Weekly Reflection 010409AD

Sunday, January 4, 2009AD

Epiphany of the Lord

The Child(ren) of the Universe

The vivid, exotic imagery of the Epiphany Story continues to stir up questions in our imagination. How many visitors from the East were there? 3, 4, 5 or more? Whence did they come? Persia, Babylon, Arabia (aka today as Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia)? Were they kings, wisemen, astrologers or astronomers? Were their names Gaspar, Balthazar, Melchior? Was one of them Black, as has been indicated in church art for hundreds of year? What about the star? A true miracle, a supernova, Halley’s comet, a planetary configuration? What about the gifts? How did they know to bring gold, frankincense and myrrh? Did they plan their gift list? What did the gifts mean?

Whatever the events were that St Matthew describes for us today in the beautiful story of the Magi, the point of the story is that the birth of the Christ Child, the newborn King, was not an isolated incident. Not only was the Holy Family involved, but also Israel. Not only Israel, but all the nations (what the international background of the visitors clearly indicates). Not only planet Earth, but the entire universe is effected by the birth. The Incarnation of God’s Son made human affects all creation, of which the human person is the pinnacle, alone created in the image and likeness of God. Venite adoremus!! Along with the visitors from the East, who only began the journey to the Christ Child (who, in reality, came to meet them), come let us worship our newborn King!!

Throughout the world, the great carol will be sung, “We Three Kings” today. The gold indicates that the birth was a royal child, a newborn king. The frankincense indicates that the birth was a divine child, because incense was used to worship the Transcendent and Immanent God (the God beyond space and time, and yet the God Who dwells in space and time). The myrrh indicates humanity, because myrrh was ancient “antiseptic aftershave lotion” that put on your face after you cut yourself shaving. The Christ child was a King, both divine and human.

Now, as scientists continue to teach us, indeed, all reality is relational. Nothing can be understood in its entirety unless it is understood in its relationship to everything else in reality. We are learning that the conservation of energy (that nothing is lost in the universe, but becomes part of something else) is a universal principle. (Since the days of St Augustine, we called the process of ascent, descent and transformation as the Paschal Mystery.) We are learning that such a reality as quantum leaps happen, viz., when something totally new comes into being and yet, constituted by realities that already existed. We are learning quantum mechanics the reality of the (w)holon, that reality is more than the sum of all its parts. We are also learning that all the elements in the periodic chart higher than carbon are connected with the explosion of stars that have been occurring for eons. As many theologians now say, each and all of us and our planetary home are made of stardust.

How on target the first visitors to the Christ Child were! (Recall the shepherds appear only in St Luke’s account of the Birth of the Messiah as the first.) In St Matthew’s account, our Gentile ancestors are the visitors today.

As we continue to worship Christ the King, our gifts of adoration must emulate the gifts in the Gospel today. How might we do so to show how belief that Jesus is Lord, (Iesous Kyrios was how they said it in the first century). In the world then, it was the king’s task to take care of the poor in the realm. (In fact, according to the Code of Hammurabi, a king could be removed if he did not take care of the poor.) Our gold could be the help we offer to folks in need. We can translate it into food for the poor, the working poor here in our midst, the poor throughout the world. Many of our parishioners, young and old, present food to the Christ child at the manger at the foot of the altar these days. Our frankincense might be a greater commitment to prayer in the new year of the Lord, 2009AD. Find the time to sit still and empty your mind of the clutter of thoughts each day as best you can. Remember that we make time for the things that we really believe are important. Our myrrh might be the sacrifices that we make already for our families and our friends through which we offer parts of our time and energy so that the lives of others could be enhanced. In essence, our life’s reality can be identified as our own gifts to the King.

As we recall, let us never forget that life is a gift to us from God. Let us never forget that none of us is a perfect person, so we cannot expect others to be perfect either. Let us never forget that Reality is a Mystery; the universe is a Mystery; others are a Mystery to us; I am a mystery to myself; God is the Mystery. We are all infinitely knowable and yet, infinitely unknowable simultaneously. In, with and through Christ Jesus we are all Children of the Universe. Let us try, with God’s Help, to get our relationships more in order in 2009AD. Along with the visitors from the East, Venite adoremus, come let us adore Him. 010409AD jfq