Epiphany, meaning "manifestation".
Why do we call it by this name? Was He not Incarnate at the Annunciation? Has He not already revealed Himself at the Nativity? Yet here we say He is Manifest before us, for now is He acknowledged by all for whom He has come: to the lost sheep of Israel, in the shepherds who beheld Him first. To be the King of Israel, He came unto His own in obedience to the Law at His circumcision. To be King of all Creation and Saviour of the World, today He is manifest before the nations, represented not by princes or the Emperor, but in obscure wisemen who watched the heavens, barely guessing at what they sought after.
So too is He manifest to us: as our Saviour, beyond our comprehension, revealed to us in humble wisdom today; as our flesh, one of us, comprehensible, personal, and immanent on Christmas; and as our King, revealed to us in His Law joining salvation to the flesh, at His Circumcision. Thus the cycle of Christmas is made manifest to us in its entirety on this Epiphany!
