January 6 + The Epiphany of the Lord and Saints Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar

Epiphany is the feast commemorating the day the Three Wise Men — Caspar, Melchior the King of Persia, and Balthasar the King of Macedonia — sought out Our Lord and brought Him gifts shortly after His birth. Having seen the bright star in the east, a sign of the Savior’s birth, the three journeyed to Jerusalem and asked King Herod where the newborn King was. Herod asked the chief priests and scribes where the Messiah would be born, who answered that Bethlehem was the place of the Savior’s birth foretold by the prophet Micheas.

Soon after leaving Jerusalem, the Three Wise Men were again led by the star, which led them to the Holy Family. They prostrated themselves and worshiped the Infant Jesus, presenting Him with gifts of gold, acknowledging Him to be a King; frankincense, acknowledging Him to be God; and myrrh, in testimony that Our Lord would die for the redemption of man.

Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar were later baptized by Saint Thomas the Apostle in the year 40 and all three of them were martyred for the Faith. Their bodies were first brought to Constantinople, and then to Milan, and in the twelfth century they were placed in the Cathedral of Cologne, in Germany, where they are venerated with much love by the Christians who worship there.

As we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, we too should be mindful of our duty to adore Our Lord through prayer, worship and self-sacrificing good works (charity). Saint Gregory Nazianzen preached, "Let us remain in adoration; and to Him, who, in order to save us, humbled Himself to such a degree of poverty as to receive our body, let us offer not only incense, gold and myrrh, but also spiritual gifts, more sublime than those which can be seen with the eyes.”