People of the Epiphany
January 6, 2008

Readings for the Epiphany of the Lord

Reading 1: Is. 60:1–6

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 72:1–2, 7–8, 10–11, 12–13

Reading 2: Eph. 3:2–3a, 5–6

Gospel: Mt. 2:1–12

Link to Readings

By Father Ray Ryland, Ph.D., J.D.

Our word “epiphany” comes from two Greek words, which together mean an appearance or an event that manifests the essential nature or meaning of something. The event we celebrate in the Epiphany is the coming of the Wise Men to adore and bring gifts to the newly-born king in Bethlehem.

What does the coming of the Wise Men make manifest? First of all, it manifests the universal scope of God’s love.

The Wise Men were Gentiles, that is to say, non-Jews. They had come to acknowledge Jesus as their king. So the coming of the Wise Men was part of God’s plan for revealing that the holy infant, His Incarnate Son, is indeed the savior of the world

The chosen people of the Old Testament should have known this. God had promised Abraham that through him, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. (Gen. 12:1–3) Speaking through His prophet Isaiah, God declared that the mission of the promised Messiah, the Suffering Servant, is to take salvation to the ends of the earth (Is. 49:6). But the Jewish people of Jesus’ time did not understand the universal scope of God’s love. The Messiah, they believed, was to be uniquely the savior of the Jews.

Loving Large

The earliest Christians should have known the universal scope of God’s love. The coming of the Wise Men to the manger in Bethlehem should have told them that. They knew the Apostles had been commissioned by Jesus to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt. 28:18–20). But those earliest Christians, Jews converted to Jesus Christ, still thought of Jesus primarily as the savior of the Jews.

On the road to Emmaus, when Jesus, unrecognized, appeared to the two disciples, they explained they had thought that Jesus was the one who would “redeem Israel” (Lk. 24:21). Or look at Acts 1:6ff. The Apostles’ last question before Jesus ascended was, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Through Peter, God finally revealed that Jesus Christ is indeed the savior of the human race, and not just of the Jews (Acts 10, 11, 15). To Peter’s great surprise, God sent him to the house of a Gentile, Cornelius the centurion, to proclaim Christ to the household of Cornelius. To Peter’s even greater surprise, God sent the Holy Spirit on Cornelius and his household, leading Peter to baptize them. Afterwards, at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), Peter the Rock defined that the gospel applies to all persons, Jew and Gentile alike.

Be Prepared

We have said first of all that the Epiphany manifests the universal scope of God’s love. Now we must go on to say—and this is our second point—the Epiphany manifests the universal mission of the Catholic Church.

Early last month, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document entitled Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelization. In the words of the Congregation, evangelization “sums up the Church’s entire mission . . . ” (no. 2). Indeed, the Church’s evangelization is “aimed at all humanity” (no. 2).

And what does it mean to evangelize? To evangelize does not mean simply teaching doctrine to non-Catholics. It means “to make the fullness of salvation, which God offers to the human race in the Church, known and freely embraced” (no. 10).

Evangelization is most effectively carried on by personal witness, which requires holiness in our lives. But holiness by itself will not effectively proclaim Jesus Christ. Our holiness must be explained to others by a clear proclamation of the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church. In other words, as 1 Peter 3:15 commands us, “Always be prepared . . . to account for the hope that is in you. . . .”

Inalienable Right

The stated purpose of the Congregation’s document is “to clarify” the meaning and purpose of evangelization. The document has been issued to counteract erroneous views about evangelization that are circulating widely today, even among Catholics. These widespread errors have created confusion in Catholics minds, causing them to ignore the Lord’s command (3). [Certainly—though the Congregation does not say so—the rate of growth of the Church in this country alone is scandalously slow.]

One of the errors with regard to evangelization is the notion that trying to convince others of the truth of our religion somehow limits non-Catholics’ and non-Christians’ freedom. Proponents of this error even claim that trying to convert others to Christ and His Church somehow trods on the rights of non-Catholics and non-Christians.

These dissenters choose to ignore the fact that Jesus Christ died for the salvation of the human race. Therefore, as John Paul II taught, “Every person has the right to hear the ‘Good News’ of the God who reveals and gives himself in Christ, so that each one can live out in its fullness his or her proper calling” (Redemptoris missio, no. 46).

Still others claim that seeking to make converts and receiving those who seek communion with the Church is simply out of place in an ecumenical age. This, too, is false.

The Congregation reminds us that the Second Vatican Council rejected this notion. The Decree on Ecumenism (no. 4) teaches that there is a clear distinction between ecumenical activity and “preparing and reconciling those individuals who desire full Catholic communion. . . .” There can be “no opposition between the two, since both proceed from the marvelous ways of God.”

The truth is, those who hold this false view of ecumenism and convert-making ignore what the Church has repeatedly taught about the goal of the Church’s ecumenical activity. The ultimate purpose of working toward the unity of all Christians is to reconcile all those outside the Church into the full communion of the one and only Church of Jesus Christ.

The Fullness of Salvation

Another bugaboo that hinders Catholics’ evangelization is the fear of being accused of something called “proselytizing.”[According to the dictionary, a “bugaboo” is “an imaginary object of fear.”] The term “proselytism” originated in Judaism to designate the conversion of a Gentile to Judaism. In times past, in Christianity “proselytism” simply referred to missionary activity.

Today the term “proselytizing,” as the Congregation recognizes, has very negative connotations. It has come to mean promoting one’s religion “by using means, and for motives, contrary to the spirit of the Gospel. . . .” (Fn. 49) The Congregation declares that when the Church receives persons who have become convinced of Catholic truth, it is the work of the Holy Spirit. It has nothing to do with “proselytizing” as that term is negatively and widely understood today.

To understand the Catholic obligation to evangelize, recall what the Church teaches about herself. Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism (no. 3) tells us that Jesus entrusted “all the blessings of the new covenant” to “the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head.” And so, it adds, “. . . it is through Christ’s Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help towards salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained.” The next section of the Decree again declares, “. . . the Catholic Church has been endowed with all divinely revealed truth and with all means of grace.”

This necessarily means that non-Catholics (and certainly non-Christians) do not have access to all divinely revealed truth; do not have access to all means of grace. This necessarily means something further: In the light of this fact, Catholics have a special obligation to evangelize. The Congregation’s Doctrinal Note on evangelization repeatedly speaks of “the fullness of truth,” (no. 7), “the fullness of the means of salvation” (nos. 7 and 12), “the fullness of salvation” (no. 10), which Catholics must offer to the world.

It all boils down to this: if Catholics do not evangelize, the fullness of salvation will not be available to persons outside the Church. Our Lord’s words should always ring in our ears: “Everyone to whom much is given, of him will much be required” (Lk. 12:48).

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You and I are people of the Epiphany. We stand under Christ’s command to live out that fact.

The Church has repeatedly taught us that not a single person in the Church is exempt from the duty to evangelize. The Congregation in its Doctrinal Note says: The words of the Great Commission [go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel] “are directed to everyone in the Church, each according to his own vocation” (no. 10).

The Second Vatican Council expressed even more strongly the responsibility of every Catholic to evangelize. In its Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People (no. 2), the Council declared, “. . . a member who does not work at the growth of the body to the extent of possibilities must be considered useless both to the Church and to himself.”

Evangelization—according to the opportunities we have—is not only an obligation; it is also a privilege. The Congregation declares that evangelization not only enriches the evangelized. It also enriches the evangelizer (6).

In his homily at the inauguration of his pontificate, Pope Benedict gave us this assurance: “There is nothing more beautiful than to know . . . [Christ] and to speak to others of our friendship with Him.”

Let us all pray for God’s grace to enable us much more fervently and effectively to draw others to Christ in His Church.

Father Ray Ryland is CUF's spiritual advisor.

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