The Epiphany of the Lord

Radiant Light

“Then you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow…” The prophet Isaiah foretells Jerusalem’s future, the promise of a new creation. The Magi, scientists and scholars, experienced this as they traveled in darkness, led by a brilliant light. One encounter with the Lord and they were never again the same. They couldn’t even go back the same way, their journey took a different turn. What began as a scientific and scholarly venture, became a spiritual journey, a pilgrimage. And that journey was filled with surprises, especially surprising turns.

The star, the light that led them, brought them to a child. I’ve been reflecting on how we respond to our first sight of a newborn. We describe a mother-to-be as radiant. So many life events—birth, baptism, “firsts”, marriages and other events have our hearts throbbing and overflowing with joy.

The Feast of the Epiphany is about awakening, paying attention in new ways, celebrating what we learn when light shines in the darkness. We lit candles in the darkness at Taizé as we prepared our hearts for Christmas—the birth of Jesus and the re-birth of hope in our lives. We learned to be silent, to be still, and to hear the words and music. We celebrated Christmas at night with new lights everywhere—on trees, in Nativity displays, and a light that was shining in each of us. We too experienced the radiance at what we saw—God among us, Jesus born, Jesus beheld, Jesus carried, Jesus the source of a movement in our hearts, a movement described in throbs and overflows of LOVE.

Did we see it? Did we pay attention? Did our encounter with the Lord change us, enlighten us, and have us “go home another way”? What encounters with the Lord to we look forward to in this New Year? How will we “behold” the light in and on our New Year?