Epiphany 2024

Epiphany   January 7, 2024   St Austin Church

“Where is the newborn King of the Jews?  We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.”  Thus inquire the Magi; who were sort of a mix of astronomers and astrologers.  They were the men of science of their day, and today we give them their due. 

Through their study of the stars these Magi came to seek for the Christ Child. 

Well, people today are still studying the stars, and some are still being moved to ask deeper questions, just like the Magi did some two millennia ago. 

Have any of you been following the discoveries of the James Webb Telescope?   Have you seen any of the spectacular images that have been produced by this remarkable scientific achievement?

I have this gorgeous image of what is called a ghost galaxy.  It is really beautiful.  Sorry it is not larger.  But as the Magi were moved by the appearance of a star, so we too can be moved to wonder, and awe, and even be invited to recognize something real    beyond the physical.

Some people mistakenly believe that science and religion are antithetical, that they oppose each other.  But that is not at all true.  Rather, science and religion each have a different object of study, with different methodologies, but each join in a search for the truth.

And as they both have the same objective goal - to learn the truth - they sometimes come close to each other’s approach, but do not cross over to the other’s proper domain.  Or at least they shouldn’t. 

Unfortunately, way too often religion and theology have wandered over into the realm of science: for example the condemnation by the Church’s doctrinal arm, the Holy Office, in 1616 of Copernicus’ theory that the sun, not the earth, is the center of the solar system.  C. was correct.

And science has repaid the insult by making statements on matters that properly are religious, such as the ultimate destiny of the human person, or on the existence or non-existence of God. 

None-the-less, study of science can be a powerful reinforcement of religious belief, or even an inducement to come to a sense of awe and  wonder, that leads to spirituality and to religion. 

The gorgeous, mind-blowing, incredible images that are now coming from the James Webb Telescope for example, both entice and challenge us to yearn for an explanation beyond the purely physical / and mechanical / to seek a reason for the incredible scope, the amazing beauty, the intricacy and delicacy that demands a meaning and a significance for such splendor. 

Scientific study cannot produce religious faith, nor can faith produce scientific knowledge.  But the study of both, with the goal of seeking truth, entices and spurs on the seeking of the other.  Two different paths to truth, and truth is one.  Isaac Newton for example, wrote much more on theology than he did on mathematics and science.  Although, his science was much better than his theology. 

Like for the Magi in our Gospel today, study of the natural world can lead us to seek for the Christ.

Other human endeavors can do this as well.  Those who serve others in need, in soup kitchens, in the St Vincent de Paul Society or Thursday Outreach, or Habitat for Humanity, or in any other charitable way, not infrequently find something deeply religious in the gratitude and acceptance of the people they serve, and especially in the religious significance of service.

THREE                THREE                THREE                January 7, 2024

 Normal human relationships, especially in families and communities, can spark and hint at the presence of something greater in life, that entices and pulls us onwards to a religious sense, or even to a religious experience.

Teachers, medical people, parents, police officers and social workers, anyone who works with other people, can find in their service to others a glimpse of that star that leads to the Christ.

And I suppose the ways to be called to seek the transcendent are as numerous as the people on earth.  But for everyone it requires an openness and receptivity to that call.

Today as we remember and celebrate the Magi, and honor their journey of exploration and discovery of the Christ child, we are called, challenged, to get up off our metaphysical behinds, and get on the journey to seek the Daystar, the true light of the world, which is the Christ. 

Happy Epiphany!