Homilia De Epiphania

Homily of Saint Sedatus, Bishop of Béziers, on the Epiphany. Recently, dearest brothers, we celebrated the sacrament of our redemption, by which God clothed man with infirmities. Today, however, we honor that day on which He proclaimed Himself God in man through His powers. For on this day, either He offered the star as a herald of His birth to the sky, or He turned water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, or He consecrated the waters of the Jordan River by His baptism for the restoration of the human race. In any of these three, the mysteries and joys of our salvation are contained. For He was born to us from a Virgin, which the star showed; He signified that we were to be changed for the better by the miracle of the work and the conversion of the waters; He provided remedies for us through the baptism by which He dedicated the waters in the bed of the Jordan. And therefore, dearest brothers, let us bear the star of faith before us in all our actions, and let us celebrate the baptism of Christ in the keeping of purity. For this generation of Christ is the confirmation of your faith. And because the sacrament of baptism was needed for the human race throughout the whole world, He gave a blessing to the waters when He descended into the bed of the Jordan with unique and singular piety. Therefore, by being born, Christ came to you; by living, He served you; by teaching, He fought for you.

You see him who died for you; understand that he was baptized for you. That, dearest brothers, on the third day the wedding took place, and that water was turned into wine, you have just heard when the Gospel was read. Now, the six water-jars are the six ages of this world, through which the just had prefigured the image and type of the Lord. They hold two or three measures each, because they contain within themselves the faith of the Trinity. But let us see what the divine word says, and let us treat the oracles of the sacred Gospel themselves. In Cana of Galilee he turned waters into wine, and by the power of his works he revealed the God hidden under the man. And, it says, on the third day the wedding took place. What is this wedding, if not the joys of human salvation? Why on the third day, if not because he rose on the third day? Therefore, as a bridegroom coming forth from his chamber, he descended to the lands, to be joined by incarnation to the Church to be gathered from the Gentiles. To her, indeed, and to this Church, which is certainly us, he gave both the earnest and the dowry. He gave the earnest when he was promised to us from the Law. He gave the dowry when he was sacrificed for us.

And in another way this can be understood: that we interpret the earnest-money as present grace, the dowry as eternal life. Let us see what happens in Cana of Galilee. Here, indeed, stupendous miracles reveal God to us. Jars are set out, holding two or three measures each. The jars are filled; the waters are suddenly changed; men, afterwards mature, while they are reformed for the better, are in a certain way liquefied by the baptism of wine. Therefore, when the wine gives out, his mother says to Jesus (John 2): "They have no wine." Now, first of all, let us inquire what the wine is that is said to have given out, and what the other wine is that is miraculously prepared, which the steward pronounces better, saying there: "Every man sets out the good wine first, and when they have become drunk, then the inferior wine. But you have kept the good wine until now." In many places we have taken wine to mean the divine precepts and the holy Scriptures, containing the purest vigor of heavenly wisdom, by which the mind grows warm with the fear of God and the affections become inebriated.

According to what was said about Wisdom: She set her table, she mixed her wine in the bowl. Therefore, the power of the divine Scriptures, when it has filled someone's inner being, will be able to say with the Prophet (Psalm 59): You have given us the wine of compunction to drink, and how splendid it is to make your people drunk! So, with Christ working in Cana of Galilee, the wine ran out, and wine is made; that is, the shadows are removed, and the truth is presented. The law recedes, grace succeeds. Carnal things are changed into spiritual things. The old observance is transferred into the New Testament; as the blessed Apostle says (2 Cor. 3): The old things have passed away, and behold, new things have been made. But just as those water-jars, when filled with water, diminish nothing from what they were, so the law does not perish, dissolved by the coming of Christ, but it advances. Therefore, with the wine running out, another wine is served. The Old Testament is indeed good, but without spiritual understanding it vanishes into the letter (2 Cor. 3). The New, however, gives forth the scent of life in grace (2 Cor. 2). Since these things are so, let us see the Architriclinus himself, the steward placed in the house of the bridegroom, whom we may understand him to be. And whom else should we understand but the blessed Paul, who, after the letter of the law, having received the mystery of the New Testament, filled and inebriated with the sweetest scent or taste and the fragrance of spiritual senses, exclaims and praises: Have you kept the good wine until now? (John 2). Let us see, nevertheless, in what manner he praises the wine itself.

Neither eye," he says, "has seen, nor ear heard, what God has prepared for those who love him." Behold the true, behold the praiseworthy miracles, which He works in us, when He makes the wicked good, the proud humble, the unchaste chaste, the followers of the world friends of God. What greater miracles can He perform than when He deigns to promote a man, a worm and putrefaction, to an angelic state? to place him from earthly things among heavenly ones, and in the grace of His adoption? The solemnity which preceded from the Lord's nativity we celebrated with that faith by which God was born from man; this one we venerate with that observance by which God was declared in man. There He is hidden by infirmities; here He is revealed by virtues. For today He led the Magi coming from the East as far as the place, the saving star showing Christ to the Gentiles who were seeking Him. The sacred nativity is sought out in a humble hut. He is adored in swaddling clothes, that is, the majesty wrapped under the covering of human corruption is revealed. The magnitude of divine mercy is intimated in the mystery, in that Ethiopians, that is, Gentiles, first enter to Christ.

Meanwhile, the blessed one, led to the sacred cradle, with a star running overhead, marvels; the farthest race, first to enjoy the public good. What an astonishing condescension! He who embraces heaven and earth is enclosed in his mother's arms. He who surpasses his Father's kingdom lies hidden in his mother's bosom. Through a simple spiritual service, the mystery is revealed. Humanity is seen, and divinity is adored. They offer gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Offering more in mysteries than in their awareness, in the gift of gold, royal dignity; in the vapor of incense, divine majesty. In the form of myrrh, humanity destined for burial is shown. And thus the number of the offering speaks of the Trinity, the single devotion testifies to unity; and through this, with vigilant intention of heart, let us strive to gaze upon heaven, if we desire to reach Christ. Let the star of justice direct us along the perfect paths of the way. To Him who said, "You shall not appear before me empty-handed" (Exod. 23), let us also offer gold of faith, spices of piety, holocausts of chastity, and let us also have spiritual myrrh within us, which so seasons our souls that it keeps them unharmed from the corruption of sin. Let us change our path, if we wish to reach the homeland, the heavenly homeland indeed. And as if between the two exchanges, so that we may acquire the property of that one by the use of this one, let us work so that this one may be the price of that one.

Now what the Evangelist says, that the Magi were warned in dreams not to return to Herod, but to go back to their own country by another way—this too is spiritually commanded to us. And by another way, that is, by another manner of life, let us return to our homeland. Perhaps someone asks how this can be done? Whoever desires to know this, let him hear the prophet saying: Turn away from evil, do good, seek peace, and pursue it (Psalm 33). For in this order one returns to the homeland by another way. For because we fell into the world through pride, we must return to paradise through humility. Through greed we came into the service of the devil; through mercy let us return to Christ the Lord. Through pleasure and luxury we endured the harshest yoke of the devil; through charity and justice let us hasten to take up the light yoke of Christ. Through the ways of faithlessness and wickedness, unhappily serving the devil, we departed from the company of angels; through the ways of goodness and faith let us strive to return to our origin. If we are willing, in this order, to abandon the deadly ways and hold to the ways of life, transferred from the left to the right, we can faithfully and happily imitate the journeys of the Magi.

One who formerly used to take others’ goods, and now has begun to give away his own mercifully—does he not seem to you to walk by another way? One who was an adulterer, and is chaste; one who was a drunkard, and is sober; one who used to curse, and blesses; one who was envious, and is kind: for if, by prayers and good works alike, with God’s help, we strive in this order to change the paths of our conversions for the better, we shall be able to arrive happily at eternal blessedness. May He deign to grant this, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.