Acts 10, 9-15 Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.

(Acts 10, 9-15) Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.

[9] The next day, while they were on their way and nearing the city, Peter went up to the roof terrace to pray at about noontime. [10] He was hungry and wished to eat, and while they were making preparations he fell into a trance. [11] He saw heaven opened and something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered to the ground by its four corners. [12] In it were all the earth's four-legged animals and reptiles and the birds of the sky. [13] A voice said to him, "Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat." [14] But Peter said, "Certainly not, sir. For never have I eaten anything profane and unclean." [15] The voice spoke to him again, a second time, "What God has made clean, you are not to call profane."

(CCC 522) The coming of God's Son to earth is an event of such immensity that God willed to prepare for it over centuries. He makes everything converge on Christ: all the rituals and sacrifices, figures and symbols of the "First Covenant" (Heb 9:15). He announces him through the mouths of the prophets who succeeded one another in Israel. Moreover, he awakens in the hearts of the pagans a dim expectation of this coming. (CCC 528) The Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, Son of God and Savior of the world. The great feast of Epiphany celebrates the adoration of Jesus by the wise men (magi) from the East, together with his baptism in the Jordan and the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee (Mt 2:1; cf. LH, Epiphany, Evening Prayer II, antiphon at the Canticle of Mary). In the magi, representatives of the neighboring pagan religions, the Gospel sees the first-fruits of the nations, who welcome the good news of salvation through the Incarnation. The magi's coming to Jerusalem in order to pay homage to the king of the Jews shows that they seek in Israel, in the messianic light of the star of David, the one who will be king of the nations (Cf. Mt 2:2; Num 24:17-19; Rev 22:16). Their coming means that pagans can discover Jesus and worship him as Son of God and Savior of the world only by turning towards the Jews and receiving from them the messianic promise as contained in the Old Testament (Cf. Jn 4 22; Mt 2:4-6). The Epiphany shows that "the full number of the nations" now takes its "place in the family of the patriarchs", and acquires Israelitica dignitas (St. Leo the Great, Sermo 3 in Epiphania Domini 1-3, 5: PL 54, 242; LH, Epiphany, OR; Roman Missal, Easter Vigil 26, Prayer after the third Reading) (are made "worthy of the heritage of Israel").