1. This Reading says that, though darkness covered the earth, still, light and glory came to Jerusalem. Are you aware of God’s light and glory? What about God’s actions in your life?
 
2. Were nations coming to Jerusalem or just to the light? What do you think draws people to Jerusalem and to the Christian Church today, power or tenderness?  

Second Reading
Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6

1. Paul spoke of a mystery that brightened the whole world. What was it? Why was the star an integral part of the story?

2. Paul says that a revelation was given him by the Spirit, that Christ’s life was too great to be limited to one starting place, but was for all generations. It was for the Jews and the Gentiles as well. All are “coheirs, members of the same body.”

Did the star’s light shine on each and every person, precious and irreplaceable in God’s eyes? Does this mean that we all need one another?

Gospel
Matthew 2:1-12

1. What does this Gospel passage tell you about the places and people God chooses? At the end of this Gospel story Joseph, Mary, and Jesus ran from Herod. Do we find like rulers in the world today? Who do “Joseph, Mary, and Jesus” run from today?

2. “On entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did homage.” What is Pope Francis’s insight about their “way of seeing”?

A way of “seeing” that transcends the visible and makes it possible for us to worship the Lord who is often hidden in everyday situations, in the poor and those on the fringes. A way of seeing things that is not impressed by sound and fury, but seeks in every situation the things that truly matter, and that seeks the Lord. With Saint Paul, then, let us “look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor 4:18).

Pope Francis, Epiphany homily
America Magazine
Jan 6, 2021

Anne Osdieck