Holy Mary, stella Maris, stella orientis—Holy Mary, star of the sea, star of the east pray for us, lead us, and others through us, safely to Jesus. Amen.

Feast of the Epiphany. Sunday January 6th, 2013

Today we continue our Celebration of Christmas—The feast of Hope with the Feast of the Epiphany-the manifestation of God. In this feast, the Nativity of the Lord once again illuminates the darkness that often surrounds our world and our hearts with his light, bringing hope and joy. Where does this light come from? From the stable in Bethlehem, where the shepherds found "Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger" (Lk 2:16). Before this Holy Family, another and deeper question arises: how can the small and weak child have brought such radical novelty to the world to change the course of history? Is there not something mysterious in its origin that goes beyond that stable? (Pope Benedict Angelus Address Jan 1st, 2012)

In this Christmas season, we rejoice in the light, which surrounds Christ’s birth, bringing a hope which transforms our life in this world. Each year our celebration leads us to reflect anew on Jesus’ identity as the only-begotten Son of God, who became man for our salvation. Jesus is truly Emmanuel: "God among us", born of the Virgin Mary. When we profess the mystery of the incarnation in the Creed, we bow our heads in awe and adoration.

(At Christmas,) we acknowledge (anew) that the incarnation is the work of the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity, brought about through Mary’s free cooperation. The incarnation is the beginning of the new creation. Conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ is the new Adam who offers humanity rebirth in the waters of Baptism, by which we become sons and daughters of our heavenly Father. (We pray ever more intensely that) during this holy season, we may welcome the Saviour into our hearts, allow God’s power to strengthen and transform our weakness, and bear joyful witness to the dawning of the new creation. (Pope Benedict Angelus Address Jan 1st, 2012)

Today on the feast of Epiphany we ask, who were the wiseman that came to the light and professed in faith that the Christ Child was not only the King of all kings, but God Himself? Were they Astonomers, philosophers, magicians…maybe they were all of these? But whatever else they were, the three wise man were “people of inner unrest, people of hope, people on the lookout for the true star of salvation. They were not just astronomers or philosophers they were wise in the truest sense of the word, they recognized their inner restlessness for something greater than this world and with courage set out to find It, or better yet, Him.”

In a way the Wise men represent all men; and they represent the inner dynamic, the inner desire-restlessness, which can never be fully quenched, of all men toward that which surpasses man; it is a inner search from the heart of man for the true God, not just to know about Him or even to know Him personally but to possess Him and be possessed by Him in love. The wise men represent all of those who would, in every age, come after them and who would be seekers of the truth. This is why the wise men and all “wise” men after them follow the star.

But what was the star of Bethlehem? Was it an astronomical event or was it a supernatural event? There have been many arguments on how the star shown its light to the wise man. What ever the star was physically, the point is, is that “it is not the star that determines the child’s destiny in the manger, it is the child that directs the star.

In other words, Jesus is himself the Star that shines upon the world and determines it’s fate. And so, it also is not the star (or stars) that determine our own destiny, it is the Child that directs our destiny. Human nature now assumed by God—as revealed in God’s only begotten Son—the Christ child in the manger—is greater than all the powers of this material world, greater than the entire universe.

This truth about the Christ Child while a source of hope for us; is also, many times a source of hopeful unrest for us. The wisemen went to Herod to inquire after the newborn “king of the Jews.” We are told Herod was troubled by their questions, and all of Jerusalem was troubled with them.

The birth of the messiah would evitable bring more questioning and eventually bring trial and tribulation to the people of Jerusalem and to the whole world. Who is this Christ Child that was born into our world and causes a disturbance to the supposed peace of this world? The truth is that He is God, the God “who disturbs our comfortable day-to-day existence. Our faith in Him and in His only Begotten Son, is the star of hope-yes; but it can be also a star of disturbance to our daily life, but only to lead us to greater love of Jesus and union with God. This is why Jesus’ kingship goes hand and hand with His Passion (cf. Benedict “The Infancy Narratives, Jesus of Nazareth).

And so the Star even today directs us to the One who gives us hope but does so by disturbing the comfortableness of our daily mediocrity and selfish love; it directs us to the paradox of the cross, the cross which calls us to a daily self-denial and a daily dying to self in order to live for the sake of the other, for love of the other. The other being first, God Himself in Christ Jesus, but then through Him to love our neighbor as Christ loves us.

The Star shines brightly even in our day pointing to our hope—that is, to Jesus and the power of His divinity which helps us to overcome our lack of love and the poverty of our fallen human nature. It reminds us that, “Sometimes, even in the journey and life of faith we can feel our poverty, feel our inadequacy in the face of the witness to offer the world.”

But, the star also reminds us that, God chose a humble woman, in an unknown village, in one of the most distant provinces of the great Roman Empire. Always, even in the midst of the most difficult problems to face, we must trust in God, renewing faith in His presence and action in our history, like in that of Mary. Nothing is impossible with God! With him, our lives always walk on solid ground and are open to a future of firm hope. (Pope Benedict Angelus Address Jan 1st, 2012)

Like the wise men we for our part must come in faith on bended knee and with bended heart and bow down in adoration before the God-Child truly present in the Holy Eucharist; adoring the One who is our holy Hope and placing our complete trust in Him. We must like the wise men bring our gifts and place them before the newborn King.

Just like the wisemen we too are to bring our gifts of gold, incense, and Myrrh. In this case, our gold is the treasures of our heart to be offered to Jesus made present to us in the Eucharist. The Incense we are to offer is the sweet fragrance of our good works, of our little acts of love done each day for the Love of God, our witness to others of our love for God. And what of the Myrrh? The myrrh is the very sacrifice of ourselves, our hearts, all that we have and are, offered to the Heavenly Father as an oblation of love in union with the sacrifice of His only Son made truly present before us.

We like the wisemen also need to turn to the Star of the East, Mary and ask her to help us in our fears and weakness so that in hope and complete trust we may lead others to Jesus in the Eucharist. His True Presence is the antidote for all our anxieties and fears, including pain and death. He is the Bread of Angels that removes our pains, our cares, our worries; He alone brings joy and peace to our soul, he alone satisfies our whole being and gives us true hope. Let us ask Holy Mary who leads us to the Star that is Christ to help us become as stars as well so that our light may lead other men to light of God and His love for them!

Holy Mary, stella Maris, stella orientis—Holy Mary, star of the sea, star of the east pray for us, lead us, and others through us, safely to Jesus. Amen.