Irish writer, James Joyce, wrote a lot about the human experience named “epiphany”. It refers to a day of enlightenment concerning where our life is and perhaps where it has been in better times. We are offered a new future in our human journey. Astonishment and joy may have departed our souls but we are offered a grace to win it back.
Joyce wrote a short story called: THE DEAD. The central character, Gabriel, lives a controlled, passionless life but rediscovers his wife painfully at a Christmas party. He discovered that she once gave a dying patient, at her nursing hospital, a thrilling experience of friendship, just before his death. She made his short life more meaningful than she was able to give him – whose prestigious education, financial security and successes had cut him off from real people like his wife. Gabriel is left with a real decision: will he change his soul and discover the real gift his wife can be in his life?
The Wise Men made a great discovery by the grace of God, delivering them to experience the presence of Jesus, newly come to earth as Savior of the World. May this Feast of Epiphany 2026, be a great grace for all of us; as the Church offers us a life without end with Jesus and his joy and peace on earth as his disciples.
~ Fr Harry Clarke