The Epiphany of the Lord
Sunday, January 4, 2026
St. James Cathedral (10:00am)

Each year this celebration of Epiphany invites us to accompany the searchers from the East to encounter anew our ruler, our shepherd, in the child of Bethlehem. While we know this story well, we hear it each year from a different time in our lives, and so are invited to apply it today. What is here for you, for us this year?
 
The images of light and darkness, and the themes of hope and fear are dominant in our scriptures today. In our first reading the Prophet Isaiah speaks a word of hope to the returned exiles. They are back in Jerusalem after their long nightmare of exile in Babylon. But, all is not well. Their city and the Temple are in ruins.
 
Isaiah speaks rousing words to them. He promises them a radical change for the good if they would only open their eyes and look about. He does not deny the darkness that is there. In fact he even says that “darkness covers the earth and thick clouds cover the peoples.”
 
Perhaps in our lives that is what it has felt like. For many of us over this past year, as we see what is unfolding in our country and in our world, we have felt the darkness that threatens to overwhelm us. It is a darkness that can drain life from us personally and as a community of faith. But the prophet speaks to us today just as surely as he spoke to those returning exiles thousands of years ago.
 
Even in the midst of the clouds and the darkness, the Lord shines on us, and over us appears his glory. Isaiah doesn’t deny the darkness, but he reminds us that the darkness is not the inescapable reality and the light a pious fantasy.
 
Yet, you and I need the eyes of faith to perceive the Lord’s glory shining in the darkness. The only people who can provide the light that people and nations need today are those who trust God’s promises above all else.
 
Can you do that? Can I do that? Can I name the darkness I see in myself, in others, and in our world - really name it in all it’s ugliness: sickness, disease, death, poverty, racism, hatred, small-mindedness, self-centeredness, pride, greed. Can I name it and then declare that God’s light, God’s loving mercy made flesh in Jesus Christ, can conquer all of that darkness?
 
That is the call given to us as people of faith. That is the message of Epiphany. We are called to be light. We are called to resist the temptation of joining the chorus of those who say it has never been this dark before in our lives, in our country, in our world, or in our Church. We are called to speak the word of hope, grounded in our faith in God who shines through the darkness and calls us to reflect his great light.
 
But there are those who, for one reason or another, have a great stake in promoting the darkness. King Herod was one of those people in Jesus’ day. He was a pretender to the throne. He sat undeservedly as king because of the power of the Romans, and when the magi from the east come searching for the “newborn king of the Jews,” Herod is threatened.
 
He is cunning, though, and he trusts that his power can snuff out any threat to his reign. It is ironic that the religious leaders in Jerusalem collude with Herod, and share his fear of this possibility of a new king. These religious leaders will continue to be threatened by Jesus throughout his ministry, instead of opening their eyes to see the light that has come.
 
But these travelers from the east, these searchers, these gentiles are opening their eyes as they allow themselves to be led into new lands - both literally and figuratively.
 
Rather than being fearful of this new revelation, these magi are overjoyed. And on entering the house, “they prostrated themselves and did him homage.” They see with the eyes of faith and recognize the child as the light that he is. These are outsiders, yet they see more clearly than the insiders like the chief priests, and scribes, and Herod.
 
Today you and I are challenged to stay open to what the outsiders have to tell us. This listening to others is fundamental to the synodal journey we are on. Whether those who feel on the outside are immigrants and refugees, victims of abuse, Christmas and Easter Catholics, those critical of Church teaching on some issue, or whatever else may prompt us to see them, or for them to see themselves, as outsiders, are we willing to listen to them, to entertain the possibility that they have something to tell us, to reveal to us, about the light that God brings us in his child?
 
My friends, on this Solemnity of the Epiphany, 2026, the Lord wants to shine through whatever darkness we perceive or feel. He wants to shine the light of his love into those places where thick clouds seem to cover our personal lives, or the life of our Church or world.
 
May this Eucharist keep us open to the searchers among us, and strengthen us to raise our eyes and look about, and see the Lord shining the light of his glory in our midst.

Father Gary F. Lazzeroni