2017/01/08 — Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord; Happy New Year

Today is the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (transferred in the U.S. from January 6 to the Sunday after January 1). I wrote a fairly extensive post about it a year ago. Rather than trying to come up with something original, since the readings are the same every year, I'll just refer you to that post. One point worth mentioning is that the two aspects of the day other than the adoration by the Magi — namely the Baptism of Jesus and the changing of water into wine at Cana — are referred to on the following and preceding days, respectively. The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is Monday, January 9 this year owing to the Epiphany falling late. (In years when the Epiphany is January 6 or earlier, the Baptism is celebrated on the following Sunday.) So tomorrow we'll hear Matthew's account of the baptism of Jesus. And yesterday's (Saturday) gospel was the account in John's gospel of Jesus' changing of water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana. So all three aspects of Jesus' manifestation are mentioned in the Mass scriptures fro these three days.

I might also apologize for not posting anything for the past two Sundays: Christmas, and the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God. I was particularly busy during the period. As with Epiphany, the readings are the same every year, so if you're interested in what I wrote for those feasts, you can read the posts from a year ago. There's one for Christmas Vigil and Midnight Masses, one for the Dawn and Daytime Masses, and one for January 1, the Solemnity of  Mary.

Finally, since this is my first post of 2017, I wish all my readers a very Happy New Year.