We begin the new year with two great feast days the first is The Solemnity of the Holy Mother of God.Mary, always a good place to start.
Then the feast of the Epiphany.
Truly I don't understand why we are called the religion on "NO" when we have so many feast days on the calendar - we are the religion of "Joy".
The Epiphany is when " He is adored by the three wise kings who represent the whole of humanity. This is why we believe that with this feast we celebrate the manifestation of the saving grace of the Lord to the whole world."
Much has been written on the symbolism of the gifts these guys brought as Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carámbula sums it up:
Incense proclaims the divinity of the child Jesus, as incense is traditionally offered primarily to God. Remember how many Christians in the early Roman persecutions suffered martyrdom because they refused to offer a pinch of incense to the infamous idols that St. Augustine describes so well in The City of God. This is also reminder to us that the increasingly tyrannical world in which we live is ready to persecute us because we refuse to pander to what is politically correct. Myrrh was offered to Him signifying His human nature: it is a prophetic reminder of the mix of herbs that would be prepared to preserve the body of Christ by the women who loved Him. Gold represents the regality of Christ, as it is clearly proclaimed in the liturgy of this feast and has been taught by many Popes. It comes from the tributes that are due to earthly kings or to other civil authorities. Also it makes a reference to the obligation that Christians have to support in a material way the Church and other Christian works of charity in proportion to their economics means and the duties they have towards their families.
I look at it like this: "You don't think God would send His son to camp without any money do you?"
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