This is the Day of Epiphany, the Christian celebration of the Magi arriving from the east in Bethlehem, where they found the young Jesus. Matthew is the only gospel to share this story of the wise astrologers/astronomers who followed a "star" on their quest. The reason I put the word star in parentheses is because there has been a great deal of scholarly and scientific speculation over what that heavenly body actually was.
I heard and saw a couple of the Vatican's astronomers discussing this on television recently. Did you know that the Roman Catholic church has two astronomical observatories, one at Castel Gandalfo in Italy (photo above) and another in the mountains of Arizona? Jesuit priests undergo the necessary scientific training to be astronomers and run the sophisticated telescopes at these locations. I think this is a cool gig for clergy!
Because of the whole Galileo debacle, we tend to think of the Roman Catholic church from that era as anti-science. It was not the case then, at least not totally, and certainly isn't now There is a renaissance cathedral in Bologna, Italy with perforations in the roof which allow for a stream of sunlight from which astronomical calculations can be made on a meridian line on the floor. (also above.)
The Jesuit priests/astronomers reminded the T.V. interviewer that the gospel of Matthew is not a scientific treatise, and offered their ideas on what the Magis' star might have been.
I love the night sky, although I don't know much about it. Nor does our southern Ontario light pollution allow good viewing. While we have seen spectacular exhibits of the Northern Lights and the Perseid meteor shower while living in Northern Ontario and Newfoundland, the clearest night sky ever was during a stay in the desert of New Mexico.
What about your experience? Some of you live north of the GTA and in rural Saskatchewan. Are you star-struck?
4 comments:
Each year, my best friends and I head to a cottage near Buckhorn/Bobcaygeon and it's so interesting the first night when we assemble down by the lake to just listen.
No cars. No neighbors. Just the thrum of life as it used to be, and always will be.
I've said it before, and I'll say again that sometimes we all need to feel smaller next to nature every once in a while.
It is our ritual, when at the cottag, to go down on the dockas a family to say goodnight to the lake. It is our reminder to take time out and "look up"..both literally and figuratively. I do look up into the night sky on early morning and nighttime walks in town...not quite the same with all the lights of civilization,yet its beauty can still take my breath away. I like the "not knowing" for sure what the wisemen saw in the east and their subsequent confidence to follow "it" to Jesus.
Interesting that both of you, Ian and Laura, have enjoyed the night at the water's edge. We have a great family memory when our children were young, staying up late and watching a meteor shower on a friend's dock in N. Ontario.
I don't think I have ever seen as many stars as I do now living in Saskatchewan. I love to look out at the sky at night and just gaze in awe at the number of stars. I look forward to when it gets warmer and I can stand outside and see them again.
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