“Where is the newborn king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage” (Mt 2:2)
Today, on the feast of the Epiphany of this January 6, 2026, the Holy Jubilee Year of Hope comes to its conclusion. This Jubilee was inaugurated by the venerable Pope Francis, of blessed memory, and is now being closed with the sealing of the last Holy Door — that of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome — by Pope Leo XIV. At the beginning of what was also his final Jubilee Saturday catechesis, on December 20 just past, he told us: “The hope that this Year has given us does not end; we will continue to be pilgrims of hope!”
Receiving the Gospel that today’s liturgy offers us within this ecclesial context is most timely — perhaps more timely than ever — because it reaffirms the vocation of the Church and of every baptized man and woman to be universal and journeying, always searching and living in hope.
Indeed, the Magi from the East, according to Matthew’s account, set out on a journey in search of the King of the Jews in order to adore him. They are guided by a star that goes before them, enlightens them, and keeps alive their hope, their search for truth, and their courage to proclaim that the child born in Bethlehem is worthy of all adoration. The Holy Year we have lived has given us the opportunity to reflect upon and celebrate what it means to be pilgrim men and women, like the Magi, and people of hope as well. A Holy Jubilee Year is like a lived course in what it proposes to celebrate: thus, when we lived the Year of Mercy, we learned to receive and give thanks for the mercy of our Good Father God and to be merciful ourselves, as He is.
This Jubilee Year that we conclude today has also given us the opportunity to learn, internalize, and apply in daily life the teachings of the Church, which the Magi summarize for us in four lived attitudes:
We are seekers, pilgrims with restless hearts, in pursuit of a God who is in love with us and who leads us to love and adore Him always.
We journey together, synodally, always listening to others in order to arrive at the truth.
We are guided by a star which, when we behold it, fills us with joy. That star is our hope, which allows us to walk with our heads held high and in clarity. As Pope Leo added in his Jubilee catechesis of December 20: “Without hope, we are dead; with hope, we come into the light. Hope is generative… it is a theological virtue, that is, a force that comes from God, and as such it generates, it gives birth and causes rebirth.”
Thus, like the Magi, we can now be not collectors of stars, but seekers and bearers of the great and true star that shows us God in the humility of a manger, waiting for all men and women of every people on earth to be saved by His Love.
Sr. Rina Fernández
Province of Saint Rose of Lima
