‘Epiphany’ is a Greek word which means something like ‘manifestation of divinity’. Traditionally, it has been linked to three events in Jesus’s life: the adoration of the Magi, which we hear described in today’s Gospel; Jesus’s baptism in the Jordan, which we will celebrate next Sunday; and his first recorded miracle at the wedding feast at Cana. Each of these events is an epiphany, because, in each one, Jesus is revealed as more than simply a human being—in them, his divinit

Like the others feasts and celebrations that make up the Christmas season, the remembrance of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph gives us another opportunity to reflect on the meaning of the incarnation whereby the Eternal Word of God, the Son of God, who is God, came to live among us – and not just to live among us but to live among us as one of us and for all of us. In working the miracle of the Word made flesh God chose to become part of a human family, not just sym

I was marking essays recently and, noticing how a couple of students had put their trust in AI and had been disappointed, I was reminded of a line from one of the Harry Potter novels, when Mr Weasley says: “Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brains.” We are human beings and we deal best with “others” if those “others” are also human beings physically present to us. Despite the technological advances that enable us to communicate

Tonight we celebrate one of the great feasts of the Church year. It is a wonderful time of year, partly because it is so familiar and filled with good memories. Seeing the Christmas lights on the houses, hearing the familiar and yet still beautiful carols we heard before Mass, and all the Christmas smells. Sometimes smells can take you right back to the past. For me, the smell of a Christmas tree can bring the memories of Christmases past rushing back. And then of course ther

Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. writes Philip Larkin in one of his poems. So, he says, Get out as early as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself. This can seem like an attractive solution. War and terrorism and massacres, racial and religious hatred, slavery and oppression and contempt, and the seeming lack of meaning or purpose in human life, all make humanity seem a project we’re better out of. But Abraham’s descendants, listed in today’s Go

In these last days of Advent our attention is turned towards the mystery of the Incarnation, for which we are preparing. And we see from our Gospel today, it does not begin in brightness. It begins in darkness. Not the dramatic darkness of rebellion or despair, but the quiet darkness of night: the darkness of sleep, of waiting, of a world stumbling. Saint Matthew does not begin the story of Jesus’ birth with angels singing or light flooding the sky. He begins with a man asle