Is. 60:1-6; Ps. 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-13; Eph. 3:2-3a, 5-6; Mat. 2:1-12
The Epiphany of the Lord in the Star of Bethlehem is the revelation God is with us. “We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” What “star” of Bethlehem is this? In a world where faith and reason are treated as incompatible God speaks truth, faith seeks reason, and reason has its day of “epiphany”. The Epiphany of the Lord is the manifestation of Jesus as announced by the “Star of Bethlehem”.
In a documentary from producer Stephen McEveety (The Passion of the Christ) comes the possibility that the “star” was a real astronomical event seen by the magi. Astronomy provides a historical map of time and in this documentary, it reveals that before 3 BC there was an astronomical event where the planets Jupiter, the “King planet” and Venus the “Mother planet” aligned as the magi witnessed as one “bright shining star”. Science also determines that the movement of the planets creates an illusion of retrograde as a “starry dance” where the planets appear to stop and cycle around giving evidence to the star stopping over Bethlehem. Nine months prior Jupiter the “Planet of Kings” had also had this starry dance with Regulus the “Star of Kings” creating a halo effect. These astronomical signs would have been the life study of the magi. Justice cannot be given in these few words to the complete science in the documentary but worthy of seeking and viewing its merits (bethelehemstar.net). In the end reason provides us supportive evidence of faith as an epiphany of truth.
The Magi were Gentile priests from Persia who receive the epiphany, that is the revelation and bring the gifts of royalty to the child and worship the child. It is to the “other” that is the Gentiles that Jesus sends his disciples out to the ends of the world to proclaim the Good News. God reveals himself to the world as a child in humbleness to unite the world to those who receive him. Jesus is now the Star from Bethlehem to lead us by his light in the ordinary of life to every nation, people, and place. Salvation has come into the world. It is our turn now!
“Pardon the interruption!” The light we receive at baptism is our call to receive the “stewardship of God’s grace” and respond to the call according to that grace. The call is to evangelize according to our gifts where we stand. The gifts of grace provide for specific ministries within the church in music, as lectors, altar servers, Extra-ordinary ministers, sacristans, parish ministries, committees, and more. Then there is the ordinary call of grace when God “interrupts” our focus, our plans, our going and coming and asks of us to stop and respond to him. He comes in the little interruptions of life and says be present to me in your mother, father, sibling, stranger, or in the phone call we don’t have time to take and talk. Do we say “let it go to voice-mail, or let them call back, or do we say let me stop and answer God in this call, let me be present to the other.” We should also consider “am I in the moment” or “am I so in the past or future that I don’t see God trying to get my attention.”
In the gospels, Jesus is often on his way to a destination when the people come up to seeking his help. The disciples often try to keep the people away from him yet he stops, listens and responds to the individual with his full attention. This week Pope Francis was walking among the people at St. Peter’s Square on New Year’s Eve shaking hands and kissing babies when one woman grabbed his had and pulled him. His normal reaction was to pull back but his expression of disapproval, even anger on camera was quite obvious. He then took time during his homily the next day to express his apology for not being “patient” and his “bad example”. For the moment he “lost it”. We live on the edge of life grabbing at us stealing our time, our energy, our purpose and we too “lose it” with a bad example but grace restores us with the light to accept our shortcomings and return to the present where God is in the interruptions of life.
During the week I drive twenty-five miles each way to work and back home. In the past if I was delayed by anything from getting going, I would get stressed. Then I noticed the frequency of accidents on the road and it occurred to me that had I not been delayed I may have been involved in the accident. I learned to appreciate the interruption to my time demands to allow God into the moment for a greater good. We say in Spanish “Uno propone y Dios dispone” meaning we propose what is important but God determines what is needed. We need God in the present, and he is ready to give us the light in the darkness, the Epiphany that God is with us. Not my will but your will be done my God and my light.
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