Category: 09.i.22 Holy Family

After having persecuted the Church during the first centuries, the Christian, but at the same time heretical emperors, continued their attacks by supporting Arianism which denied the divinity of Christ. In the season after Epiphany, when Jesus affirms His divinity by His teaching and miracles, the first saint whom the Church presents to us is one of the more intrepid defenders of this fundamental dogma of Christianity. St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers…

The thoughts of the Church, today, are fixed on the Baptism of our Lord in the Jordan, which is the second of the three Mysteries of the Epiphany. The Emmanuel manifested Himself to the Magi, after having shown Himself to the Shepherds; but this manifestation was made within the narrow space of a stable at Bethlehem, and the world knew nothing of it. In the Mystery of the Jordan, Christ manifested himself with greater publicity…

The Magi were not satisfied with paying their adorations to the great King, whom Mary presented to them. After the example of the Queen of Saba, who paid her homage to the Prince of Peace, in the person of King Solomon, these three Eastern Kings opened their treasures, and presented their offerings to Jesus. Our Emmanuel graciously accepted these mystic gifts, and suffered them not to leave him until he had loaded them with gifts infinitely more precious than those he had vouchsafed to receive…