Visitation of Our Lady

Last Sunday we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord, which is the official end of the Christmas Season. We are now in this brief period of Ordinary Time, which will last until the coming of Lent and Ash Wednesday.

Last week we celebrated the Epiphany of the Lord; when Christ was made known to the nations. This week we celebrate the the Baptism of the Lord. Today Christ too is made know to the nations. We hear this in the closing line from today’s Gospel, “And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” We see Christ not only was born on Christmas morning, but made himself known to us in many ways, especially as the wise men came in His own Baptism and in His self manifestation at the wedding of Cana.

Today we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord. Sometimes referred to as King’s Day, it is traditionally celebrated on January 6th. On this day we celebrate when Jesus’ divinity was publicly manifested to the world. We might be thinking to ourselves, “Didn’t this happen when Jesus was born?” Not exactly. When Jesus was born not too many people knew about it. The only people that knew that Jesus was born was Joseph and Mary, of course, and the shepherds.

Our Advent journey is almost over. Our preparation to receive the Christ child is concluding. The Christmas celebration is almost upon us. We are so close it is like the morning just before the breaking of the dawn. The coming dawn, and the rising sun, is a perfect image of Christ’s coming into the world. His being born of a Virgin and placed in a manger. Jesus is the Light of the World, and this Light has broken the darkness. What was begun in the crib reached its completion on the Cross. His birth and coming into the world announced our salvation, and evil’s defeat.