Dear Readers,
My name is Fr. Franz Devantier of Saint Titus, Independent Old Catholic Church (IOCC) of Africa, operating in South Africa, and also creator of this blog. My background was that of a liberal Catholic Priest, and a Traditional Catholic Priest in South Africa, and then an independent Priest in the Catholic tradition. I was incardinated into the IOCC by Archbishop-Primate Emeritus Maurice McCormick founder of the IOCC of America.
Primate Archbishop George Le Mesurier, IOCC of America
Primate Emeritus Archbishop Maurice McCormick, IOCC of America
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Bishop George Otieno Odhiambo, IOCC of Africa
Primate Emeritus Archbishop Maurice McCormick, IOCC of America
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Bishop George Otieno Odhiambo, IOCC of Africa
+++
Father. Franz Devantier, IOCC South Africa
In
nomine Patris, et Filii, + et Spiritus
Sancti. Amen (In the name of the father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. )
Epiphany
of our Lord – 6th January 2013 (Colour of Celebration – White)
Traditional
Catholics:
The word “Epiphany” means “Manifestation”. The Church in the Mass, commemorates a triple
manifestation of Christ: to the Magi, that is, to the Gentiles; in His Baptism,
when the Voice from heaven declared: “This is my Beloved Son”; and in the
miracle of changing water into wine at Cana.
Liberal
Catholics:
O God, who by the leading of a star didst manifest our Lord
to the wise men of old, we ask such zeal and wisdom as my help us to guide
longing souls to thee, who are the Father of All. Amen.
Roman Catholics:
The Lord and ruler is coming; Kinship is his, and government
and power.
Father
you revealed your Son to the nations
by the guidance of a star.
Lead us to your glory in heaven
by the light of faith.
Announcements:
We are collecting names for submission as Marriage
officers, for promotion to lay-Pastors, and for training for the Priesthood, under
Saint Titus. If you are interested, then
please contact Fr. Franz devantierf@gmail.com
Sacred References:
Isaias, chapter 60, verses 1-6
Matthew, chapter 2, verses 1-12
Ephesians, chapter 3, verses 2-6
Revelation, chapter 21, verses 3 onwards
Homily:
We
take up the story with the Birth of Jesus in a humble stable, after his
immaculate conception. He was born in
Bethlehem of Judaea, during the reign of King Herod. You see King Herod was the king of Jerusalem,
he was the Roman king of the Jews. The
king had heard rumours that there was a baby that was to be born, that would
become the king of the Jews, the king of Jerusalem. To make it worse it had been prophesized and
written in the Jewish books of prophesy.
King
Herod was therefore very interested when he heard about the three wise men from
the East, in search of the baby king.
Were these three men rulers of countries, or were they spiritual
leaders? Indeed they may have been
spiritual outcasts for all we know.
Whoever they were they were very noteworthy people. These knowledgeable Kings had come from the
East, possible from very far to meet somebody very special. They wanted to meet the baby Jesus, because
they knew who he really was. King Herod
had entertained them, and convinced them to come past him on their way back to
their countries, to tell him about their experience. King Herod had ulterior motives, but they had
not picked it up yet. These men were learned men, and in those days astronomy
and astrology were still one discipline, so they had studied the stars for
purposes of satisfying science as well as religious ideals. Like for example finding the baby Jesus. When Astronomy and Astrology became separated,
the science part and the religious or spiritual parts were split into separate
disciplines. The scientific field of
study lost its spiritual insights, the spiritual field of study lost its
scientific validation. Both disciplines
may have been the poorer for the split.
If the same thing happened today, the greatest scientists in the world
would have lacked the spiritual insight to see that the star was telling them
about the baby Jesus. The greatest
Astrologers around, if they wanted to convey the same story, would be
marginalized, and not taken seriously in favour of the scientific
disciplines. So basically our leading
academics today, would firstly not be able to see such a phenomenon, and
secondly, they would not be in a position to legitimately report on it.
The
wise men found the Baby Jesus, and worshipped him. They presented gifts of Gold, Frankincense
and Myrrh. Now we all know that Gold is
something that is considered to be valuable.
Frankincense is considered to be one of the better ingredients for a
really good incense. Myrrh was
considered in those days to be a really good herbal preparation for all sorts
of ailments, and purposes. Even today,
Myrrh is considered to be very good herb, that has healing properties for a
wide range of ailments. So if you
consider these gifts, Gold was to give something of material value,
Frankincense, so that the baby Jesus could live in a sweet smelling
environment, Myrrh so that they could look after his body and his health. These days we have anti-biotics and other
powerful pharmaceuticals, so we don’t concern ourselves too much with Myrrh and
other herbal preparations. However in
those days, it was considered to be a very special herb. So you could say they gave the king of Kings,
money, perfume and medicine, but most of all they worshipped him.
They
were alerted in a dream of the ill-intentions of King Herod, and so took
another route home in order to avoid King Herod. You see this dream of theirs tells me that
they were spiritual people. Scientists
would not typically have taken a dream too seriously, but these wise men did,
they understood the value of a dream, they understood the language that was
conveyed in a dream. So these very
spiritual wise men leave the story, and we never hear of them again in the
bible.
And
now we skip into the future, all the way past these first two thousand years,
and to however long it will take before the second coming of Christ takes
place. We find that Jesus is the King of
Heaven on Earth. It has become heaven on
earth. There is no more death, no more
pain and suffering. People don’t get
old, and their old sick bodies can regenerate and become healthy again, there
pain wracked bodies can become pain free; can you imagine. There are so many questions that you would
want to ask about these things. Are
peoples bodies repaired by spiritual power, or by advanced technology, like for
example nana-bots, that move through your body and repair all the ageing damage
and genetic damage on a cell to cell basis.
Would be great to know.
Jesus
says he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the root of
David and the offspring of David. That’s
a big one, in other words the genetics that formed the line of David was
created by God somewhere in the past.
Maybe even way back during the operation that God did on Adam to fashion
his life partner Eve. Could Eve have
been like a Goddess? Jesus was to be
born of the line of David, and that is where the offspring comes into it. As it turns out, Jesus was of the line of
David. I am the bright and morning star,
which sounds very similar to the ancient Egyptian belief that the Pharaoh’s
were both the morning and the evening star.
Actually maybe the same star, that you could see both in the morning and
the evening; that was pointing to the Orion constellation.
Remember
the word Epiphany also refers to a sudden understanding of something in
life. Like after a period of struggle,
you suddenly get it, you understand it, you have had an Epiphany. The personal Epiphany’s in our own lives
should be treasured, much as the Epiphany’s that Jesus the Christ revealed to
us about himself.
Prayer:
Our
Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name: Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven. Give us this day our
daily bread. And forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil.
[Protestants
can optionally add: For Thine is the
kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever.]
Amen.
Benediction:
The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep
your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son, Christ
our Lord; and the Blessing of God almighty, the Father, + the Son and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you and remain with you
always. Amen.
Love,
Rev. Fr. Franz Devantier of Saint Titus, IOCC, South Africa,
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