(Epiphany 1998: This homily was given on January 4, 1998 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Ray Suriani. Read Matthew 2: 1-12.)

"Whatever happened to the Star of Bethlehem?"

When scientists talk about stars, they often speak of "stellar evolution," or the "life history of a star"---from its formation to its so-called "death." And regarding the latter, researchers now believe that when a star reaches its final phase of existence one of three things happens to it, depending on its mass: it either becomes a white dwarf star, or a neutron star; or it collapses in on itself and becomes a black hole. (You didn’t know you were coming to science class today, did you?)

Actually, I looked all this up recently for a spiritual purpose: I was thinking about the Star of Bethlehem, the star that guided the magi to the infant Christ two thousand years ago. Whatever happened to that star? Where did it go? It made its appearance in the heavens over Bethlehem, and then it seems to have mysteriously disappeared. Or did it? Well, using the theories of modern science, we’d have to say that the star simply reached the end of its life and became a white dwarf, a neutron star or a black hole. And physically, that is probably what happened. But in the spiritual order, I would say that the Star of Bethlehem still exists. It is still present in the cosmos; it is still present for our eyes to see, although we shouldn’t try to find it in the sky.

Let me explain:

The Star of Bethlehem was a light that pointed people toward the Truth. Without that star, without that light, the magi would have been lost. They never would have set out on their journey, and they never would have reached their destination. Consequently, they never would have found Truth Incarnate: the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

In today’s world, praise God, we also are blessed to have many "lights": lights that point us to the very same Truth that the magi discovered in the manger of Bethlehem. That’s why I said a few moments ago that the Star of Bethlehem still exists. But unfortunately very few people take these lights seriously—although everyone is searching for spiritual "lights" to guide them in their lives. The other day I heard an interesting fact: the most popular and the fastest growing section of modern, secular bookstores is the ‘religion and spirituality’ section. Imagine: it’s not the sports section, or the novel section, or the food and cooking section; it’s the religion and spirituality section! Actually, that shouldn’t surprise us. People are searching for a star--a guiding light--to follow. The only problem is that they sometimes look in the wrong places. In most of those modern, secular bookstores, for example, there will be many good Christian books available; but these will be mixed in with New Age and occult materials, as well as books on eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism.

Obviously, therefore, we need to be able to discern between the true lights and the false lights, just as the magi needed to find the right star in the sky and ignore the rest. Lest we forget, when the three wise men began their journey all those years ago, there were many stars visible to them in the heavens. But only one was the star that God wanted them to follow.

Where, then, are the true spiritual lights of the late twentieth century, the lights that God wants us to pay attention to?

Well, first of all, and most noteworthy, is the light of Sacred Scripture and official Church teaching. In Psalm 119 it says, "Your Word, O Lord, is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path." God’s Word in Scripture and Tradition gives us light, direction and guidance. It gives us the tools to analyze the world and our own lives; it gives us the tools to deal with our problems. Unfortunately, some men and women don’t understand this, and so their Bibles sit on their shelves collecting dust.

So the Word of God is the first modern "Star of Bethlehem" that we should pay attention to. The other primary source of light that we should become familiar with is found in the spiritual wisdom of great people in the Church: the great men and women of the past, and the great men and women of the present era. We Catholics are blessed with a pantheon of spiritual giants whose insights we can draw upon: the great fathers of the Church like Augustine and John Chrysostom, women like Teresa of Avila and Catherine of Siena, modern writers like Fr. Benedict Groeschel and Mother Teresa of Calcutta. These are men and women who take the light of Christ and apply it to the situations we deal with in our daily lives right now. And it’s interesting: even the ones who lived hundreds of years ago, are still relevant today. In fact, that’s one of the ways to tell a great spiritual writing from a piece of garbage: what a great spiritual writer wrote two thousand years ago, is as valid today as it was back then. What a bad spiritual writer put on paper last week is as out of date as yesterday’s newspaper. I remember having this thought a couple of weeks ago when I was on retreat. I took with me a series of audio tapes by Bishop Sheen, as well as one of his many books. The book was written back in the 1940’s, the tapes were made in the early 1970’s, but that didn’t matter. Except for a few time-bound references, what he said on those tapes and wrote in that book related to things that are going on in the world and in my life right now. And in the year 2525 (if man is still alive, as the old song goes), people will say the same thing about Bishop Sheen’s books and tapes. They will be older, yes, but they will still not be out of date.

Before I close, I want to single out one other spiritual giant of the modern world: our present pope, John Paul II. This man is phenomenal. He has written some of the most profound works that have ever been composed. Of course, you’d never know that from the way the press reports it. In fact, according to the secular media, the Holy Father has only written one encyclical during his entire pontificate. I say that because every time he writes a new one, they say the same thing about it: "Pope John Paul came out with a new encyclical today in which he reaffirmed the Church’s position on sexual issues and women priests and artificial birth control." That’s what they said about Veritatis Splendor; that’s what they said about Evangelium Vitae; that’s what they said about every other encyclical he’s written. They make it appear as if the pope reissues the very same document every couple of years under a new title! His many profound insights about God, the human person, and modern culture almost never get mentioned. This is why we’ve got to resolve to educate ourselves! We’ve got to pick up the Bible, we’ve got to do other spiritual reading. If we wait for the press to inform us on matters of faith and morals, then we will certainly live in darkness and die in ignorance.

I’ll close my homily today by reading to you part of a letter that I received the other day. This letter came from a young man who is presently in prison. He’s someone who made some mistakes in recent years, and has suffered the painful consequences of his actions. But I have great hope for him when he gets out of prison in a few months, especially after reading his letter. That’s because he’s discovered for himself one of our modern lights; one of our modern "Stars of Bethlehem." He writes,

Each day’s reading only opens my eyes more and more, and makes me more confident that following the Lord and trusting in him will lead me to a better, happier life. These are the things I someday want to share with children and with anyone else who will listen.