Tribus Miraculis

HREE WONDERS mark this day we celebrate.' So says Tribus miraculis, the ancient Magnificat Antiphon for Second Evening Prayer of the Epiphany. 'Today the star led the Magi to the manger; today water was changed into wine at the marriage feast; today Christ desired to be baptized by John in the river Jordan to bring us salvation, alleluia'.

It has never been easy to celebrate these things together: an event from Jesus' infancy and two from his adult life, at the beginning of his brief earthly ministry. Single events are easier to focus on. Themes - whether 'Epiphany' or 'Trinity' are hard to get your head round. Days with both events and themes are hardest of all. The Roman Calendar gets round this nowadays by putting the Baptism of the Lord on the Sunday after Epiphany. The Church of England aims to recover the ancient Incarnation season, keeping Epiphany going throughout January until Candlemas and taking its time to ponder the mysteries. Parishes have to make decisions about to handle these complexities. Some decide that, even by the time the Magi came, Jesus and his family would have moved somewhere warmer, perhaps to a nearby house and dismantle the crib before Epiphany. Some get rid of the crib immediately after the 6th January Mass; some keep the crib until Candlemas.

Easy as it is to concentrate on the stories - the visit of the Wise Men, the Marriage Feast at Cana and the Baptism by the Jordan - for once we need to do some work on the themes. The Wise Men represent the nations - the pagan nations, at that - seeking out the Truth and finding it in Christ. The Marriage Feast points us to the Banquet in Heaven, when we shall all - people from all nations - feast at God's table. The Baptism speaks of the gift of Eternal Life - forgiveness, renewal and salvation - for all who put their trust in Jesus Christ.

All these themes - the Journey of the Nations, the Eucharist and Baptism - need putting in the right order, like the balls on Saturday night Lotto. In order, they read Journey (seeking the Lord), Baptism (becoming part of his Body, the Church), Eucharist (feeding on his Life). More than that, they need to be seen as coming under one over-arching theme: Epiphany or Theophany. God showing us himself. Declaring his love. Appearing in our midst. Making himself known to us. Epiphany reminds us that the initiative is God's. He it is who shows himself to us. All we can do is respond as willingly and faithfully as we can.

May you and your family and friends know the Epiphany of Christ in your lives. A Happy New Year!

+ Andrew Ebbsfleet



This pastoral letter may be downloaded as a PDF file for display purposes by clicking here,

or as an RTF file for easy copy-and-pasting into pew sheets and parish magazines by clicking here.
 

The Bishop of Ebbsfleet
Bishop's House, Dry Sandford, Abingdon, OXON OX13 6JP
Tel: +44 (0) 1865 390746

All text and images on the web site of the See of Ebbsfleet are
© The Bishop of Ebbsfleet unless otherwise acknowledged.

The menu system is the intellectual property of www.milonic.com