Antiphon: With Royal Beauty Bright

"Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you."

All those promises we read throughout Advent about a great light are now, on the feast of the Epiphany, crystallized into this one light: a star. A star that isn't some cute excuse for a dash of glitter on a Christmas card, but one that is an intriguing blend of mystery and astronomical precision. Who, exactly, were these magi? How did they find and follow the star? Yet, Matthew's Gospel account as well as familiar and not-so-familiar carols describe its course through the heavens. The mystery has inspired great artists through the ages, including Giotto and Botticelli and, in turn, the composer Respighi, whose "Adoration of the Magi" is my favorite section of his Botticelli Triptych.
    One song that we wouldn't automatically think of as belonging to this season is actually delightfully appropriate, because its text is the reading from today's Morning Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours: that splendid text from Isaiah, "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news." The song is "Our God Reigns," and you may remember its popularity from the 1970s and '80s. It was written by Leonard Smith, who lived out of irrepressible enthusiasm over the fact that God loves us. The third verse begins, "Wasteplaces of Jerusalem, break forth with joy."  Wasteplaces! Our Scripture translations usually say "ruins." "Wasteplaces"--the town dump, a burnt-out inner-city slum, a neighborhood flattened by a tornado--breaking forth with joy! This is one of those dissonances that make the Advent and Christmas seasons so intriguing--"How can this be?" as Mary asked--something that, in a most appealing way, just doesn't add up.
    Like those mysterious magi who come from God-knows-where to give precious gifts to an unknown baby King and then, their lives changed, return by a different route. What encounter with Christ has caused you to go by a different route?