St. Augustine, Homily 200 for the Epiphany
Magi come from the East to adore the Virgin's
Child. Today we celebrate this event; we pay our respects and deliver a sermon
in keeping with the feast. This day first shone resplendently for the Magi; its
anniversary is renewed by us with a festal rejoicing. They were the
first-fruits of the Gentiles; we are a nation of Gen- tiles. The words of
Apostles announced His birth to us; a star was, as it were, the language of
heaven for them; like the heavens, therefore, the Apostles announced the glory
of God to us. Why should we not recognize as heavens those who have become the
abode of God, as it is written: The soul of the just is the seat of wisdom?
[Wis. 71] For, through these heavens [the Apostles], the One who made and who
dwells in the heavens has sounded forth. The earth trembled at the sound and
now, behold, it believes. O mighty mystery! The Lord lay in a manger, yet He
drew the Magi from the East. He was hidden in a stable, yet He was acknowledged
in the heavens, so that, thus recognized in the heavens, He might be manifested
in the stable and that this day might be called the Epiphany or, in the Latin
derivative, the Manifestation. Thus, at one and the same time, He set His seal
of approval on His high and His lowly estate, so that He to whom the heavens
bore witness by a starry sign might, when sought, be found in an insignificant
dwelling where, helpless in His tiny frame and wrapped in swaddling clothes, He
might be adored by the Magi and feared by the wicked.
Now, then, my dearly beloved sons and heirs of
grace, look to your vocation and, since Christ has been revealed to both Jews
and Gentiles as the cornerstone, cling together with most constant affection.
For He was manifested in the very cradle of His infancy to those who were near
and to those who were afar—to the Jews whose shepherds were nearby; to the
Gentiles whose M gi were at a great distance. The former came to Him on the
very day of His birth; the latter are believed to have come on this day. He was
not revealed, therefore, to the shepherds because they were learned, nor to the
Magi because they were righteous, for ignorance abounds in the rusticity of
shepherds and impiety amid the sacrileges of the Magi. He, the cornerstone,
joined both groups to Himself since He came to choose the foolish things of the
world in order to put to shame the wise and to call sinners, not the just [Mt.
9, 13], so that the mighty would not be lifted up nor the lowly be in despair.
All you who seek Christ, raise your eyes to the
sky, there you will see a sign of eternal glory. This star, which in beauty and
light triumphs over the rotation of the sun, proclaims to earth that God has
come with earthly flesh. Look, Persians come from the part of earth where the
sun makes its entrance, the Magi skilled in interpreting signs come to find the
banner of the King. They ask “where is such a great Ruler of the stars who
commands that the heavens tremble before him, whom the light and sky obey? The brightness we found will know no end: the most
high, heavenly, infinite, older than heaven and the formless void. This is the
King of the nations, the King of the Jews, promised to Father Abraham and his
seed forever. O Jesus, to you be glory, you who revealed yourself to the
Gentiles, with the Father and loving Spirit for eternal ages. Amen.
The Magi seeing the baby present him with gifts
from the East, prostrate they offer prayers incense, myrrh and gold fit for
kings. Child, recognize these clear signs of your power and your kingdom, to
you the Father predestined a threefold nature. The treasure of gold and the
fragrant smell of the incense of Sheba proclaim you King and God, while the
myrrh dust foretells the tomb. Bethlehem, greater than all great cities, where
the Captain of heavenly salvation took flesh and was born. Here in accord with prophetic testimony and
witness the Father and Testator commands that the kingdom come and be
seen. A kingdom which encompasses all
things, divinity, sea and earth from the rising of the sun to its setting both
the underworld and the heaven above. O
Jesus, to you be glory, you who revealed yourself to the Gentiles, with the
Father and loving Spirit for eternal ages. Amen.
This hymn continues A solis ortus cardine. The
manifestation of Christ as threefold: to the Gentiles in the Magi; to the Jews
in the baptism of Christ in the Jordan; and to the Apostles at the wedding in
Cana. The three middle stanzas each in turn address the Magi, the Baptism and
Wedding at Cana.
Why, O impious Herod, do you fear the coming of
Christ? He who gives a heavenly kingdom does not usurp mortal ones. Following
the lead of the star, the Magi came to worship, by light they seek light, by
their gifts they profess him to be God. The heavenly Lamb touched Jordan’s
cleansing waters; by washing he washed us from sins that were not his own.
A new type of power: the water in the jars becomes red and by his command wine
flows out, its nature transformed. O Jesus, to you be glory, you who revealed
yourself to the Gentiles, with the Father and loving Spirit for eternal ages.
Amen
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