Epiphany
- Tue 6th January 2009, 2:18 pm
Hieronymus Bosch - The Adoration of the Magi
The Feast of Epiphany is traditionally celebrated January 6 in the Western Church. Recently, we have begun to celebrate it as a community on the first Sunday of January after the Feast of Mary, Mother of God (January 1st).
Epiphany, from the Greek “to manifest” or “to show forth,” is a celebration of God’s presence bursting forth and becoming visible in human lives. For Western Christians, the focus has been on the visit of the Magi, the wise ones, who followed a star from the East to find the newborn king. In this story, we see God’s presence being revealed to non-Jews, to Gentiles. For Eastern Christians, the focus is on the Baptism of Jesus, when Jesus became identified as the Son of God. The feast is sometimes known as Theophany in the East. (In the Western Church, we too celebrate the feast of the Baptism of Jesus, but on the Sunday after we celebrate Epiphany.)
In many Christian countries, especially those bordering the Mediterranean and in former colonies of those countries, gifts are exchanged at the Feast of Epiphany. This is because the Magi brought gifts to the child Jesus - gold, incense (frankincense) and myrrh. The gifts named in Matthew’s gospel can be seen as symbolic of the roles Jesus would play in salvation history - as king, deity, and human victim/sacrifice - as a result of the incarnation. Songs such as “The First Nowell” and “We Three Kings” remind us of the story and tell it again to our children.
During this season of Epiphany, may our eyes be open to see God’s presence in the people around us - the children, the babies, the old ones, the ones on the street, the ones at our work or in our homes. God is forever peeking around corners, knocking on doors in our hearts, smiling out of flowers, singing through the voices of birds and trying in every way possible to shine forth into our lives. May we be gifted to see and to smile in return.
Reprinted from www.Theologika.net with permission.
And a New Year Begins ...
- Wed 31st December 2008, 9:10 pm
|
Sunrise at Los Arenales - by Steve Locke
“It has been the interruptions to everyday life which have most revealed the divine mystery of which I am a part, all these interruptions presented themselves as opportunities to go beyond the normal patterns of daily life and find deeper connections than the previous safety of my physical, emotional and spiritual well being.” Henri Nouwen I lay in bed this morning in a reflective mood. It was time to get up, but it’s New Year’s Eve and I’m resolved to take it as more of a holiday than as a regular work day. So I lay there remembering 2008 and wondering what profound insights might be drawn from having experienced it! And where and how in Heaven’s name did it go so quickly? I’m not sure I have any profound insights to offer. I’ll leave those for others. But it seems to me that 2008 will be remembered as a time both of great changes and of much that remains the same. I’m sure you’re all bored to death of lists of wars, disasters, financial upheavals, political scandals and the like. We’re all aware of the historic election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States. We have high hopes that with the new year, solutions will be found to begin to refocus world economies and reverse the economic declines we’ve experienced. And thus we see the beginning of hope again - a hope that seems to come with the dawing of each new year - things will be better this year! In our personal lives, people will be born, people will die. Some will get married, some marriages will fail and the spouses will be left to grieve and grow through it. Some will have steady work, others will find their jobs transitory at best. Children will continue to grow up. We’ll each move a year closer to being the older generation - hopefully growing wiser along the way. And in the midst of it, we’ll have the surprises. A deck will need to be repaired unexpectedly, and friends will step in to help fix it. An appliance will reach the end of its useful life (as in it’ll just plain quit working!) and someone else will have one for which they need to find a home. An unexpected bill will arrive in the mail and funds will show up from somewhere else that make it possible to make ends meet anyway. I think of this as God’s “just in time financing” and find myself counting on it often - something to do with “Give us this day our daily bread.” I can’t promise the new year will be easy. I know it will be challenging. We’re in a major world-wide recession, after all. But I know that with God’s help we’ll get through it. We can’t solve it by having another world war - that’s not an option. We can solve it by looking out for each other, offering a caring hand, recognizing that we’re all in this together (even across national boundaries) and trusting God to soften our hearts and open our eyes to help each other through our days. In the end, hope is the gift we receive and can offer to each other. God is with us. God has become one of us. God lives and works through each of us. May the blessings of the Christmas season be with you through the coming year and may you see God’s loving hand reaching out and touching you through all the ups and downs, all the interruptions and surprises of this New Year |
Reprinted with permission from www.Theologika.net.
Creed Translation for a New Century
- Sun 28th December 2008, 9:42 am
It’s something we recite nearly every Sunday at mass at the profession of faith – the Nicene Creed. The thing is, the translation we use of it is taken from Latin. While Latin is the official language of the church, the Creed was originally written in Greek and the thought processes among the fathers at the different councils that lead to it were also conducted in Greek – the original language of Christianity. Therefore, I offer a new translation of the creed, direct from Greek for this New Century.
DISCLAIMER: This work in no way represents the official teaching of the Catholic Church. It is offered to help English speaking Roman Catholics better understand their profession of faith as expressed in its original language.
The Creed in Greek:
Πιστεύω είς ενα Θεόν, Πατέρα, παντοκράτορα, ποιητήν ουρανού καί γής, ορατών τε πάντων καί αοράτων.
Καί είς ενα Κύριον, Ίησούν Χριστόν, τόν Υιόν του Θεού τόν μονογενή, τόν εκ του Πατρός γεννηθέντα πρό πάντων τών αιώνων. Φώς εκ φωτός, Θεόν αληθινόν εκ Θεού αληθινού γεννηθέντα, ού ποιηθέντα, ὁμοούσιον τώ Πατρί, δι’ ού τά πάντα εγένετο. Τόν δι’ ημάς τούς ανθρώπους καί διά τήν ημετέραν σωτηρίαν κατελθόντα εκ τών ουρανών καί σαρκωθέντα εκ Πνεύματος ‘Αγίου καί Μαρίας τής Παρθένου καί ενανθρωπήσαντα. Σταυρωθέντα τε υπέρ ημών επί Ποντίου Πιλάτου καί παθόντα καί ταφέντα.
Καί αναστάντα τή τρίτη ημέρα κατά τάς Γραφάς.
Καί ανελθόντα είς τούς ουρανούς καί καθεζόμενον εκ δεξιών τού Πατρός.
Καί πάλιν ερχόμενον μετά δόξης κρίναι ζώντας καί νεκρούς, ού τής βασιλείας ουκ εσται τέλος.
Καί είς τό Πνεύμα τό ¨Αγιον, τό Κύριον, τό ζωοποιόν, τό εκ τού Πατρός εκπορευόμενον, τό σύν Πατρί καί Υιώ συμπροσκυνούμενον καί συνδοξαζόμενον, τό λαλήσαν διά τών Προφητών.
Είς μίαν, αγίαν, καθολικήν καί αποστολικήν Έκκλησίαν. ‘Ομολογώ εν βάπτισμα είς άφεσιν αμαρτιών. Προσδοκώ ανάστασιν νεκρών. Καί ζωήν τού μέλλοντος αιώνος.
Άμήν.
Translation to English:
I believe in one God, Father, Ruler of All, Maker of Heaven and Earth, of all visible and not visible.
And in one Master, Jesus Christ, the unique[i] son of God, who was born of the father from all eternity. Light of Light, True God of True God, born, but not made, of the same essence as the father, through him all came to being. For us humans and for our salvation, he was made to fall from heaven, and was made flesh by the Holy Spirit and the Maiden Mary, and was made human.[ii] For us he was crucified by Pontious Pilate, and he suffered and was buried.
And he stood up on the third day according to the writings.
And he was taken up to heaven and was seated at the right of the Father.
And he will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, his kingdom will not be ended.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Master, the cause of life, [iii]who proceeds from the Father, He is worshipped and glorified with the Father and Son, he is the one who spoke through the prophets.
In one, holy, universal, and sent out assembly. I confess one baptism for the removal of sins. I await the resurrection of the dead. And the life of all Eternity,
Amen.
[i] The official translation of μονογενή (monoyene) in Latin is unigenitum, or “only begotten”. In Greek however it can also mean “Unique” or “one of a kind”. This is further confirmed by early non-official Latin translation which use the term “unicus,” or unique instead of “unigenitum”.
[ii] This whole sentence in Greek is a series of aorist passive participles. Aorist participles are used to indicate action prior to the main verb. In this case the main verb is “I believe” at the beginning of the creed, meaning that all of this action happens prior to the act of the person believing. Further, since these participles are in the passive voice, it means the action is happening to the recipient, in this case Jesus himself. Aside from the resurrection and suffering, he does none of it on his own – it all happens to him. Also too, in Greek, they use the same term, παρθενος (parthenos) to talk about both maidens and virgins. The point is, it’s a young woman who isn’t married/living with a man and may or may not be sexually active behind the scenes.
[iii] The reason “and the son” is missing is that it was added to official Latin translations later and it is the main cause for schism between the Greek orthodox churches and Roman Church.
Giving Thanks At The End of The Year and the Adventus of Another
- Sun 30th November 2008, 10:11 am
It’s that time of year again. Millions of Americans have just finished adding to their already enlarged waistlines the first times of many over the next six weeks, celebrating our civic version of Eucharist, the Greek word for Thanksgiving. All of this consumption both of food and of retail, which Americans notoriously practice to excess, is part and parcel to our celebration of what has become a season of Christmas – all in anxious anticipation of December 25th, Christmas Day.
While a lot of clergy will give the standard “put Christ back into Christmas” sermons as well as others chastising us for celebrating Christmas out of season as though it is superstition – which is classically defined as worshipping or observing something incorrectly – among other things, I think a look at the term Advent is appropriate because it can explain the behavior. The word advent is an anglicized version of the Latin word adventus and generally means “coming in”. In ancient Rome, an adventus generally referred to an emperor symbolically coming to claim the city as his own. This took the place of a coronation, since the emperors were not generally viewed as Kings. It would often involve days of feasting, games in the arenas around town, and general excess and revelry of all kinds. All of which centered around the main triumphal procession where the emperor and his dignitaries would process from the Tiber river, around the Palatine hill, down the Via Sacra through the Forum and up to the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline hill, where a sacrifice for the good of the city would be offered by the emperor himself – a major event that was definitely worth celebrating.
Therefore, in the original sense of the term adventus in a lot of ways undermines what Catholic Christianity tries to put on it. The vestments are purple or blue, and the Gloria is omitted. The justification: it’s a penitential season, but not to the same degree as Lent is. While that may be true in clerical circles, popularly practiced, it’s anything but. Yes there is the preparation, but the celebration and coming together that happens this time of year, albeit technically premature is far more important. It helps maintain our fellowship with each other – something we need to survive.
Therefore, remember this when you hear the preacher yelling “put Christ back into Christmas”: Christianity is built on fellowship. What happens this time of year is meant to build and maintain that fellowship among all – even those who don’t believe as we do. What better way to celebrate the adventus of Christ than to strengthen the fellowship we have not just in our families and faith communities, but in our business relationships and our fellowship with others in general? Yes it will take different forms for different people and may include elements of consumerism and our civic religion with Santa Claus and all, but in doing so, we strengthen our fellowship with others, making it all the more appropriate, even if it’s outside the church sanctioned season for doing so.
