The Epiphany is about the divine mysteries becoming known.

The Second Vatican Council called the church the "pilgrim people of God" and "a pilgrim now on earth." What are the ways people in your community are on pilgrimage, both individually and together?

EPIPHANY IS THE traditional day for the blessing of home and family. The ritual doesn’t require clergy and might be encouraged in your community by offering it on the parish website or printing cards with a simplified version of the ritual from Catholic Household Blessings & Prayers.

Saint Gregory the Great (d. 604), a doctor of the church, preached numerous sermons on the Epiphany. One of the most memorable reminds us that when we chose to follow Christ, we must change our course.

NATIONAL Vocation Awareness Week begins Monday, so we might want to ask ourselves: What does it mean that God "calls" us? Can you run but not hide when God drafts you for a particular service. Is free will a polite fiction when God has our destiny all worked out in advance?

Friends of mine were stranded in Florida during a hurricane. They spent the storm in a hotel ballroom that was windowless and safe in the center of the building. Water and food had been stored. I asked them what was the hardest part of their ordeal.

The celebration of the Epiphany of the Lord offers us a vision justice and peace. We pray for the healing of all division and violence.

Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem. The magi were "wise men," Gentile seers who combined astronomy and astrology to divine religious insights from the skies. Naturally the star attracts them and leads them to find its meaning.

The day on which Christ first showed himself . . . as the savior of the world should be held in holy reverence by us. We should experience in our hearts the same joy as the three wise men felt when the sign of the new star led them into the presence of the king of heaven and earth, and they gazed in adoration upon the one in whose promised coming they had put their faith. --Leo the Great (c. 400-461)