A sermon on behalf of the poor who are visited and relieved by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in the city of Dublin, preached in The Church of St. Francis Xavier, on the feast of the Epiphany, 1849 by the Rev. B.T. Russell, O.P.

Abstract

On this passage, my brethren, the Church lingers with a devotional spirit. Every day during the Octave of Epiphany it is inserted in the sacred liturgy. At each solemn repetition of this passage during the recital of the Gospel at Mass, the priest and faithful kneel, renewing the memory of the first act of worship offered by the Gentile world to the Son of God, when He appeared on earth under the form of our humanity. What a variety of religious sentiments and associations the announcement of our text awakens in pious and contemplative minds! Faith, as it ponders on every word, becoming more enlightened and fervent, rejoices amidst the unveiled splendours of "the mystery which had been hidden from ages and generations, but hath now been manifested to the saints." [Excerpts]