The Epiphany of Our Lord 2026
Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini
Rome
January 6, 2026
Is 60, 1-6
Mt 2, 1-12
Sermon
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
On today’s Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord, the Church continues to open our eyes and hearts to the great mystery of the Redemptive Incarnation, of Our Lord’s union of His divine nature to our human nature in His one Divine Person to save us from sin and to animate us with divine truth and love. The Church shows us that, even as the shepherds, representing the Chosen People, were called by angels to the crib of the Infant Savior, so, too, the Magi, representing the pagan nations, were called by the star to worship Our Lord at His Birth.
Reflecting on today’s feast, Blessed Columba Marmion writes:
The calling of the Magi and their sanctification signifies the vocation of the Gentiles to the faith and to salvation. God sends an angel to the shepherds, for the Chosen People were accustomed to the apparition of the celestial spirits; to the Magi, who studied the stars, He causes a marvellous star to appear. This star is the symbol of the inward illumination that enlightens souls in order to call them to God.[1]
God has created man in His own image, after His own likeness.[2] He has written upon every human heart His law. Thus, Our Lord rightly first called the shepherds, representatives of the Chosen People, to witness the mystery of His Birth in time out of respect for their mission to present the Anointed of the Lord, the Savior, to all men. But, then, He called the Magi, representatives of the nations, out of respect for their mission – inherent in human nature – to know, love, and serve Him.
As Saint Paul writes in the Letter to the Romans, man is responsible for his “wickedness,” by which he “[suppresses] the truth,” because God has revealed Himself to all men: “Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.”[3] Thus, having accomplished the work of man’s redemption, Our Lord, even as He called the nations to Bethlehem at His Birth, sent the Apostles to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”[4] The Magi give witness to God’s call to all men to be one with Him, the call to become His true children, sons and daughters of God in God the Son.[5]
Blessed Columba Marmion instructs us:
In this the Magi are our models, whether it concerns the vocation to the faith, or whether it be a question of the call to perfection. There is indeed for every faithful soul a vocation to holiness: “Be holy because I am holy”. [Lev 11, 44] The apostle St. Paul assures us that from all eternity there exists for us a divine decree full of love containing this call: He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in his sight. [Eph 1, 4] And for those whom He calls to holiness God makes “all things work together unto good”. [Rom 8, 28] The manifestation of this vocation is for each of us his or her star. It takes different forms, according to God’s designs, our character, the circumstances wherein we live, the events that befall us; but it shines in the soul of each one.[6]
Contemplating the star which led the Magi to the Infant Savior, we contemplate our call to live in Christ in every time and place of our lives, to render holy in Christ every moment of our lives. The life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in a singular manner, and the lives of the saints, one in heart with her Immaculate Heart in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, are the irrefutable manifestation of the reality of the Star of Bethlehem in the life of each of us, of the mystery of the Epiphany of Our Lord at work in our lives.
If, at times, as happened for the Magi, “our star disappears, when the divine inspiration leaves us in some uncertainty, it is God’s will that we should have recourse to the Church, to those who represent Him amongst us, in order to learn from them the path to be followed.”[7] Christ is alive for us in the Church, above all, in the Sacraments, and in the many other instruments of His grace, to guide us and strengthen us on the pilgrimage of holiness of life with its final destiny: eternal life with Him in the company of the angels and all the saints. In a particular way, Christ comes to us through His priests, configured sacramentally to Him as Head and Shepherd of the flock in every time and place. Notwithstanding their unworthiness, they receive the grace to exercise His pastoral charity which is ever at work for our eternal salvation.
So it is that, with the Magi, by God’s grace, each of us have worthy gifts to offer Our Lord at His Coming. Blessed Columba Marmion addresses the thought that we have nothing worthy to offer Our Lord:
You may perhaps say: we have neither gold, nor frankincense, nor myrrh. That is true; but we have what is better, we have much more precious treasures, the only ones, moreover, that Christ, our Saviour and our King, expects from us. Do we not offer gold to Christ when by a life full of love and fidelity to His commands, we proclaim that He is the King of our hearts? Do we not present frankincense when we believe in His Divinity, and confess it by our adoration and prayers? In uniting our humiliations, our sufferings, our sorrow and tears to His, do we not bring Him myrrh?[8]
We have, in fact, the treasures of the work of divine grace in our lives to offer Our Lord at every moment. Uniting our hearts to His glorious-pierced Heart in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, we offer all these gifts to Our Lord, gifts which He has first given to us. As Blessed Columba Marmion teaches us: “On this day, when her mystical nuptials with Christ begin, she [the Church] offers to God no longer gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but the One Who is Himself represented by these gifts, immolated upon the altar and received into the hearts of His disciples.”[9]
Let us now offer our hearts, one with the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to the glorious-pierced Heart of Jesus in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Let us offer to Our Lord the finest gift which we have to offer, His gift to us, our life in Him. On the beautiful Feast of the Epiphany, let us pray, through the intercession of the Magi Saints Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar, for the conversion to Our Lord of those who do not yet know Him and of those who have known Him but have abandoned Him and His way of salvation. Let us bless ourselves and our homes with Epiphany Water and mark our homes with blessed chalk in testimony that God the Son was born at Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary to save us from sin and to animate us with His truth and love, to remain with us always in His holy Church until He returns in glory on the Last Day.[10] Let us now and at every moment of our lives declare with the Magi: “For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him.”[11]
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Raymond Leo Cardinal BURKE
[1] “L’appel des Mages et leur sanctification signifient la vocation de la gentilité à la foi et au salut. Aux bergers Dieu envoie un ange, car le peuple élu était habitué aux apparitions des esprits célestes ; aux Mages, qui scrutaient les astres, il fait apparaître une étoile merveilleuse. Cette étoile est le symbole de l’illumination intérieure qui éclaire les âmes pour les appeler à Dieu.” Dom Columba Marmion, “Le Christ dans ses mystères,” Œuvres Spirituelles (Paris: P. Lethielleux-Maredsous, 1998), p. 433. [Hereafter, Marmion]. English translation: Dom Columba Marmion, “Christ in His Mysteries,” Spiritual Writings (Paris: P. Lethielleux-Maredsous Abbey, 1998), p. 409. [Hereafter, MarmionEng].
[2] Cf. Gen 1, 26-27.
[3] Rom 1, 19-20.
[4] Mt 28, 29.
[5] Cf. Rom 8, 15-17.
[6] “En ceci les Mages sont notre modèle, qu’il s’agisse de la vocation à la, ou qu’il soit question de l’appel à la perfection. – Il y a, en effet, pour chaque âme fidèle une vocation à la sainteté : “Soyez saints, parce que je suis saint.” [Lv 11, 44] L’apôtre saint Paul nous assure que de toute éternité il existe pour nous un décret divin plein d’amour qui contient cet appel : Il nous a choisis avant la création du monde pour être à ses yeux saints et irréprochables. [Eph 1, 4]. Et “pour ceux qu’il appelle ainsi à la sainteté, Dieu fait tout concours à bien” [Rom 8, 28] La manifestation de cette vocation est pour chacun de nous son étoile. Elle revêt des formes diverses, selon des desseins de Dieu, notre caractère, les circonstances dans lesquelles nous vivons, des événements auxquels nous sommes mêlés ; mais elle luit dans l’âme de chacun.” Marmion, p. 436. English translation: MarmionEng, p. 411.
[7] “… quand notre étoile disparaît, quand l’inspiration divine ne précise point, nous laisse dans l’incertitude, Dieu veut que nous recourions à l’Église, à ceux que le représentent parmi nous, afin d’apprendre d’eux la conduite à suivre.” Marmion, p. 438. English translation: MarmionEng, p. 413.
[8] “Vous me direz peut-être: ‘Nous n’avons pas ni or, ni encens, ni myrrhe.” – Cela est vrai ; mais nous avons bien mieux, nous avons des trésors bien plus précieux, les seuls d’ailleurs, que le Christ, notre Sauveur et notre Roi attend de nous. N’offrons-nous pas de l’or au Christ quand, par une vie pleine d’amour et de fidélité à ses commandements, nous proclamons qu’il est le Roi de nos cœurs ? Ne lui présentons-nous pas de l’encens lorsque nous croyons à sa divinité, et la reconnaissons par nos adorations et nos prières ? En unissant nos humiliations, nos souffrances, nos douleurs et nos larmes aux siennes, ne lui apportons-nous pas de la myrrhe?” Marmion, p. 440. English translation: MarmionEng, pp. 415-416.
[9] “En ce jour, où commencent ses noces mystiques avec le Christ, elle [l’Église] offre à Dieu, ‘non plus l’or, l’encens et la myrrhe, mais celui-là même qui est représenté par ces présents, immolé sur l’autel et reçu dans le cœur de ses disciples.” Marmion, p. 441. English translation: MarmionEng, p. 416.
[10] Cf. Mt 18, 20.
[11] Mt 1, 2.