is where it gets fun so that was the recap that you may have learned now the magi were the non-jews to who god came after he first came to the jewish shepherds remember the shepherds and the magi are not the same so the shepherds were jewish the magi were not jewish they were gentiles all right and in this way god reveals himself to everyone jew and gentile right now the word magi means wise men more than it means king when we say three kings we really should say three wise men these magi were actually astrologers which is why they noticed the star in the first place they were astrologers now even pagans now let's go back though astrology father i thought was wrong yes matthew did not condone astrology but it shows the acceptance that no matter how bad we are or pagan we are we can come to jesus astrology is not what we want to do you don't want to go to palm reading and horoscopes and all that it's not what the church teaches so even pagans can respond to jesus all right so the sin of taking jesus for granted like most of us catholics do is more serious than the pagans sometimes who don't even know him so let's not take him for granted now in comparing the wise men to the shepherds we see a couple things jesus first came to the jews as i said which are the shepherds then to the gentiles the magi so basically jesus came to the humble and the ignorant first that was the shepherds then to the honorable and the learned and the educated the wise men jesus came first to the poor the shepherds then to the rich the magi so no matter who we are rich poor smart stupid no matter who god can come to us and god will come to us so traditionally people have had their houses blessed on this day did you know this try to get your house blessed as close to this time as you can alright next shot is very important because you see that door if if you don't know if you've looked above doors father kaz wrote it on above our door you see 20 plus c plus m plus b plus 22. right you see that all right these stand for the three magi cmb caspar melchior and balthazar now some people point out that it also was latin for christus mancion benedict benedict which means christ bless this house that's what you see when you see chalk written over the door 20 plus c plus m plus b so the three kings represented europe arabia and africa this is important because you see them different skin colors different ethnic backgrounds christ going to the whole world all right so we said the 12 days of christmas or christmas tied now begins or ends i should say and this is when we should remove our christmas decorations you've heard me say that you know a lot of people leave their christmas decorations up until just christmas day and then they take them down no we're supposed to leave them up through the epiphany and some you know what's cute there's a few bishops that said if you forget to remove your christmas decorations on the epiphany which is basically now january 6th or 8th between the 12 2nd and the 8th you got to leave them up all the way to february 2nd which is that's a little tradition all right now let's keep going because there's a good stuff coming now be careful i mentioned this on the ewtn show in louisiana god bless the raging cajuns not in louisiana the epiphany is the beginning of the carnival season the carnival season is the season before lent this is when all the indulgence happens the rich food rich drink and carnal pleasures are indulged in and this season the carnival season ends with the infamous mardi gras right mardi gras right before lent let's take a look at our next slide you see those two girls they're wearing beads now we want to pray that these mardi gras beads which are sometimes used for let's just say impure things guys down at mardi gras will give girls beads to do something immoral and i'm convinced that those beads mock rosary beads and they're all running down in mardi gras with these beads all over their neck they're holding beads they're waving beads it's a string of beads in a loop and a guy will give a string of beads to a girl to be able to expose herself and everybody cheers it's crazy it really is the devil's mockery of rosary beads i can't think of anything more crazy and so let's pray that those people down there are enlightened to what's really happening and how the devil is really making that mockery out of our blessed mother and of christ now also to tradition is to sing christmas carols you don't hear any christmas carols on the radio anymore but the christmas carols are traditionally sung on epiphany we used to before kovid sing every january 6th down at red lion inn at the foot of the hill here in stockbridge we would sing our christmas carols and everybody would say why are you singing them after christmas because it's not the end of christmas season yet christmas season doesn't end till next week praise be god all right so let's talk about a few things that scott hahn brought up scott hahn made some interesting comments he says an epiphany is an appearance so therefore at christmas we really see the face child or the child the face of the child born that appears to the world and he says the magi coming in the gospel of mark shows the fulfillment of god's promises now we all just think the story of mark is by itself here come the magi jesus is born and the magi come and give him gifts do you have any idea that this is rooted in scripture so deep i did not know any of this before seminary and i'm going to share it with you right now i think it's fascinating all right now laden with golden spices there was a journey that they took that made queen of sheba let's look at our next slide this is the queen of sheba i always laugh my mom used to call my sister the queen of sheba and so my mom would see my sister dressed up to go out and she said don't you think you're the queen of sheba i always wonder who's the queen of sheba the queen of sheba came from africa to honor this wisdom of solomon now she came with gold and spices and the journey invoked the journey of solomon to solomon by the queen sheba and the kings of the earth so here are all the kings of the earth with queen sheba coming to visit solomon who is solomon the son of david who's jesus the son of david so you got solomon the son of david being visited by these kings who brought gold and spices now you've got the true son of david jesus christ being visited by the kings bringing spices this is interesting this is first kings 10 and 2 chronicles 9. now interesting the only place where frankincense and myrrh are mentioned together in the bible other than the gospel about jesus and the three kings is in the song of songs about solomon this is the song of songs chapter 3 chapter 4. here they came to visit solomon the son of david and they brought guess what frankincense and myrrh now jesus fulfills that as the true son of david so let's look at our next slide because jesus when they came is found with his mother just as david's son solomon right there in your picture was enthroned alongside his mother she's the queen mother and so you have this is fascinating to me you have these kings from all over the world traveling to see the son of david who is solomon and they found him enthroned next to his mother now we have the true son of david jesus christ same thing kings travel from all over the world guess what bringing frankincense and myrrh and gold and they come and find him enthroned next to his mother i never learned any of this before seminary christmas was just okay oh it's a made-up story no it's a fulfillment it's a complete fulfillment and this queen mother was important nobody went directly to the king they went to the queen mother if they had an intercession or the peasants needed help they went to the king who was the king sorry who was the queen the queen was the wife of the king right well the king had many wives solomon had hundreds of wives so who was the queen the first wife the prettiest wife the oldest wife the youngest wife the smartest wife no the queen was the mother and that's who all the people went to to intercede before the king why would jesus change that he comes from the davidic line he's the son of david so why would god change this this is the role of the queen mother don't believe me first kings chapter 2 verse 19. now the magi come to pay him tribute as the same way kings and queens came to solomon this is first kings chapter 10 verse 2. but now fascinating in the luke chapter 11 verse 31 you remember this reading jesus was talking about the queen from the south would come and he said the queen of sheba basically is the queen of the south to to admire the vestments of solomon remember jesus said this luke chapter 11 verse 31 and he said but there's someone here greater than solomon he's talking about himself fascinating all of this so jesus coming is a fulfillment of these promises the promises that go back to way into the old testament now the magi these were probably persian astrologers and they're following the star that was also in the old testament did you know this i didn't before seminary they followed the star that would was predicted to rise over the house of jacob guess where old testament numbers 24 17. the star was predicted to rise over the house of jacob this is who the persian astrologers were following so centuries earlier there's a story here again never learned this never heard a homily on this never was taught this in catechism was never taught this in catholic school grade school or high school i didn't learn this to seminary and this is why you're going back to seminary with me because earlier there was an evil king that wanted to destroy moses and the israelites this is all in the old testament so we summoned balaam and balaam came from the east with two servants but balaam refused to curse israel that this evil king wanted him to do and instead prophesized that a star would come and would rise out of israel and be exalted by all the nations again this is the numbers the book numbers chapter 22 23 and 24. this is the star that the three magi follow because like balaam they refuse to get involved with an evil king who was the evil king for the magi herod herod their pilgrimage is prophetic it's a sign they come from afar guided by god's light bearing the wealth of the nations to praise israel's god this is all written in the old testament and we just thought jesus stood alone in his story with the magi it's the first i've ever heard about any kings no it's all there and so we have to understand this now jesus has come to reveal to all the people that they are co-heirs to his throne like to be part of the divine life of the royal family all right so we celebrate now our entrance into the family of god on christmas and the epiphany the fulfillment of god's plan that all nations would be united with israel as co-heirs to his fatherly blessings saint paul says this and no it's not a one-world government all nations worshiping god does not mean we are a one-world government no we're not the sovereignty of nations is still important but we have jewish roots so we too must be guided by the root of david that bright morning star that was talked about in revelation chapter 22 and the light of the world was talked about in isaiah 42. this is all fulfillment as the magi adored christ in the manger let us adore him on the altar in the eucharist as the magi place their gifts in the manger of gold frankincense and myrrh place the gifts that you have of your intentions and your talents on that patent during mass we must offer to him our very lives in thanksgiving that's what mass is the eucharist means thanksgiving so in thank you to god offer everything back to him at the mass nothing less than yourself will suffice for the king now a piece of gold no spice only yourself this let's look at our next slide is the meaning in the mass the highest point of the mass and that priest takes that pattern in that chalice it's called the concluding doxology and the priest raises it and he says through him and with him and in him o god almighty father in the unity of the holy spirit all glory and honor is yours forever and ever what do you do at that moment of the mass you put your gifts greater than gold frankincense and myrrh into the manger you're putting your gift of your very self under that patent and you say lord i give myself to you do with me as you will it may hurt but do with me as you will so father peter james cameron he's a dominican i was trained by the dominicans part of my training in seminary he wrote some interesting stuff he said the magi lived a life of privilege for them though it wasn't enough benedict xvi referred to the magi as men with restless hearts they were questing for god filled with expectation they were looking for something greater interesting our own relentlessness restlessness i should say today we're all on edge now we're all restless is a fact that grace is prompting us to follow the magi's lead they were restless they were looking for something more you ever hear yourself say there's got to be more something more to life than this going to work every day trying to make more money buying a nicer car there's got to be more to life than this follow the example the magi they had everything they were rich they said there's got to be more to life than this so this saving event of epiphany is ongoing it's not just this week the epiphany literally manifests the method by which god breaks into your life the epiphany the father does not send a teaching or a message but his son his son in the flesh and so the father is important here let's look at our next slide god will this is from the catechism god willed both to reveal himself to man and to give him the grace of being able to welcome that revelation so in other words god both revealed himself and gave you the grace to accept it now that's how you're going to be judged this is scary did you accept that grace did you accept it so the epiphany is the offer of that grace all right let's keep going here so now father william saunders also adds to this saying that sometimes our english translation of the word for magi is astrologer and he says the magi were therefore probably persian astrologers who could interpret the stars but more importantly their visit fulfilled as we said the prophecies of the old testament now psalm 72 i didn't even mention yet speaks of how the gentiles will come to worship the messiah listen to this this is from psalm 72 the kings notice kings of tarshish and the isles shall offer gifts and the kings of arabia and sabah shall bring gifts and tribute all kings shall pay him homage all nations shall serve him then isaiah prophesies these gifts he said caravans of camels he's already talking about the wise men here and this is isaiah way before christ caravans of camels shall fill you drama dairies from midian and ephah and from siba sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense and proclaiming praises of the lord that's isaiah 60. so since the seventh century the western church has celebrated this amazing now we talked about tradition says their names are kaspar melchior and balthazar i want to show something kind of cute because this is funny when i was a little kid you know the nativity sets we had the three wise men and one looked really mean and he used to scare me i was just a little kid i was four years old and i would look at those statues and one had a really mean look on his face it really really scared me i didn't know who they were we're going to show you who the three are right now if brother mark can put the picture up these are the traditional wise men the first one is the older guy with the white beard this is melchior he's the older one with the white hair and long beard he's the one who brought the gold then next we have the younger one the ladies would say more handsome this is kaspar he's sometimes beardless sometimes he has a trim beard he's the one who honored god for the gift of frankincense for divinity priest and then third we have the dark-skinned one sometimes you see look like an african because he was the dark-skinned one this is um balthazar and he brought myrrh for the dead and so the tradition here runs deep now do you do you have this confirmed by archaeological evidence no but that's what faith is and so in catholic answers father hugh barber he wrote something very interesting he said what did these wise men find this is this is a good one listen to this he said they didn't find what they expected they didn't find a palace they didn't find servants they didn't find earthly power they just found an infant and what convinced them then that that infant was the king well father all those prophecies that you talked about ah the star maybe yeah father was the star the star led him there that's what told him it was god actually no the star appeared and disappeared saint matthew gives us a hint to what or who made them prostrate and fall to their knees and offer gifts you know what that is let's go to matthew on entering the house they saw the child with mary his mother they prostrated themselves and did him homage they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold frankincense and myrrh this is awesome father barber says this mother had been the greatest sign of all greater than any star in the heavens or any prophecy of the times mary was the convincing sign of the presence presence of the power of the king why because he was enthroned next to her the queen mother and when they walked in and it said they saw mary [Music] they knew this is incredible she has the power that leads us to recognize her son as king as god and as man gold frankincense and myrrh all she needs to do is lift the veil from her little baby's face and show him to the world let's look at our next slide isn't that what mary's doing in that picture she's lifting the veil off the little baby jesus and look at the wise men they're adoring so matthew basically says what caused these wise men to know that this was god was not the star was not the prophecy it was mary then mary lifts the veil then we will adore him this is a theophany a revealing of god this is an epiphany a revealing of god and so now we offer our own gifts right he desired he didn't desire precious things that were given by the magi he desires your heart your faith your hope your love so even if we have nothing to offer him except your weaknesses your poverty and your pain and your suffering those are more precious to jesus than gold frankincense and myrrh you know why because you don't offer and give it to somebody you don't trust and jesus said the key is trust so like with the magi jesus has been waiting for us waiting in the company of the blessed mother waiting for us how do we find him today waiting in the company of the blessed mother it's just like the magi he's calling us he's revealing himself to us and he's enthroned next to his mother wow now mark shea added to this he said one of the strange things today in our culture is the fact that people will look at the magi and use them to validate astrology oh well gee the magi were astrologers so i can read horoscopes i can look at the heavens at the same time they dismiss the bible so they're using it and saying well the wise men were astrology so i could follow astrology that's gonna be a topic of a whole nother talk but then they dismiss the whole bible as just a fairy tale yes matthew does touch on this but matthew does not tell us that these were kings we don't know he tells us he doesn't tell us how many there even was so how did we come up over the years to know that they were kings and that there were three of them actually the number three is pretty easy matthew never says there were three kings he just said kings came how do we know there were three that's pretty easy because there was a gift of gold frankincense and myrrh there were three gifts so we generally say there were three kings but how do we call them magi do you know the word magi comes from magic magic wait a minute father i didn't think we were supposed to do magic well stage magic there's nothing wrong with that but if you think magic is going to change your future then there is something wrong with it we shouldn't speak of them as magicians because back then there was no separation between science and magic now there is these were more men of science that we would know today not magic and so we have to not treat them as poem readers and and tarot card readers okay now this is very important they believe that everything was connected through the movement of the heavens so they studied the stars and tried to understand the meaning of the movement of the stars well we might then call them astronomers not astrologers you ever you ever know this people get really confused astronomy astrology astronomy is supported by the catholic church these are people studying literally outer space uh physics movement of the planets that's astronomy there's nothing wrong with that astrology stay away from because that's the false belief that somebody other than god can determine your future sorry but pluto spinning around you know the certain planets and the way they move is not going to determine your future who you marry you and god do that's why the church is against tarot cards palm reading crystal balls seances psychics don't fall for that junk that's astrology condemned astronomy is if you want to be somebody who studies the planets and and quantum mechanics i had a course in college called quantum mechanics so know the difference this is very important now let's take our next slide what star did they see was there really a star what star we're not sure for sure but here's what's interesting we do know that jupiter conjoined saturn with saturn three times in the seven months in 7 bc which many people jesus believe was born in 6 or 7 bc that's only because the calendar dates have been switched over the years all right we also know that mars joined saturn and jupiter and made a huge bright light there's some people who speculate the star of bethlehem may even have been when jupiter went behind the moon in 6bc and then came back out and so when it came back out it made this huge bright light there's also an ancient chinese chronicle the chinese have it documented that states that an object probably a nova which means a new star was observed in march of the year 5 bc and remained visible for a long time very bright well that just proves that it was something natural it wasn't it wasn't supernatural no because god made it happen god made it happen so anyway christians you don't have to think that science goes against religion it doesn't christian theology saw the three kings the first gentiles to respond to christ so basically the bottom line everybody is god met the magi where they were and used their own efforts and understandings to connect heaven and he does the same with you you know john sorensen talked a little bit in his work the magi he said the traditional belief that there were three wise men as i said is based on three gifts gold frankincense and myrrh right why else because those were used by smart people and they call them wise men so the identification of the wise men as kings probably developed from psalm 72 that says may all kings fall down before him and all nations will serve him that's what we think they became known as kings rather than astronomers now the nativity scenes that you see that have magi this is interesting see this nativity set i don't know if brother mark can get close to the nativity set or not you all have your nativity set the nativity set includes the magi do you know that most all theologians say that's wrong do you know that most theologians say if you want to be correct you should take your magi out of your nativity set because this is the newborn jesus he was just born and you see the three kings we have there in the far corner is the dark one that's balthazar he's from africa then you have standing the younger one which is kaspar and then you have the one kneeling the older one which is melchior but you know most theologians tell us this is all wrong and it doesn't matter that doesn't change your faith you know why matthew never said when they arrived do we believe that the magi came absolutely magi matthew said the magi came but matthew never said when so why do most theologians think that that scene is actually incorrect they believe that the magi didn't come for almost a year or two years later why because herod wanted all boys under two years old killed so that would have meant that this christ child was already two years old when herod found out when herod found out from the magi that a new king had been born he wanted all young boys two years old and younger killed that would mean that the child jesus could have been up to two years old well he wasn't still in the manger at two years old but it doesn't matter that doesn't destroy my faith i'm not saying the magi didn't come to jesus they did matthew just doesn't say when and so the nativity showing the magi is probably incorrect he didn't arrive till later the scholars biblical scholars say that it may have occurred a year or a year and a half later because the kings here had command in matthew 2 16 to kill the children the fact that tyrion wanted all male male children up to two years old killed suggest that the same time that some time had passed before he ascertained the age of the christ child from the magi maybe a couple years matthew does not tell us as i said how much time elapsed between the birth and the arrival of the magic i think this is fascinating and again i never learned that until seminary so let's take a look now at a quick video we're almost done we've only got another page left let's take a look at a quick video because a lot of people say the reason i don't believe in the bible is it contradicts itself and matthew contradicts luke how do we explain contradictions of the bible i did a whole talk on that if you want to find it it's on our youtube channel saying the bible a catholic book you can look it up i did it last year but for now let's watch a two-minute video that talks about the epiphany and how we can explain those contradictions in the bible some people say the nativity stories contradict each other because luke does not mention the magi or the wise men being present at jesus birth whereas matthew does now this could be a case of matthew recording a detail that luke omitted but guess what matthew didn't record the magi being present at jesus birth either matthew 2 1 says when jesus was born in bethlehem of judea in the days of herod the king behold wise men from the east came to jerusalem as we can see matthew never says that the magi were present at jesus birth he only says that in the days of herod the king the magi came to jerusalem not bethlehem oh by the way matthew never said there were three magi that's a pious tradition that developed later based on the three gifts of gold frankincense and myrrh that the magi brought jesus matthew does tell us that after the magi failed to return to herod after visiting jesus herod ordered all of bethlehem's male children under the age of two to be killed if the magi had gone the six miles from jerusalem to visit the newborn jesus in bethlehem and failed to return after a few days then why would herod need to kill toddlers this implies that much more time had passed between jesus's birth and the magi failing to return to herod thus motivating herod's plan to kill any child who could be the young king who by the time of the issuance of this decree might have been two years old matthew 2 11 says of the magi going into the house they saw the child with mary his mother and they fell down and worshiped him if jesus was a toddler when the magi visited then the holy family were either permanently residing in bethlehem after christ's birth before they later settled in nazareth or they were temporarily residing there possibly with relatives while they were away from their home in nazareth either way the detail about the magi's visit is not a contradiction instead it's a revelation of how god was made known or became an epiphany not just for a few people in israel but for the whole world through this manifestation of the incarnation all people could eventually rejoice in the birth of god their savior for catholic answers i'm trent horn and thanks for watching so that was a good video explaining what matthew was telling us in the scriptures and very powerful now i want to show something or let me say a few things first actually you know a lot of people will claim that like jesus's birth the birth of certain pagan gods were also marked by a star oh therefore this whole story of jesus is pagan no just because a star and a story might have been marked a pagan some pagan god doesn't make that the truth and the story of jesus untrue if if if you want to look at it that way um the fact is uh a lot of people say well gee this came from this out of egypt no there is no pagan connection no pagan connection benedict benedict xvi says these men could have been part of the pre-persian priesthood or not but it doesn't matter god meets you where you're at if you're high and mighty god will meet you up there if you're low and and humble even greater in god's eyes he'll meet you there let's look at our next slide because i wanted to share a reflection from our founder saint stanislaus he's the founder of the marians of the immaculate conception and i think this is fabulous this one paragraph that i want to read to you and i want you to listen very deeply because i promise you it applies to you i promise listen to these words of our founder saint stanislaus papchinsky regarding the epiphany he said consider that god did not send an angel to summon the magi for the sake of paying honor to christ but showed them instead an unusual star because that's what happened right they they were led by a star not by an angel understand however that this was done by god on purpose because in his supreme wisdom he knew that they would be summoned more easily by a star because they were astrologers or astronomers than if he were to send them a different heavenly messenger so basically what stanislaus is saying is to a guy who studied the stars god is going to send a message to the stars for they were star experts and indeed anyone is drawn more easily by means known to him than by those unknown now this applies to you i promise do you ever find yourself wishing that god would just send you an angel i always say that god you sent joseph an angel in a dream and told him exactly what to do how come you don't do that to me and he said do you ever find yourself wishing that god would just send an angel to you or some other heavenly sign then you would know exactly what he wants you to do i say that all the time rather saint stanislaw says look at the ordinary signs around you that god has placed in your path what your boss at work asks you to do what your teacher says or your parents or your spouse what does the church ask of you in her teachings or in the priest's homilies what does jesus ask of you in the scriptures sometimes we think the lord isn't speaking to us but most often he is in the most ordinary events of our lives huh how does he speak to you through a beautiful sunset a song a hug of a family member a child it's our responsibility to pay attention and to be open to his working in this way and our everyday lives if we don't we might miss what he is asking of us and wanting to tell us don't miss it just because god doesn't send you a star or an angel doesn't mean he isn't talking to you he's talking to you know how i always feel god's talking to me i always say when somebody brings up something to me the first time eh somebody brings something up to me a different person and a second time i'm like hmm a third time i'm like whoa a fourth time i'm like okay god i know you're trying to tell me something so stanislaus says you are going to need to give god similar gifts instead of gold frankincense and myrrh something similar but better the gold of praise the frankincense of prayer and the myrrh of mortification praise prayer and mortification better than gold frankincense and myrrh but if you have not yet gathered these most precious riches meaning you're not praying you're not mortifying yourself you're not praising god he says work hard to do it to be eager to imitate christ in all that you do every day there are many opportunities to praise him to pray and to offer penance and sacrifice remember don't forget we challenged you every day do a work of mercy and on fridays an act of penance i haven't forgotten those i haven't been reminding you of them lately but we challenge you to do that last half a page consider that god foresaw the violent death that herod was preparing for those children including the holy family jesus so the magi did not go back to the tyrant but returned by a different way right when god informed them herod said come and tell me so that i too could go worship the christ child what a bunch of bunk he wanted to kill the christ child so god warned them because they were open to the signs and they went home by a different way god also foresaw the rune you know he first saw the rune of the christ child and warned the magi not to tell herod so god foresaw that there could be a real problem god too foresees you could have a problem if you continue by being allured by your senses and you return on the same road you used to travel notice the magi went home by a different road they came in the road of pagan and they left on the road of a faithful believer you too probably if you're like me came in on the road as a pagan if i look at my college life that was the life of a pagan if i returned to that road the same way just like they were worn the the magi were warned don't go back on the same road you're gonna find ruin herod's gonna get you i too came to god through a road as a pagan if i go back on that road allured by my sensuality and drinking and girls and parties it's gonna be ruined instead go back by the other road like the magi went back by the road of faith came from the road of the pagan left by the road of faith we coming to god as we've in a sinful past now need to go back on a different road to god through the road of faith i think this is fascinating god himself warns you not to return by the same way your home is heaven where one arise arrives by no other way than jesus christ on the cross so basically abandon your own way and proceed by the road of the cross yeah that's not fun the earthly terms tell me that the parties and the girls that was much more fun than the road of the cross the road of the priesthood going to bed every night alone the rest of my life the world tells me this is no fun the world tells me that other road i was on is much more fun but look what the scripture tells us where that road leads st faustina says she saw that road and people were dancing and having parties and then they fell off a cliff and then she saw another road that was rocky and thorny our road as christians if you're really leaving it is rocky and thorny it's about sacrifice there's no time for yourself days are six a.m to midnight every night constant work ministry preparing talks managing people doing homilies doing the math it's beautiful and i've never been happier but the world will tell me that's not as fun but that rocky road the road of sacrifice not having a wife and children that road led to heaven that's a personal sacrifice for me you may not be called to a religious vocation but your personal sacrifice of getting up every day preparing meals getting breakfast getting the kids off to school going to work being hassled by your boss putting in a full day's work getting stuff in traffic coming back having to make dinner fighting with your spouse having to pay bills and then going to bed exhausted and having to do it all over again that's your thorny road if you're faithful to that if you're faithful to your family and your loved ones so having abandoned the way of the road that we all would want to be joyfully singing and partying is not the way to heaven the way to heaven is the way of christ so take that road instead take that different road that's the message of the three kings i bet you've never heard that i know i didn't as i was just coming out of college i was like i don't know if i want to hear that but i did and now i embrace it so to finish let's finish with a little segment called mary the three kings and the three herods all right after giving birth to jesus mary and joseph waited for their hearts and minds of men to be opened so here's mary and jesus joseph they give birth to jesus right okay so there's mary and joseph they give birth to jesus and now they're waiting for the minds and hearts of men to be opened the word epiphany as we said means manifestation but it also means a sudden insight or revelation now here's what's important both definitions apply to this incredible event all right through the magi christ was made manifest to the world they came they saw they told the world through revelation of the prophecies of the old testament they grasped the significance of what they were called to to see to witness and so these wise men chose to follow christ not go back the same road to herod this is interesting as ann tanzi put it quote the wise people of the world are on mary's side of this epic struggle with the herods of the world in a sense they are almost outnumbered like the three kings from the east were outnumbered by herod's you army three little three little wise men they were on mary's side went home by a different road totally outnumbered by herod herod represents the world harold and his henchmen represent the world today trying to tell us what's fun what's good and that you're a bigot or that you are a hater because you stand for christian catholic teaching so what does it mean to be on merry side and what is this epic struggle it's the battle between good and evil mary's side seeks to protect the life of her son when herod was trying to kill this is like abortion the world trying to kill babies just like herod god declared that evil yet the world of the heritage trying to tell you take the life of the innocent child is a right hogwash it's a battle between good and evil threatened by by goodness our politicians our world wants to stop it because it interferes with their pleasure that wrong road the three kings counterbalance the herod's let's look at our last slide the new testament speaks of herod the trio of herods you know there were three herods i always was confused by this in high school we'd read about one here then another here i'm like who's herod all right the first was herod the great he's the one in the epiphany story he slaughtered the innocent children then his son herod antipas succeeded him he's the one that had mary's nephew killed who was mary's nephew oh come on john the baptist john the baptist so that was his son here at antipas that had mary's nephew john the baptist beheaded then the third herod was herod agrippa he was the one who martyred saint james and threw saint peter into prison now fortunately mary's husband joseph and the magi they were on mary's side they were warned by the angels about herod and his treachery today we too are being warned how are you being warned about the herod's of the world by watching this video by hearing the homily at mass by reading the catechism by reading the scriptures by following church teaching especially regarding life the wise men returned via another root we said didn't report to hear it as herod wanted them joseph protected his family by also going a different route he went to egypt these are the men on mary's side they hear the word of god and they follow herod hears of a king being born and wants to destroy that king he sees the messiah as a rival and he wants to be the only king does that not sound like our politicians today i heard um one of the congressmen say mr speaker you are not god and i thought wow that's a pretty good statement no miss speaker of the house you are not god and so i find this very interesting so in our epiphany story mary is a protagonist of love and herod is the antagonist of hate we need to know the difference the magi and joseph are on mary's side so do we need to be god gives us a choice what side are we going to be on i've given you the choice of life or death now a lot of people will read that and say well he was speaking spiritually yeah that's true but he was also i think you could say speaking literally are we choosing in this world life or death and that i think is the message of the epiphany story as the child found life because jesus is the truth the way and the life god bless you thank you for being part of episode 80 and god bless you as we pray with god's willing uh to have many more coming up join us on our ewtn show every wednesday at 6 30 as well if you have ewtn you can live stream it and in we let you go let us show on the slides brother mark and put up join our marian family you know mic prayers.org is a website you could go to takes just 10 seconds doesn't cost anything but you can go to mic prayers.org and become a marian helper what is a marian helper basically a marian helper is our marian family all of you who've joined us doesn't cost anything and i've said this before and i'll say it again even if you can never donate a dollar that's okay god brings different people for different reasons now if god brings you and he puts on your heart too help us build our new monastery and donate god bless you but if he also calls you to come here to receive the grace of our masses our rosaries our prayers our penances just like you were a marion of the immaculate conception i find it funny because i always thought becoming a priest okay well you know the good thing is i'm going to get a lot of graces do you know that you can get the same grace as i do you can get the exact same grace as i do by giving up my life and becoming a priest you can get the exact same graces as any one of us marian fathers by being a marian helper and that's not us saying it that's a decree of the holy see because we are what's called a spiritual benefit society and when you become a mirian helper you're part of a spiritual benefit society so god bless you we hope you join us and be part of our marian family today and if you'd like to learn more about a divine mercy you could see my dvd out there called explaining the faith this uh we're hoping to generate more but this is the original 13 talks very very deep in our our theology and get that at shopmercy.org or 800-462-7426 and on that same website if mark can go to the next slide you can get my book called understanding divine mercy which helps you understand it and then finally if you're struggling in any way not just suicide but any depression anxiety or you've lost a loved one you're suffering in any way please get our book after suicide there's hope for them and you it's not just about suicide it's about any kind of suffering or loss to help you get through it and i tell you what i'm not up here doing a sales pitch you can't afford these books you can't afford that dvd write to me send us an email i'll send it to you for free it's not about the money yeah we got to eat we got to keep the lights on we got to keep the videos going we got to pay for the cameras all that stuff but god will send that and if you're one of them that god puts on your heart to help us with that god bless you but if not don't worry about it you see father i really want that book on divine mercy i'll read it i really need it i'll send it to you for free otherwise if you can afford it you can get it on shopmercy.org and all the proceeds go to help our ministry god bless you and on this special time of the epiphany never forget the reason for the season because christmas season ends tomorrow the feast of the baptism of our lord now don't say i didn't know that because i just told you that in the talk so god bless all of you and until next week may almighty god bless you the father the son and the holy spirit amen you

Channel: Divine Mercy

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Keywords: Divine Mercy, Mercy, Jesus, Christ, Marian, priest, grace, pray, prays, praying, chris alar, alar, fr. Chris, fr. alar, Catholic, Church, God, fr. chris alar, blessed virgin, Mary, blessing, worship, Salvation, Faustina, Prayer, Annunciation, Our Lady, Epiphany, Three kings, 3 kings, Bethlehem, Magi, Wisemen, baptism of our Lord, baptism of Jesus, Wedding at Cana, Herod, 12 days of Christmas, Christmastide, Christmas season, theophany, Nativity

Id: HD0oiv-cmoQ

Length: 78min 25sec (4705 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 08 2022