Dear brothers and sisters, good afternoon!

During this holy season we have celebrated several feast days. Today’s Solemnity of the Epiphany, as its name suggests, shows us what makes joy possible even in difficult times. As you know, the word “epiphany” means “manifestation,” and our joy indeed comes from a Mystery that is no longer hidden. The life of God has been revealed in many times and in different ways, yet with definitive clarity in Jesus, so that we now know how to hope, even in the midst of many tribulations. “God saves” has no other meaning, no other name [than that of Jesus]. Only what frees and saves us can come from God and is an epiphany of God.

Kneeling like the Magi before the Infant of Bethlehem means, also for us, to profess having found that true humanity in which the glory of God shines forth. In Jesus, the true life appears, the living man, the one who does not exist for himself but is open and in communion, who teaches us to say, “on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10). Indeed, the divine life is within our reach; it is made manifest so that we might be included in its dynamic freedom, which loosens the bonds of fear and enables us to encounter peace. This is a possibility and an invitation, for communion cannot be constrained. What else could we desire more than this?

In the Gospel account, and in our nativity scenes, the Magi present to the Baby Jesus several precious gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh (cf. Mt 2:11). They may not seem to be useful for a baby, but they express a desire that gives us much to reflect on as we reach the end of the Jubilee year. The greatest gift is to give everything. Let us recall that poor widow, noticed by Jesus, who put into the Temple treasury her last two pennies, all that she had (cf. Lk 21:1-4). We do not know anything about the possessions of the Magi, who came from the East, but their departure, their risk-taking and their gifts themselves suggest that everything, truly everything that we are and possess needs to be offered to Jesus, who is our inestimable treasure. For its part, the Jubilee has reminded us of the justice founded on gratuitousness, of the original jubilee prescriptions, which included a call for the integration of peaceful living, a redistribution of the land and its resources, and a restoration of “what one has” and “what one is” to the designs of God, which are greater than ours.

Dear friends, the hope that we proclaim must be grounded in reality, for Jesus came down from heaven in order to create a new story here below. In the gifts of the Magi, then, we see what each one of us can share, what we can no longer keep for ourselves but are to give to others, so that the presence of Jesus can grow in our midst. May his Kingdom grow, may his words come to fulfillment in us, may strangers and enemies become brothers and sisters. In the place of inequality, may there be fairness, and may the industry of war be replaced by the craft of peace. As weavers of hope, let us journey together towards the future by another road (cf. Mt 2:12).

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After the Angelus

Dear brothers and sisters,

On the feast of the Epiphany, which is also Missionary Childhood Day, I greet and thank all the children and young people who, in many parts of the world, pray for missionaries and are committed to helping their less fortunate peers. Thank you, dear friends!

My thoughts also turn to the ecclesial communities of the East, who tomorrow will celebrate Christmas according to the Julian calendar. Dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord Jesus grant you and your families serenity and peace!

I affectionately greet all of you, the faithful of Rome and pilgrims from various countries, especially the members of the Presiding Council of the International Rural Catholic Association, with best wishes for your work.

I greet the faithful of Lampedusa with their parish priest, the young people of the “Tra Noi” Movement, and the participants in the traditional historical-folkloric procession on the values of the Epiphany, which this year features Sicily.

I greet the Polish pilgrims and the numerous participants in the “Procession of the Magi” taking place today in Warsaw and in many cities in Poland, as well as in Rome!

To all of you, I express good wishes for the New Year in the light of the Risen Christ.

Good wishes to all. Happy Feast!