… and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

In Matthew 2: 9-11, the ageless story describes a star in the East guiding three wise men, or magi, to the place of the divine birth of Christ. The ancient world was abuzz with the idea that somehow the world must be saved from itself.

Legends of the Celtic peoples tell that their druids and seers, through study of astrology and signs seen in the sacred fires, also foretold this divine birth.

According to medieval legends, the three wise men were named Melchior, Balthazar and Gaspar. Each of them came from a different culture: Melchior was Asian, Balthazar was Persian and Gaspar was Ethiopian, thus representing the three races known to the old world. These three priest-kings and wise men brought royal gifts to the divine infant: gold, frankincense and myrrh. Melchior brought a golden cup, which, according to Medieval legend, was preserved by the Blessed Virgin Mary and was the same cup used in the institution of the Holy Eucharist. Balthazar brought a gold box of frankincense. Gaspar brought a curiously chased flask of myrrh, a royal embalming oil.

The gift of gold symbolizes the kingship of Christ, The gift of frankincense symbolizes the Godhead of Christ . The gift of myrrh is a prophecy of the death and burial of the earthly body of Christ, which represents our understanding and empathy for the suffering of humanity.

The word Epiphany comes from the Greek meaning "to appear" or "to be shown forth" According to Scripture Epiphany signifies the first appearance of Christ to the gentiles in the story of the visit of the three wise men to the divine infant Jesus. As the three wise men represent all the known peoples of the world, this signifies an appearance to the entire world, not just to the Jews.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus proclaims: "Other sheep have I that are not of this flock."

At Epiphany, Christ appears in such a manner as to emphasize that He has come for all men who will respond to His light — the true light St. John states "lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

After the Fall, the world was in spiritual darkness. God reached out to a chosen people, Israel. He made a covenant with them, blessed them, gave them his law. But the lesson of Israel is that men could not be good enough to save themselves. Isaiah describes them as a people in darkness.

In our electrified world we barely know what darkness is. In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike many of us saw genuine darkness for one of the few times in our lives. It was a reminder of a time when fear of the dark meant that travel, work, almost all life outside the home ceased when the sun went down. People lived lives illuminated by flickering lamps at best, waiting for the new dawn when life could resume.

Epiphany is associated with light. First with the star of Bethlehem and then with Christ, the light of the world, the rising Son of Righteousness.

In Christ God enters the darkness of the fallen world like a shining, radiant light.

If you have adjacent rooms connected by a doorway you may want to try an experiment. Have the lights on brightly in one room. Have the door closed to the adjacent room where there is total darkness. Now open the door. What happens? Does the darkness sneak into the lighted room? Not at all. The reverse is true as the light travels into the dark room and the lighted room loses none of its brightness. Life is also that way. At Christmas and at Epiphany, the Light came. Let the light of Christ shine into your life, let it reflect it's glory through you.

There is an old adage that says: "It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness." God did just that when he sent his Son, Jesus, to be the Light of the world. God could have condemned the world but he chose rather to save the world. It is sometimes easier to get people to march in a crusade against something than to get them to stand up for something good.

We are more prone to complain than we are to commend.

We live in a world that has been affected for good by Christ and His Church for over 2,000 years. It is easy for us to complain about our lives, about the Christian faith or the Church. But in truth we have lived all our days in the light of Christ — made manifest in God's word, paid for on the cross, present in the sacraments, and in every good work done in the name of Jesus Christ: the Light of the world and the only begotten Son of the living God.

… and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.