Epiphany Celebration

by Fr. John Granato  |  01/05/2025  |  Words from Fr. John

My Dear Friends,

Today we celebrate the Epiphany. This important feast can be a Holy Day of Obligation, and is in many other countries. Since we have already had Christmas and Mary, Mother of God on December 25th and January 1st (as well as Immaculate Conception on December 8th) as Holy Days of Obligation, the United States Bishops decided to move Epiphany to the second Sunday after Christmas so that we could benefit from the mystery without yet another obligation.

I think the bishops have done this because other than Christmas, the crowd size at the other Holy Days of Obligation is small. For some reason in the United States, Catholics disregard the obligation of a Holy Day, which isn’t all that surprising since many Catholics also disregard the Sunday obligation as well. Even though most bishops and priests do not preach about it, the Church still counts missing Sunday and a Holy Day of Obligation Mass (without a valid reason) as a mortal sin and one that should be confessed.

The Mass is God’s gift to us so that we could miraculously and mystically be present at His Son’s sacrifice on the Cross and receive his Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in Holy Communion. He reveals the depth of His love for us at every Mass. We come to Mass, then, in order to praise and thank and worship our Creator and Redeemer.

On this Epiphany Sunday, let us, like the Wise Men, go home by a different route, meaning let us change our habits and repent of our sins so that we may grow in virtue as we follow the Star who is Jesus Christ.

Happy Epiphany! God bless.