Sunday, January 11, 2015

Collect for the First Sunday after the Epiphany

Prayer book and breviary
O LORD, we beseech thee mercifully to receive the prayers of thy people which call upon thee; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


Meditation
Epiphany season is very much about what God shows us of Himself. It is a season in which we turn our gaze outward from the introspection of Advent before we return that gaze inward for the introspection of Lent. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia and has the sense of turning and realignment. We cannot realign ourselves without first checking to see to what we must realign. Advent's introspection allows us to prepare ourselves for receiving God anew. Advent is very much a clearing away of clutter so that a baby can be born.

Epiphany presents us with the truth of this Holy Child and the truth of His relationship with us. It is a time in which we look to God for how He seeks to reveal Himself to us and to study that Revelation before we seek to understand our failure to live up to the life that He gives us during the time of Lent.

Our Lord gives us the seasons of the year for our own growth and development in the Faith. Now is the time for us to travel to the manger to see Who this baby is, bringing our own gifts with us, paltry though they may be.

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