This Scholar-Pope's Epiphany

The solemnity of the Epiphany typically gets short shrift in Latin-rite Catholicism, for while eastern Christianity lifts up the Epiphany as the apex of the Christmas season, Epiphany in the western Church tends to get overwhelmed by the tsunami of Christmas, both liturgically and (especially) culturally.

When the Epiphany fell in the middle of the week and was a holy day of obligation, its importance as the commemoration of the “manifestation” of the Messiah was underscored; transferred to a Sunday, it tends to become one-Sunday-among-others. The pre-1970 liturgical calendar recognized the significance of the Epiphany by designating “Sundays after Epiphany” between the conclusion of the Christmas season and the beginning of pre-Lent, thus stretching out the Church’s meditation on the Epiphany over several weeks. Now, Epiphany is quickly succeeded by the feast of the Lord’s Baptism, after which the liturgical period known by that dreadful neologism, “Ordinary Time,” begins.