Morning Star

This is the subject matter of the 5th Advent Antiphon:

O Morning star, splendour od light eternal and the Sun of righteousness.

Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

According to the historical book of Numbers this star will arise in Israel with a sceptre top rule over God’s ancient people.

According to the Gospel of Mathew priests of an alternative religion saw a star in the night sky and followed it to Jerusalem.

There they enquired of the then King, Herod, where the child had been born who would be King of the Jews.

In Bethlehem, was the answer, which means the house of bread, the gift of wisdom to her people.

According to the prophet Isaiah there is a sense in which we are all living in darkness and need enlightenment.

Whilst the Psalmist can lament that too often our experience is like the shadow of death.

Leonard Cohen has a song in which he remarks that it is only through the cracks in the pot that the light can get in.

My sense form these scriptures is that it is only through the cracks inn our lives that the light can get out!

Jesus says that it is only once the eyes of our hearts have been opened that we will be enabled to see this light in others.

This will only happen as we allow ourselves to be sufficiently vulnerable with others and they with us, that we will be close enough to see.

Then, and only then, according to the Apostle Peter, the morning star will no longer simply be a splendorous thing in the sky but will arise in our own hearts also.

So Come O morning star, shine in the darkness that we may see the light of your glory revealed in our brokenness and darkness.

That we may see that it is only as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death that we find it to be none other than the way to life and peace.

 

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