“ARE YOU PREPARED FOR AN EPIPHANY?”
This was the question posed by Abbot Robert at the start of his homily at Mass in the Abbey church on the Solemnity of the Epiphany. He went on to explain that it is important not to get lost in the details of this day – whether they were Wise Men or Kings, the East from where they travelled, the star in the sky, or the gifts they offered, so rich in symbolism: “We forget to focus on the one who was the very reason for their journey. The recipient of their gifts: ‘Where is the child who is born to be king of the Jews? We have come to worship him’”.
The Abbot spoke about the journey of faith on which the Wise Men had embarked, “men attentive to the signs of the times, men courageous enough to leave what is familiar, and humble enough to follow a star whose destination they do not yet fully understand. Their journey and the one whom they were searching for is the heart of the Epiphany: God revealing Himself not only to Israel, but to the whole world”. They discovered what every human heart longs for: the Way, the Truth and the Life, found in Christ, the human face of love.
“When the Magi encounter Christ”, Abbot Robert continued, “they are changed. They kneel and offer gifts. Yet, important as their gifts were the most significant thing they offered their newfound Lord was their hearts in worship and adoration. Matthew tells us that they “departed for their country by another way” (Mt 2:12). An encounter with Christ in prayer and worship always sends us home different than we arrived. We do not simply admire the light; we are transformed by it. We become what we behold”.
6 January was also the end of the Jubilee of Hope, with the closing of the Holy Door at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Abbot Robert said that the Jubilee “is a sacred time of grace, repentance, and renewal – a time to rediscover who we are and whose we are. In this sense, Jubilee never comes to an end, because the Gospel perpetually invites us to look, to see with gratitude and honesty and then to worship”.
“As the Jubilee Year closes and a new year opens”, he said, “let us pray that we, too, will have the courage to follow the light wherever it leads. May we seek Christ with perseverance, worship Him with humility, and return to our daily lives “by another way” – renewed in faith, strengthened in hope, and guided always by the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life”.
In Rome, Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass in St Peter’s Basilica and brought to an end the 2025 Jubilee Year with the solemn closing of the Holy Door in St Peter’s, praying:
“This Holy Door is closing, but the gate of your mercy will never be shut, because you always sustain the weary, raise up those who have fallen, and open your hand to fill with good things those who place their trust in you”.
The Holy Door will now remain closed until the Great Jubilee of 2033, marking the 2000th anniversary of the Redemption, an event that highlights the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the foundation of Christian faith.
In the course of the 2025 Jubilee, 33.5 million people visited Rome, exceeding all expectations. Pilgrims came from 185 countries, with Italy ranking first in number of participants, followed by the United States, Spain, Brazil and Poland. The Holy See’s main organiser of the Jubilee, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, said “In a word, this Holy Year achieved the goal expressed in the Bull of Indicition of the Jubilee, Spes non confundit: to be for everyone an opportunity to rekindle hope”.
