“There’s a legend that’s known both here and afar, ‘bout a belief that we have in a magical star; Wise Men were overwhelmed but what would they bring, as the star came to rest over the newborn king!”
Local citizens are sometimes surprised to learn that there are places within Kansas City that are not part of the city, that don’t belong to the city, and where city laws and systems have no jurisdiction or power. Catholics are also sometimes surprised to learn that, though the Vatican is the smallest nation on earth, it owns numerous properties in other countries; it is estimated that these places add up to be about the size of France. The Vatican owns a few properties in the United States. Among them is the Vatican Observatory on Mount Graham near Safford, Arizona.
On this Twelfth Day of Christmas and Feast of Epiphany we focus on Magi who came from the east following a particularly bright star that led them to worship the Baby Jesus; their trek serves as a religious revelation to the nations of the world. Though the Bible is unclear about it, the Magi are thought to be astronomers and/or astrologers who capture our imagination, excite our curiosity, and inspire our sense of wonder and awe at the immensity of existence and our part in it. The Vatican Observatory brings the heavens closer to earth and welcomes us to reflect upon the infinite cosmos. When we do, we naturally also think about our own miniscule existence within the immensity of creation. Though there is only one star in our solar system, the sun, it is estimated that there are a hundred thousand million stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, and approximately two hundred billion trillion stars in our observable universe. That’s a lot to soak in. The Observatory helps to bring them into focus.
At some time in your life, you probably laid under a starlit sky out in the country, up in the mountains, down at the lake or on a beach. In the clear, vast, endless array of radiant twinkling lights, you might have seen a hundred thousand of them. After gazing for a while, you may have focused on one particular star and wondered: “twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are!” Out of the two hundred billion blazing sparkles, you might have chosen one and stared at it. Lost in your wandering mind, you may have even made a wish: “star light, star bright…radiant star I see tonight…wish I may and wish I might have this wish I wish tonight.” Perhaps you decided then that God would not have put so many celestial lights in the higher dimension if He wanted us all to wish upon the very same one. Maybe you also decided that we are each called to follow our own star, invited to follow a different light by the different lives we lead and different paths we are beckoned toward, leading us to different vocations, encounters, and relationships. It’s more than we can grasp to think that each of the million billion trillion entities is unique—and each of us is unique, though part of something far greater than our own existence.
Epiphany, the last day of the Christmas season, is a time for us to wonder and let our minds wander; it is a time to wish and to dream. Through Jesus, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us in physical form; He dwells among us still in spiritual reality. This holy jubilee year is a good time to dream of a better world, wish for a heavenly attachment, and seek a greater understanding of our existence. The Magi lead us on that search. Though the feast is only one day, it is designed to direct us throughout the year as captured in this poem by Howard Thurman: “When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are all home again, and the shepherds have returned to their flocks, then the work of Christmas begins: to feed the hungry, to release the prisoners, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among sisters and brothers, and to make music with our hearts.”
It’s more than wishful thinking. Let us do our part to make 2025 a year of favor.
