In the preceding two notes written for the Feast of Epiphany 2012 we very briefly examined three approaches, in effect: a literal-historical approach based on taking Matthew’s story as a real event; an attempt to suggest meanings intended by Matthew through his use of myth; and then, drawing on Joyce’s usage, a brief mention of epiphanies as personal revelations of ourselves or others in our daily lives.
It remains to consider the most important and spiritually profound meaning of Epiphany. In doing so, we will also be providing an interpretation which radiates some meaning over the three previously mentioned interpretations. Or to put the matter differently: the story of the Magi; meanings intended in the story; and small “epiphanies” that occur in relations to one another are in effect examples of Epiphany writ large: manifestations of the divine Mind in human affairs and in creation.
In the human condition, and in our attempts to understand our place in the Whole, the Divine and human are partners, sharers in the mysterious process that we may call “life,” or “truth,” or “goodness,” or “beauty,” or “revelation” (and so on), depending on what particular aspect of the mystery of the Divine-human we are exploring or emphasizing. As being in a human way--as human kinds of being--we cannot consider the Divine except in two ways: through reasoning about the Divine-human mutual participation; or through mythical imagination by which our thinking moves from a reasoned examination of ourselves and of other beings and things-- creation--towards the ultimate cause of all that is. That ultimate cause, that which was “in the Beginning,” lies beyond the reaches of reasoning. This beyond-our-limits, the Beginning of all, is that which is commonly named God.” An attempt to explore the meaning of Epiphany--of divine manifestation--could focus either on the Divine-human participation or through meditation on that which was “in the Beginning.” In the following note we focus our attention on the first-mentioned mode, epiphany as part of the Divine-human mutual sharing. Regarding a meditation towards God as the Beginning of all existing beings and things, suffice it for the present simply to suggest that the entire creative process of God could be called an Epiphany of the divine Mind, of Intellect. In this sense, the first words attributed to the Creator in the Book of Genesis, “Let there be light!” would deserve attention as a sign of the beginning of the process of God’s lightgiving, God’s self-manifestation, or Epiphany.
For the present essay, however, we will focus on the approach to the Mystery called God through reasoning about the Divine-human sharing. Here it is not primarily mythical imagination and speculation needed to arise towards the Divine, but acts of reasoning. In this sense, which is taken from the Greek use of reason or Nous, reasoning is itself a participation in God by the goodness of God. Through reasoning about and towards the Divine, a human being participates in the Divine through an exercise of what St. Anselm called “faith seeking understanding.” Or, one could say, following a phrase from the Apostle Paul, that reasoning towards and in God is part of the most essential human activity: “faith working through love.” In any case, without faith as genuine trust in God, and without love as a response to the Divine Love drawing a human being, no exploration of the Divine-human relationship is possible. In the present case, one cannot reflect adequately on the truth of Epiphany, of Divine Selfmanifestation, without engaging one’s reasoning power functioning by faith (firm trust) and love (a desiring response).
The thoughts in the preceding paragraph may be a little difficult, if they sound unfamiliar. In such cases, it makes sense to restate the matter as simply as one can, and then to proceed with the analysis. Reasoning about the mystery we call “God” is itself a sharing in the Divine Epiphany or Manifestation. When human beings think about the Divine, they can do so only through an already-existing participation in the the divine Mind. As human sides of the divine-human, we cannot proceed with knowledge--for God as such is unknown to us--but with faith; and our love can only be a response to the presence and reality of Divine Love already at work in us. We cannot generate love for God out of nothing, but out of divine action already at work in us. The Divine flows into us as love, and we arise towards the Divine in the process of faith. But faith in this experiential sense is not a belief in doctrine or stories, but an activity that can be justly characterized as firm trust, wondering, questioning, seeking. Faith as the trust that opens the human mind to the divine Mind is what one sees in the lives of prophets and apostles, philosophers and saints. “No one comes to the Father but by Me.” By Christ as the Epiphany of God, by Christ as the Light of God shining into the human heart, man arises into God.
Hence, every human being, at all times in human history, who is responding at all to the movements of the Divine are responding to some kind of Epiphany--to Christ. “Faith in Christ” is this experiential sense did not begin with the response of men and women to Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ. Faith in Christ has occurred in far more ways and times than we can know or imagine. Faith in Christ has occurred whenever a human being, drawn from within or from without by the light of the Divine, responds to that light by openness, trust, surrender, seeking the truth of God, loving kindness towards fellow creatures.
Before pushing the analysis further, let us consider: We have in effect moved from a presentation of Epiphany as recollecting the biblical story of the Magi towards reflecting on the way in which God, as divine Mind, shines into and illuminates “every soul that is coming into the world.” To reduce Epiphany to a biblical story at best misses the meaning of Epiphany , and at worst fails to help open the mind to potentials for participating in divine action here and now. That a term such as “divine Mind” may sound unfamiliar, or perhaps appears as a mere borrowing from Hegel or Mary Baker Eddy, may be unfortunate; but no better symbol for the truth of what I am seeking to express has so far come to light. These summary comments induce us to begin afresh, seeking greater clarity and understanding. For the search to clarify the meaning of the divine-human in-between or mutual participation is itself to seek to share in the process of Epiphany, of divine manifestation.
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Why is the exercise of writing on Epiphany reasonably difficult? Why am I forced to think out each thought and sentence? Why cannot I not just fall back on what I have been taught, or “what the Church teaches,” or biblical stories? Why do I feel a duty to seek to understand what Epiphany is, rather than simply repeat what “we all believe,” or “what the Church teaches?” Why must we think? Why must we question? To think, to question, to seek the truth of God is to share in Epiphany. Merely to repeat what one believes is not to participate in living Epiphany, although it may help induce others to arise from the sleep of mere belief and lazy habits towards questioning. In truth, however, I think that the best way to promote sharing in the Epiphany is not a mere retelling of the story of the Magi, but to engage human minds in responding to the divine Light which is, in itself, the life of the mind. To reason about God is to share in Epiphany. To refuse to think, to question, is to style the process of epiphany. So one can choose: To seek in order to find; or presume that one has already found through belief or unbelief. I recommend the path of seeking because it is seeking God in and through divine mutual participation, or to use more familiar, “churchy” language, through grace arousing a living faith.
God acts; man responds. We respond by turning towards the light, towards the “grace” given, or by refusing to recognize, refusing to see what we have been shown, by turning away from the light. Epiphany requires human response. God enlightens; man questions. God illuminates; man rejoices in the light through seeking, or closes off. Or to speak more experientially: one sees something, and either wonders, or ignores. Questions stir, and are followed and thought about, or they are dismissed. Or perhaps they are never heard, for the mind is too busy with many things.
“What is this wondrous sight. I must go over and look.” So Moses was drawn, and responded. And in looking, he heard; and in hearing, and obeying, Moses became the carrier of the Divine Mind to any who would receive. “Where is the new-born King of the Jews? We have seen his star at its arising, and have come to worship him.” Something seen, a response made, a journey onward towards the yet unseen Light. “Who are you, LORD?” “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Arise, and you will be shown what to do.” Something given, response made: God acts; man responds--or could refuse. The responders become the prophets and apostles, philosophers and saints. The non-responders? “The Light has come into the world, but human beings loved darkness, rather than light, and refused to come to the light, lest their evil deeds be exposed.”
Epiphany is joyful and painful: the joy of finding the truly good; the pain of realizing one is not what or who one ought to be. Epiphany is life-giving to those who receive the light, and death-dealing to those who resist. Epiphany invites loving trust, or provokes angry and hateful rejection. Epiphany does not leave man alone, but pursues, and finds, and reveals, and discomforts, “like death, our death,” leaving one “no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation” (“Journey of the Magi”).
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A journey to be continued, or avoided: The one our task, the other an escape.
