Exiit qui seminat

While the majority of the world celebrates the Epiphany on the 6th of January (and is a Holy Day of Obligation), the liturgical reform of the Roman Calendar (the calendar that assigns solemnities like Christmas and Easter, feast days, memorials of the saints, etc.) in 1970 allowed some countries, like the United States to celebrate this solemnity on the 2nd Sunday after Christmas. Some of the gifts of the Magi might seem foreign or even strange to us: gold, frankincense and myrrh. These three gifts were chock full of meaning and they still are today. The offerings of the 3 Kings point to our Lord's role as priest, prophet and king. Our connection to Jesus in this way is forged on the day of our baptism. As we are anointed with the Sacred Chrism, the holy oil that is mixed with incense by the way, we are adopted into those same three roles as our Savior. The million-dollar question becomes 'how are we called to participate as priest, prophet and king'? As members of the Church, we participate in the role of priest, prophet and king by teaching, governing and sanctifying. As we celebrate the Epiphany, we are reminded to live out our baptism to the fullest. We are called to learn the most about our faith as we can and to share the gift of that faith with others. In a secular culture that asks us to place our trust in merely human leadership, we are called to lead ourselves and others to our one true King. It goes hand and hand with our sanctification, our participation in the sacraments, our attending Mass every Sunday, our prayer and devotional life. This is our epiphany - how we share the Church with a world that desperately needs to know her and the Newborn King. So my dear brothers and sisters, while there is only one more Sunday left in the Christmas season, let us continue to be amazed by what was and still is revealed to us by the birth of the Savior and embrace how we live out that role in our lives!