Many Have Seen the Star

While the liturgical celebration of Epiphany has been transferred to a Sunday in the Dioceses of the United States, it is celebrated on the traditional date of January 6 in the Vatican.

Pope Benedict XVI has eloquently preached and written about the personal encounter of individuals with God--an encounter that God himself desires. The pope stresses the Church's desire that the listener recognize himself or herself in the people and events of Scripture (see Liturgiam Authenticam, 42). Thus, the Scriptures are not just about something that has already happened many centuries ago, but rather they are about how God is acting in the world today.

The Holy Father's Epiphany homily at Saint Peter's Basilica yesterday broke open the Scriptures in this very way. The Magi, he said,

were not the last but the first of the great procession of people who, through all ages of history, were able to recognise the message of the star, to follow the paths indicated by Sacred Scripture, and thus to find Him Who is apparently weak and fragile but Who, in fact, has the power to bring the greatest and most profound joy to the human heart.

He went on to say,

Many have seen the star but only a few have understood its message.

We can, then, ask ourselves why is it that some seek and find, while others do not? What is it that opens their eyes and hearts? What is lacking in those who remain indifferent, in those who show the way but do not move themselves? And we may answer that too much self-confidence, the belief they possess a perfect knowledge of reality, and the presumption of having already formulated a definitive judgement about things makes their hearts closed and insensitive to the novelty of God. They are sure of the idea they have of the world and do not allow themselves to be intimately moved by the adventure of a God Who wants to meet them. They place their trust more in themselves than in Him, and do not believe it possible that God is so great that He can become small, that he can truly draw close to us.

In the end what they lack is the authentic humility capable of submitting itself to that which is greater, but also the authentic courage which brings us to believe in that which is truly great, even if it shows itself in a defenceless Child. What they lack is the evangelical capacity to become children at heart, to be amazed and to abandon the self so as to start down the path indicated by the star, the path of God. (Translation from the Vatican News Service)

Humility is a word not often used--and even less often understood--in our culture. The word itself comes from Latin (humus, meaning earth). My personal definition, for what it is worth, comes from Saint Paul's letter to the Philippians (2:3-4).

humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests, but (also) everyone for those of others.

Humility isn't groveling and it doesn't mean you are invisible. In fact, most of the time being humble is hard work, sacrificing one's own interests for the good of others because of love. As the Holy Father was suggesting, if we are humble enough to dim our own light so that we may see the star and approach it as children, in wonder, awe and joy, we will see the face of God not simply lying in a manger, but in the faces of all whom he has created and redeemed.

On a lighter note, take a minute to enjoy the wonderful Epiphany hymn, "As with gladness men of old." You'll notice that, like the Holy Father's homily, it reminds us that we too are hurrying to the manger.

The History of the Christmas Feast

The Church, since it is a living organism (the Body of Christ) continually evolves. This is sometimes most noticeable in the celebrations of the liturgical year. We sometimes forget that the Holy Spirit left no liturgical calendar with the Apostles on that First Pentecost!

Prior to the fourth century, Sunday was the primary feast in the Church. A yearly commemoration of the Pasch (Easter) was celebrated from an early time and from that came related liturgical days (Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday leading to the Easter Vigil, for example).

The origins of the Christmas feast are not entirely clear. According to Adolf Adam's book, The Liturgical Year, there is concrete evidence that the celebration of the birth of Christ was occurring on December 25 in Rome in 336.

But scholars are divided as to the reason for the selection of December 25 for this feast. Some believe it was to "baptize" a pagan festival of "the Unconquered Sun-God" to the the Syrian sun-god Emesa established throughout the Roman Empire in 274 (to be celebrated each year on December 25, the day of the winter solstice). After all, Jesus Christ is the Sun of Righteousness, the Light of the World, never to be conquered.

Other scholars believe that third-century Christians wished to calculate the exact date of Jesus' birth.

The Christ-as-sun symbolism that was so deep-rooted in the Christian consciousness caused them to pay special attention to the equinoxes and solstices. One opinion was that John the Baptist was conceived at the autumn equinox and born at the summer solstice. But since according to Luke 1:26 Christ was conceived six months after John, he was conceived at the spring equinox (March 25) and was therefore born on December 25. (Adolf Adam, The Liturgical Year, p. 123)

Regardless of how or why, the date of December 25th took root in the west. In the fourth century the Church was neither as centralized as it is today nor did it have the ability to communicate quickly. Still, this feast spread rapidly even to those places in the east that celebrated January 6 as the date of the manifestation of God in flesh. In fact, many calendars had both celebrations.

Today in the western Church December 25th marks the date of Christ's birth into the world. God put on human flesh and became like us in all things but sin. In the west January 6 (Epiphany) celebrates the revelation of God in Christ to all the nations.

Midnight Mass also has ancient roots, dating back to the fifth century when the pope would celebrate Mass in a chapel (designed to be a replica of the cave of Christ's birth in Bethlehem) deep beneath the basilica of Saint Mary Major.