Feast of the Epiphany

An extract from his Tenth Homily of Pope St Gregory the Great on the Gospels
"As you have heard in the Gospel reading, dearest brothers, at the birth of heaven's King, an earthly king was troubled. For earthly grandeur is thrown into confusion when the majesty of heaven shows itself. But we must investigate why an Angel appeared to the shepherds in Judea when our Redeemer was born, but a star rather than an Angel, led the Magi from the East to adore Him. The reason seems to be this. It was fitting that a rational creature that is, an Angel, announce it to the Jews, as to those making use of their reason; but the Gentiles were led to seek knowledge of the Lord not by words, but by signs since they did not know how to use reason for this. To apply what St. Paul says: "Prophecies are given to the believing, not the unbelieving; whereas signs are for the unbelievers rather than the believers." And so the prophecies were for the Jews as for believers; while signs were given to the Gentiles, as to the unbelieving. We should note that when our Redeemer had become an adult, He was preached to these same Gentiles by the Apostles. But when He was still an infant, by human standards not yet ready for speaking, a star proclaimed Him. Obviously, common sense demands that once the Lord Himself had begun to speak He be made known to us by men's preaching, while the mute elements of nature bear witness to Him before He used the faculty of speech."

Pope St Gregory sent St Augustine of Canterbury, the first Archbishop of Canterbury to England would have been horrified by the denial of the existence of the Three Kings by the present Anglican holder of the office.

The Archbishop has been reading too much of the Mabinogion lately. Full of Welsh druidic myth and legend, perhaps he has begun to find it too satisfying for his own spiritual good. Different perspectives are however required when considering the Divine realities shown forth in the Gospels.