“The Church as Today’s Star of Bethlehem” – Epiphany of the Lord – 1.8.23

“The Church as Today’s Star of Bethlehem”

By: Fr. David Schmidt

Regina Coeli Parish- Church of the Assumption - Bellevue, PA

Mass Readings – https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010823.cfm

Today, we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. Epiphany means revelation or unveiling. So on this feast day we celebrate the revelation and unveiling of Christ’s kingship and divinity. The Epiphany is the occasion when the Magi follow the star of Bethlehem to the place where Christ, the Messiah, is born, and they bring Him the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Who exactly were the Magi? Magi is the term used to refer to wise men. Theologian, Dr. Brant Pitre says, that “the wise men were known to be great philosophers, astronomers, and astrologers, and were often members of royal courts who would act as advisors to the king.” They “were known for their wisdom and their learning and their knowledge, as well as their ability to read the signs of heaven, to read the signs in the stars in the sky.” When these Magi saw the star over Bethlehem in the sky they recognized it “as a sign of the birth of the King of the Jews.” Pope Benedict XVI mentioned how even among pagan cultures there was this expectation that a great ruler would come from the people in Judah, so even the pagans were waiting for a Jewish King to come.[1]

The Magi were successful in reading the signs of the heavens and the stars and it led them to Jesus. We, like the Magi, are on a journey to encounter this great King. We are trying to read the various signs in our lives that will lead us to the fulfillment of every desire and yearning of our heart- Christ the King.

The question for us today is, “What is that Bethlehem Star that we are too follow today that will lead us too Jesus?” I think there can be many different nuances to this answer, but the one I would like to propose today is that this Bethlehem Star is the Church. The Church acts as a Bethlehem star, this bright light that we are to follow, that guides us to our Lord. We get a glimpse of this in the first reading when the Prophet Isaiah was speaking about Jerusalem. It says,

“Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem!  Your light has come,
the glory of the Lord shines upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples;
but upon you the LORD shines, and over you appears his glory.
Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance.
Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you:
your sons come from afar, and your daughters in the arms of their nurses.”

The glory of the Lord is the light that shines upon the Church that enables it to be this bright light like the star of Bethlehem that guides the nations to Christ the King. The Church gives us everything we need on this journey to discover Christ in the depths of our being. The Church gives us a proper interpretation of the Scriptures, a Tradition filled with 2,000 years of beautiful teachings and doctrines, it has the witness of the saints and their many spiritual writings and theological works. Most importantly the Church gives us the Sacraments. Through the Sacraments we receive the graces and help we need to make this journey including the food for our journey, the Holy Eucharist.

The Church in acting as this Bethlehem Star for us today, helps us to also go within the depths of our hearts. The Church teaches us how to pray, and how to hear God speaking His words of love to us in the depths of our being. This Bethlehem star of the Church articulates so clearly and beautifully God’s plan for love and salvation, and teaches us where to direct these deep aches, desires, and yearnings of our hearts. It is in our aches and yearnings for the love of God, that propels us on this journey in the first place.  

When we allow the Church to guide us well, we are led to a personal encounter with Christ the King. When we finally reach the stable where Christ has been born within our hearts, we do what the Magi did, and we worship Him by prostrating ourselves before Him and giving Him homage. Then, we too, give gifts to the King.

What gifts are we to offer the King? The greatest gift that we can offer to Jesus is ourselves. This is all that He wants. He wants us. He wants our hearts. He wants our love. Each of the three gifts offered by the Magi in a unique way represent how we can offer ourselves completely to Christ as a gift.

The first gift, gold, represents the kingship of Jesus. By offering this gift we recognize Christ not only as the King of the Universe, but as the King of our heart. We say to Him, “I want you to be the King of my life. I want you to rule over me because I know you are a good king, who will govern and guide me rightly, who will help me thrive and become the person that I am called to be.” Since He is our King, we are to serve Him, follow Him, obey Him, and love Him as our King.

The second gift, frankincense, which was used in the tabernacle for worship is meant to represent Christ’s divinity, and the one whom we are to worship. We first recognize Christ as the King of our heart, then we are to give Him proper worship. We worship Him by going to Mass on Sundays and receiving the Eucharist. We worship Him also by following His Laws and Commandments which shows our trust in Him that He knows the path to fulfillment and eternal salvation in this life. We follow His Commandments out of loving obedience to our King.

The third gift, myrrh, which was an ointment that was used for burial, is meant to point to Christ’s passion, death, and burial. We give this gift to the Lord by offering to share in His death, by dying to ourselves and offering our lives completely to Him. We say to the Lord, “Lord, I will lay down my life for you as you have laid down your life for me. I want to give you everything Lord. I will go wherever you tell me to go to proclaim your truth to the ends of the earth. I want to completely die to myself, to serve you and to love you in all the ways that you are calling me too.” By sharing in Christ’s Passion and Death, and being buried with Him, we too are able to experience the eternal life that He desires for all of us.

This journey that the Lord has us on is the greatest adventure that we could ever embark on. It is the greatest adventure that leads us to the greatest treasure – Jesus Christ. We offer our gifts to the King, but He gives us back so much more. He gives us the gift of Himself. The gift of our salvation which He won for us on the Cross. He gives us the gift of His Love, the Holy Spirit, which transforms us and sets our hearts on fire with His love. 

The Lord has given us the gift of the Church to be the light in the night sky to guide us to our salvation and to a deep encounter with Jesus Christ in the depths of our heart. The Church leads us to the love of Christ which we discover to be the love that we have been searching for our whole lives. We discover that He is the one whom we have been seeking. He is the one whom we have desired. He is the one whom we have longed for.

One practical way to better understand how the Church is guiding us is to check out Fr. Mike Schmitz’s “Catechism in a Year” podcast. I’m sure many of you have heard about or have listened to his “Bible in a Year” podcast. In this new podcast, he’s going to read through the entire Catechism throughout the year and help bring greater light to what we believe as Catholics. There are many beautiful truths to be discovered in the Catechism, so I highly recommend checking it out.

The hope then is that after allowing the Church to lead us to an encounter with Christ’s love, located in the manger of our heart, that we too will become a Bethlehem star ourselves, that others can look too on their own journey in discovering eternal love and eternal salvation.

Connected to this whole notion of us being a light ourselves, this past summer at my ordination reception, my mom had this “great” idea to give all the guests a votive candle that they would light and carry into the reception to their seat. And she had this sign on the table that read, “Find your name, find your seat, and let your light shine.” Now, I liked the candle idea, but I didn’t like the sign. I told my mom, I was like, “Mom, we’re not doing that sign. ‘Let your let shine?’ That’s so corny. We’re not doing that.”

But of course, my mom put it up anyway, and because of her sense of humor, not only did she put it up, but she went one step further and as a joke sang, “This Little Light of Mine” to me in front of everyone at my reception. Which of course everyone enjoyed at my expense lol In the end it turned out that she was right, as all mothers are, and her idea with the candles and sign worked out well.

So, to end, in honor of my mom, I say to you, grab your Catechism, grab your Bible, and let your light shine, so that others may come to know Christ’s love through you. Amen.

[1] Pitre, Dr. Brant. “The Epiphany of the Lord.” Catholic Productions. https://catholicproductions.com/blogs/mass-readings-explained-year-a/the-epiphany-of-the-lord.

Image Used- The Magi and the Star of Bethlehem (Dreamstime)