From the Friars: Close Encounters of the Three Kinds

Today we celebrate the great Solemnity of Epiphany, which means in Greek,”intense appearance”. On this day we focus on the three Magi, whose visit to the newborn Christ, signifies the pagan nations’ discovery of the astounding truth, that God has become man. We also include the Baptism, which reveals to us God as Trinity, as well as the miracle at Cana, the first of Christ’s signs to a fallen world, revealing Him as the Son of God. In essence, an epiphany is a profound, sudden spiritual insight of divine truth. It signifies a movement from darkness into light, a dawning of understanding and discovery of the sacred within reality.

I recall when I was a college student, having long since fallen away from faith, experiencing a sort of epiphany while sitting on the beach at dawn. The moon was faint but full and resting above the ocean as the sun was about to rise. I was reading a pocket-sized prayer book a stranger had given me and I stumbled upon Psalm 8: “O Lord…when I see your heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and stars which you arranged, what is mortal man that you care for him?” Psalm 8:4-5 In that moment, gazing upon the beauty of creation, I realized for the first time that God indeed was the One who created what I was gazing upon as if for no other reason than to speak to me in that moment; a grace of God while gazing upon His beautiful creation.

It reminds me of the three ways ancient philosophers considered in their pursuit of understanding reality. They are known as the transcendentals of truth, beauty and goodness and they are the very means by which man, on a natural level, encounters God, who is Truth and Goodness and Beauty itself. Our human minds are made to seek and apprehend the truth, yet this alone does not satisfy our entire being. There are also matters of the heart, which longs for goodness and loves beauty. Bruce Springsteen sings: “Everybody’s got a hungry heart.” And St. Augustine reminds us that they are restless “until they rest in Thee; Beauty ever ancient ever new”.

As this New Year begins, I encourage you to recall those moments in your own life, little epiphanies, when you encountered God more often than not through the instrument of another and seek opportunities to help others encounter Him as well.

A blessed New Year,
Fr. Peter