The Epiphany Page! (Revised Dec 2022)

Resources for the Feast of the Epiphany

Spotify Playlist for the Epiphany

Worksheets Exploring Epiphany Themes - Download

Themes:

Journey  
- journey of the Magi
- journey of Mary and Joseph
- our journey through life
- search for meaning

Gift 
- the gifts we hope for
- the gifts we give
- the gifts we get
- the gifts we are

Suggested Activities:

Read relevant Scripture

Prayer service using readings and music

Students drawing scenes from the story

View videos - with worksheets

Worksheets/Reflection on theme of journey

Worksheets/Reflection on theme of gift

Listen to music - with worksheets

Journey of the Magi by T.S. Eliot, read by Denis Adide 

Sonnet for Epiphany - Malcolm Guite

Article on Nollaig na mBan
https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0102/1103975-the-roots-and-traditions-of-nollaig-na-mban/

Epiphany by Brendan O'Regan

I had a revelation
about the wonder of gifts
And now I’m a Wise Man,
Curiously, from the East.
I thought gold, frankincense and myrrh  were good
And I wouldn’t refuse the gold,
But now I’m thinking more
Of presence, of listening
The gift of time
The time for compassion, or even fun,
The hearty laugh, from the heart
Of love.           

© Brendan O’Regan Jan 2020     

We Three Kings - Steven Curtis Chapman  

Poem: BC:AD by U.A. Fanthorpe

We Three Kings sung by John Michael Talbot 

Scene from The Liverpool Nativity, a modern musical version of the story - here the wise men visit bringing their gifts and singing Lady Madonna!

The Wise Men visit - a scene from the film The Nativity Story

Song Nothing But a Child, sung by Guy Davis · Lucy Kaplansky · The Wailin Jennys · Eliza Gilkyson · John Gorka · Lynn Miles  

A video animation based on the unusual song Wise Men by Kate and Anna McGarrigle. For the lyrics of the song click here.

A Claymation animation of the song We Three Kings, featuring the coolest camels ever!

For the lyrics of We Three Kings click here.

For the text of Journey of the Magi by T.S. Eliot click here

The Very First Noel - clips and songs from this film. The Wise Men figure prominently!

Song: We Three Kings by The Roches

For a more traditional approach to the song try this version from King's College Cambridge.

An address from Pope Francis about the Magi - here

A Powerpoint featuring various images of the Three Wise Men is available on request (use contact link on left).

Dublin Diocese has posted some Epiphany resources, including a prayer service you can download here.

For O. Henry's well-known story Gift of the Magi click here.

Click here for something to try with the younger ones, a craft based approach to the Three Wise Men

By permission of the author, a few poems about the Wise Men:

Be wise tonight

Five miles south of Jerusalem,
Follow the big white star,
In the town of Bethlehem,
That’s where the wise men are.

Be wise tonight,
Be wise tonight,
Run to find the Baby,
Be wise tonight.

‘Have you got a room,
please?’ Innkeeper says,
‘No.’ Outside the town
there’s a stable in a cave.

That’s where they had to go.
Shepherds they came running,
Who ever heard anything stranger?
Angels told them God was a Baby,
Lying in a manger.

Here’s one for the wise men,
Explain it if you’re able:
The Lord of the world born as a Baby,
Sleeping in a stable.

Mary smiles with joy,
Joseph looks with awe,
All men will be saved
‘Cause the Baby sleeps in the straw.

Be wise tonight,
Be wise tonight,
Kneel before the Baby,
Be wise tonight.

© Joe McCarroll

Very God Come Down

Very God come down
Angel down from heaven came
To Mary in the night,
Asked would she consent to be The mother of the Light.
‘My womb to Him be home,’ she said,
‘May He lie quietly there,
My Baby nest beneath my breast,
The Gift beyond compare.

’ Though You come in very smallness,
Great the gifts You bring,
Summer hid in Winter,
Autumn hid in Spring.
Light become a Child,
Self-empty through and through,
Very God come down,
This is what You do.

Wise men brought three gifts for You,
Gold, myrrh and frankincense,
But You bring greater gifts for us,
More precious and immense.
The first gift that You bring is Faith,
All fortressed hearts to win,
Your meek and lowly manner makes
Our trust in You begin.

The second gift You bring is Hope
All hindered hearts to grow
As You to mighty manhood sprang
From helpless embryo.
The third gift that You bring is
Love All wintered hearts to thaw,
You are very God come down,
Ice replaced with awe.

© Joe McCarroll

Lord of the Stars

There were three wise men and they lived in the East,
They looked at the skies every night,
To study the stars was their kind of feast.
They searched in the dark for the light.
They knew the black canvas above them,
They numbered its diamond dust,
But they wondered if anyone loved them
Or did all things unfold as they must.

They marked out the paths of the stars on their charts
And they thought that their lives had to follow,
The tyranny of stars had broken their hearts
And left them within feeling hollow.
They thought that the stars controlled them
And chained every man to his fate.
Of freedom no one had told them
And it seemed to be almost too late.

Then one night they saw a new sign in the dark
– A child who was born to be king –
The hearts of all three they soared like a lark
And the hope in their souls made them sing.
They gathered some gifts that were fit for a king,
Frankincense, gold and myrrh.
The star went before them to bring them
And stopped where He was – they were here.

They took out their gifts and they knelt on the ground
And then they looked into His eyes,
Then they knew for certain at last they had found
The One who had laid out the skies.
They laughed and they wept and they worshipped
With a freedom so new and so wild,
And they wondered how it could have happened
That the Lord of the Stars was a child.

© Joe McCarroll