The light of the Epiphany is not just a physical light. God planted a star in the sky with the intention, I expect, of catching our attention. It was divine marketing. And the star was bright and it moved.
But light within our souls is bright in a different way. We shine with a kind of light which eyes may not always see. This inner light, brightens pathways for our soul to explore life and love, things of the earth and things beyond it.
Perhaps you have stayed in a strange home as a guest only to awaken in the middle of the night. Moving around in the dark is strange. Nothing is familiar. One even needs to figure out where one is and why the room looks so different. So we move gingerly, hand to bed knob, next hand to dresser, next hand to wall, next hand to search for a light switch. Is it on this wall or some other.
Our interior light lit by God in our knitting in the womb is there so that we might explore the cosmos without leaving our chair. It is a light which blossoms in prayer, in silence, and in the midst of friendship. Furthermore it is a light which bears a responsibility of its holder to move less gingerly, bounding around the spiritual realm which sits a few inches beyond the palm of any outstretched hand. This kind of internal bounding takes a different kind of courage, not for fear of encountering a beast or goblin, but the fear of encountering our real, true selves. So Epiphany is the light of an interior adventure – a lantern held by a loving, inviting and slightly mysterious God who assures that all will be well.
