O God [the Father], who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only begotten Son to the Gentiles; Mercifully Grant that we, who know thee now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of thy glorious Godhead; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
[Note that this Collect is to be said daily throughout the Octave]
Epiphany means "showing forth" or "manifestation". God the Father manifested and showed forth His only begotten Son with/ in his human nature to the magi from the East. They came to worship this Son, the baby Jesus, whom they confessed as the King, the Messianic King of the Jews.
God had led these Gentiles by various means ( a star and Jewish prophecy) to Bethlehem where having been shown the boy King, they offered their kingly gifts of gold, incense and myrrh. They had desired and longed for communion with GOD and this was given to them as the Incarnate Son of God was showed and revealed to them. In and through the Son, God the Father almighty was made known to them.
Taking the content of Matthew 2:1ff. to heart as facts of divine providence, revelation and redemption, baptized Christian believers pray that God the Father will likewise grant to them - to us - a "showing forth" and a "manifestation" of himself and of that one Divinity/Deity/Godhead that he shares within the Blessed, Holy and Undivided Trinity with the Son and the Holy Ghost.
We ask God the Father in his great mercy that at the end of our present pilgrimage, wherein we know him by faith, we shall be given "the fruition" of his "glorious Godhead." We ask that we move from seeing by faith to a more profound means of knowing and seeing God.
It is by grace and mercy that we know God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Ghost in this present evil age. We walk by faith in hope and with charity.
In hope we look for the resurrection of the dead and the glorious life of the age to come wherein we shall be totally and completely satisfied and ravished in our service of the Holy Trinity. We shall behold and enjoy with exceeding great joy the glory of the Father shown forth in the face of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son.
Thus we shall have "the fruition of thy glorious Godhead." We shall have the immense, satisfying pleasure and joy of possessing by grace the beatific vision, the sight of the glory of the Father in all his majestic and pure divinity revealed by the Incarnate Son.
What was showed forth to the magi was glorious. What shall be showed to the saints in glory is and will be even more glorious.
We pray daily for 8 days for this heavenly Epiphany!
[ Note: The word "fruit" here bears the meaning of the experience of enjoyment --- e.g. of what is eaten as the produce of the tree or the bush or the plant. See a larger Dictionary.]
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon The Feast of the Epiphany 2002
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