Sunday January 5, 2025 – Solemnity of the Epiphany at 10:30 a.m. in the ND du Réal d’Embrun Cathedral – Second diocesan jubilee day
Teaching of Mgr Xavier Malle on hope
2025 God entered history, this is our hope TEACHING Mgr X Malle (click to download the PDF)
Jubilee stroll in the ND du Réal cathedral with the three wise men
Homily
It is quite natural that we chose to make a stop on our jubilee journey here at the ND du Réal d’Embrun cathedral during the traditional feast of the Epiphany. I will first restore the meaning of Epiphany, then draw elements from it for our jubilee year.
“Where is the newly born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and came to worship him. »
Indeed, in the Bible, a prophecy of Balaan speaks of the star of Jacob, which arises and illuminates: “A star will come out of Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. » (Numbers 24:17).
The Magi certainly knew this prophecy and made the connection with this new star they had observed. It is impressive to see that they immediately set out and came all the way to Jerusalem. We can ask ourselves: do we have this same desire to seek the Lord, the only one capable of fulfilling our deepest desires, to prostrate ourselves before Him? “When they saw the star, they rejoiced with great joy. » Even though we may currently still be in the fog, if our faith is not very firm or has been tested by the sufferings of life, let us be sure that if we seek, at some point, we will also, we will see the star appear, we will see the light and our heart will experience great joy.
Arriving in Jerusalem, the Magi went to the authorities, hoping to find information there. But they sow trouble, particularly among King Herod who, fearing the appearance of competition, brought together the high priests and scribes to ask them where the Messiah was to be born. They answered him: “In Bethlehem in Judea (…) for from you will come a leader, who will be the shepherd of my people Israel. » Indeed, the Messiah must resemble David who was from Bethlehem. Herod understands that the Messiah must be born in this city to manifest his royal origin. This increases his worry and he asks them to go and find out about the child, then warn him so that, supposedly, he can bow down to him. But we know that they were then warned in a dream not to return to him and to return to their country by another way. The king flew into a great rage, and ordered all the little children to be killed, hoping to kill a future rival to the throne. It was the massacre of innocents.
Reflecting the coming of the wise men to the manger, we read a prophecy from Isaiah in the first reading: “the nations will walk towards your light, and the kings, towards the brightness of your dawn”. This prophecy subsequently transforms the wise men into wise men! This will allow the painters to depict their arrival in Jerusalem in a large caravan of camels with their offerings of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And speaking of the nations, it gives the deep meaning of this coming, which St Paul will develop in our second reading: “This mystery is that all nations are associated with the same heritage, with the same body, with sharing the same promise , in Christ Jesus, through the proclamation of the Gospel. » These words of Paul are revolutionary because in his time, it was thought that divine graces were reserved for the people chosen by God. Epiphany means manifestation, revelation of salvation for all humanity. God’s purpose is to bring all people together into one chosen people. Paul exults and we can exult with him, because being a Christian is in reality the consequence of this revelation of the universality of salvation.
After having restored the deep meaning of the Epiphany, what can we draw from it for our jubilee year whose theme given by the Pope is pilgrim of hope? Worship by the wise men sends us on a mission! I remember three words: adoration, kings, mission.
It all starts from WORSHIP.
“We have come to prostrate ourselves before him,” the wise men said to Herod. Our jubilee year will be a year of adoration, of contemplation because it is the jubilee of the incarnation of the son of God. This feast of the epiphany invites us to do like the wise men, to come and prostrate ourselves, that is to say, adore, contemplate a love called Jesus. It was out of love that God sent his son to take our flesh. The Pope, in his message for the 1is Last January, the world day of prayer for peace, invites us to think of this great grace given to us, our salvation: “Hope is born from the experience of God’s mercy, which never has limits. (…) It would be enough to stop for a moment at the beginning of this year and think of the grace by which He always forgives our sins, and forgives all our debts so that our hearts are flooded with hope and peace. »
Hope is born first from the contemplation of God’s love, of his mercy for me. Loved infinitely I can in turn love. This week I read the testimony of the dean of priests of our province of Marseille, Father Paul Bony, who celebrated his 100th birthday (La Croix 12/29/2024): “For me,” he said, “the preposition the most decisive of biblical theology, it is ‘with’, (…) translated by ‘cum’ in Latin, ‘to be with’. I am using my last years of life to be more attentive to others, more attentive. I want to make up for in generosity, in giving, in prayer what was lacking in the past. At 100, I want to love more. » Great testimony!
This worship is feared by an earthly KING, Herod
The Jubilee also has a social and international dimension. Pope Francis also speaks about it in his message of 1is January, I quote him again: “Taking advantage of this jubilee year, I invite the international community to act to forgive the external debt by recognizing the existence of an ecological debt between the north and the south. It is a call not only for solidarity but above all for justice. »
“May 2025, he hopes, be a year of progress in peace, seeking true peace, that which God gives to a disarmed heart; a heart which does not calculate what is mine and what is yours, a heart which undoes selfishness by eagerness to meet others, a heart which does not hesitate to recognize itself as debtor to God, which is ready for this to forgive debts, who overcomes discouragement about the future with the hope that everyone is a wealth.”
Finally, worship by the wise men sends us on a MISSION.
The epiphany must give rise in us to a missionary impulse, to contribute to the realization of the divine plan to bring together all nations in one body, the body of the resurrected Christ, and thus to establish endless joy and peace. In this desperate and hopeless world, announcing a jubilee of hope is expected. I suggest that you invite those around you to follow the jubilee path traced in our diocese. Allow me to give you the broad outlines, you will find the details in the jubilee booklet and the diocesan website. In addition to the four pilgrimages to Rome for parishes and the two pilgrimages to Rome for young people, this jubilee path will pass through two permanent places all year round, the Cathedral of Gap and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Laus. Every day you can make a jubilee pilgrimage there. There will also be nine jubilee places over one day, including Embrun today and four in high spiritual places, the abbey of Boscodon, the first church dedicated to Mary in our mountains, Mother Church in Dévoluy, the Laure of the hermits of Montmorin, and the Benedictine monastery in Rosans. There will also be 4 jubilee days, one per deanery. For your deanery of Embrumais-Guillestrois-Queyras, it will be this summer on the occasion of the traditional pilgrimage to the Clausis chapel from Saint Véran. Thematic jubilees will complete our days of meetings and joy. At the end of the jubilee booklet, you will find a ‘credential’, as for the Camino de Santiago, that is to say squared pages on which you can have a stamp of the jubilee place where you have pilgrimed.
This mission is truly a mission of peace, because we can receive inner peace in this jubilee. In fact, every day you can request a jubilee indulgence for yourself or for a deceased person. The booklet explains what it is. A modern word can help us understand its meaning. It’s like a big ‘reset’. You know, when your computer or phone experiences a computer bug, sometimes you have to do a reset. Well the jubilee is a big ‘reset’. Another image can help us, that of the scar. The sacrament of forgiveness really gives us God’s forgiveness but a scar may remain and the indulgence heals this scar.
Father Bony in the same interview said that “in the biblical tradition, the jubilee is this moment when God sets us afloat again: he who has lost his freedom regains it, he who cries is consoled, the exile returns to his earth. God calls us to give more intensely what is best in us, the grace that we have received, in order to contribute to a social, cultural, religious fraternity… Periods of crisis are moments of hope, in the to the extent that it offers us the opportunity to turn to the essential (…) The crisis questions us: how do we remain human in the midst of what we are given to experience? »
Dear friends, may the Magi intercede for us, so that we live as pilgrims this jubilee year. As Father Bony says again, God is grace and man is thanksgiving. » May this jubilee be an immense thanksgiving to God for his love. Amen!
ANNOUNCEMENT OF EASTER AND MOVING HOLIDAYS
sung by Father Ludovic Frère, priest, after the gospel
(New translation of the Missal page 60)
You know it, beloved brothers and sisters;
At the invitation of God’s mercy, we rejoiced in the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Likewise, we announce to you the joy of the Resurrection of our Savior.
Ash Wednesday will begin Lenten training on March 5th.
You will celebrate, with joy, the holy Passover of our Lord Jesus Christ on Sunday, April 20.
The ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ will be celebrated on May 29.
Pentecost will be celebrated on June 8.
The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ will take place on the 22nd of the same month.
Sunday, November 30 will be the first Sunday of Advent of our Lord Jesus, to whom be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
