WHAT STAR IS THIS WITH BEAMS SO BRIGHT (HYMN)

What star is this with beams so bright,
More lovely than the noonday light?
‘Tis sent t’announce a newborn king,
Glad tidings of our God to bring.

‘Tis now fulfilled what God decreed
“From Jacob shall a star proceed”;
And lo! The eastern sage’s stand,
To reading in heaven the Lord’s command.

O Jesus, while the star of grace
Impels us on to seek your face,
Let not our slothful hearts refuse
The guidance of your light to use.
– Quem stella sole pulchrior
Charles Coffin, tr. John Chandler

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PRAYER TO THE INFANT KING

PRAYER TO THE INFANT KING:

O Jesus,
the Magi offered You revealing gifts:
gold, because You are our King;
frankincense, because You are our God;
and myrrh, because You are our Redeemer.

Like the Magi,
I offer You my gifts:
the gold of my earnest love as Your faithful subject;
the frankincense of frequent prayer as Your creature;
and the myrrh of a generous self-sacrifice as a sinner.
Amen.

 

WHY, WICKED HEROD, DO YOU FEAR YOUR GOD AND KING (HYMN)

Why, wicked Herod, do you fear
Your God and King, who comes below?
He does not seek an earthly throne
Who comes all heaven to bestow.

Behold, the wise men see the star
And follow as it goes before;
The true Light by its light they seek
And as true God with gifts adore.

All glory, Lord, to you this day,
Who have revealed yourself to men,
With Father and with Holy Ghost,
Now and for ages without end.

 

THE BRIGHTNESS OF A NEW STAR LED THE THREE WISE MEN TO A SIGHT OF HUMILITY

PROGRESS IN HOLINESS: WORKS AND FAITH

“Recalling the deeds performed by the Saviour of the human race brings us great profit, dearly beloved – if what we venerate as something believed we also take on to be imitated. In the arrangement of Christ’s mysteries, there are both effects of grace and influences from doctrine, for we follow in the example of his works the one whom we acknowledge in the spirit of faith. Those very first things which the Son of God experienced in being born of his Virgin Mother set us on the road to progress in holiness.

HUMAN LOWLINESS AND DIVINE MAJESTY

There appear to those of an upright heart in one and the same Person both human lowliness and divine majesty. Whom the cradle shows to be an Infant, heaven and heavenly things call their Maker. That Boy with a small body is Lord and Ruler of the world. He who is encompassed by no limits is held in the arms of his Mother. But it is in these things that the healing of our wounds and the raising up of our abasement rest, for, unless such diversity had come together as one, human nature could not be reconciled to God.

A PATTERN FOR OUR CONDUCT

Our remedies, then, have established for us a rule of living, and a pattern has been given for our conduct, a pattern from which medicine can be applied to the dead. Not inappropriately, when the brightness of a new star had led three wise men to worship Jesus, they did not see him ruling over demons, not raising the dead, not restoring sight to the blind or mobility to the lame or speech to the dumb, nor in any action of divine power. They saw him, rather, as a Child – silent, at rest, placed in the care of his Mother – in a situation where there appeared no indication of power.

HUMILITY

From this lowliness, however, a great miracle was presented. Consequently, the mere sight of that Sacred Infancy to which God the Son of God had adapted himself was bringing to their eyes a preaching that would be imparted to their ears. What the sound of his voice was not yet presenting, the activity of sight was teaching them. For the entire victory of the Saviour, the one that overcame the devil and the world, began in humility and ended in humility.”
– Pope St Leo the Great, 5th century

 

EPIPHANY PRAYER

When the wise men saw the star, they said to one another: “This is the sign of a great king; let us go and seek him; we shall offer him gifts of glod, frankincense and myrrh, alleluia.”

Let us pray.

O God, on this day you made your only-begotten Son known to the nations by the light of a star. Grant that we, who already know you by faith, may see your glory face to face. Through the same Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

FAIRER THAN THE SUN AT MORNING WAS THE STAR THAT TOLD CHRIST’S BIRTH (HYMN)

Fairer than the sun at morning
Was the star that told Christ’s birth;
To the lands their God announcing,
Hid beneath a form of earth.

By its lambent beauty guided,
See, the eastern kings appear;
See them bend, their gifts to offer,
Gifts of incense, gold and myrrh.

Holy Jesus, in your brightness
To the Gentile world displayed,
With the Father and the Spirit,
Endless praise to you be paid.

 

SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD, GOSPEL READING (MATTHEW 2:1-12)

After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of King Herod, some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east. “Where is the infant king of the Jews?” they asked. “We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.”

When King Herod heard this he was perturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. He called together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, and enquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

“At Bethlehem in Judaea,” they told him, “for this is what the prophet wrote: And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are by no means least among the leaders of Judah, for out of you will come a leader who will shepherd my people Israel.”

Then Herod summoned the wise men to see him privately. He asked them the exact date on which the star had appeared, and sent them on to Bethlehem. “Go and find out all about the child,” he said, “and when you have found him, let me know, so that I too may go and do him homage.” Having listened to what the king had to say, they set out.

And there in front of them was the star they had seen rising; it went forward, and halted over the place where the child was. The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

But they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, and returned to their own country by a different way.

V. The Gospel of the Lord.
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.