Ukrainian Catholic ChurchAustralia, New Zealand and Oceania
Homily by Fr. Ihor Holovko on the Sunday before the Theophany
January 5, 2025
The Feast of the Theophany has another name—Enlightenment. We’re all preparing to see the great Light, to see God. To do this, we must first prepare ourselves spiritually, reestablishing or restoring our connection with God. Therefore, on this Sunday of preparation for the Theophany or Enlightenment, we are invited to repent and confess our sins. This is what it means to “prepare the way for the Lord,” to “make His paths straight.”
If it were possible to ask John the Baptist, “Which God did he preach about?”
The answer would be as follows: “The God who forgives sins.”
Today’s Gospel reading, which is the very beginning of the Gospel of Mark, invites us to prepare for a meeting with the Almighty on the Feast of the Theophany. This title already reveals the essence of this greatest event. Throughout history, from the beginning of the world, in this event, God in the Holy Trinity reveals Himself to humanity in a clear and tangible way. The Father speaks, the Son is baptised in the Jordan River, and the Holy Spirit descends like a dove on Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father. Everyone who attends this celebration will be a witness: they will hear the Father, see the Son, and receive the Holy Spirit.
The evangelist Mark connects the Old Testament with the New by quoting the prophet Isaiah: “Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”
The Jordan has a special place in the history of salvation and, in particular, for our understanding. The Jordan is the border before the promised land, the border between the Gentiles and the people of God.
The Feast of the Theophany has another name—Enlightenment. We are all preparing to see the great Light, to see God. To do this, we must first prepare ourselves spiritually, reestablishing or restoring our connection with God. Therefore, on this Sunday of preparation for the Theophany or Enlightenment, we are invited to repent and confess our sins. This is what it means to “prepare the way for the Lord,” to “make His paths straight.”
Let us, therefore, do this sincerely and without delay. For the Lord is the one who is ready to forgive. And He is ready to forgive—for “He so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
