Fr Matthew

Dear Friends in Christ,

“You can’t anticipate a feast!… but you can always delay it.”

This was something of a catchphrase of my wonderful seminary dean, usually uttered in relation to the dubious and un-rubrical practice of observing St Francis’s Day on a Sunday. I’m not sure it’s a bon mot that will garner a wide following, but it’s better than the catchphrase my own students have to endure: “the essential tautology of German Romanticism is…”

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, but at Saint Philip’s we’re actually observing it tomorrow.

So, good news… If you wanted one more day to keep your Christmas tree up, you now have special dispensation.

The Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord, or, The Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, commemorates the arrival of the three Magi who come from the East to pay homage to the Christ Child. Afterwards, “being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they depart into their own country another way.”

Joseph, too, has a premonition in a dream, and he gathers Mary and Jesus and flees to Egypt. Herod—not knowing any of this—is nevertheless enraged and fearful for his crown. The massacre of the innocents follows.

The Feast of the Epiphany marks the end of the twelve days of Christmas, and ushers in a new liturgical season between now and the start of Lent.

It also reminds us that Jesus, the Christ, is Lord not only of the Jews but of the Greeks, and of the Parthians, and indeed of the whole world. (Some scholarship suggests the Magi, probably from Persia, were Zoroastrians).

We’re delaying today’s feast for purely practical reasons. Tomorrow—Wednesday—the choristers will be on hand to sing a choral Eucharist for the Epiphany, including some beautiful music by Charles Wood, George Dyson, and the contemplative Messe basse of Gabriel Fauré.

It’s at this service that we will “chalk the doors,” writing 20+C+M+B+26 on the lintel of the church door (standing for Christus mansionem benedicat, “may Christ bless this house,” or Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, the traditional names ascribed to the Magi).

But in delaying this feast we also have the opportunity, for one more day, to contemplate the Incarnation of our Lord—God, made man, in the humble form of a child. Lord not just of one people, but of the whole human race.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Matthew