SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
JANUARY 3 / 4, 2009
This past summer and early autumn I was part of two pilgrimages. The first was my trip to Germany and Austria in late June and early July. The last stop on our itinerary was the city of Cologne, Germany. It’s famous cathedral, begun in the 1200s and completed in the late 1800s, a 600 year building project, has been (and is) still one of Europe’s principal religious pilgrimage sites. Housed within it is an immense triple reliquary the outside of which is gold-plated with scenes from the life of Christ on the front and back and the sides embellished with images of the apostles and prophets. By tradition the reliquary is said to contain the remains of the three Magi who figure prominently in today’s traditional gospel story.
The other experience of pilgrimage was my reading of the book, To the Field of Stars: A Pilgrim’s Journey to Santiago De Compostella. This little book by Kevin Codd presently the priest-rector of the seminary at the University of Louvain, Belgium is a personal diary of one person’s several hundred mile walk beginning at Saint Jean-Pied-de-Port, France along the pilgrim’s route, across the Pyrenees Mountains, and then across the northern Spain to the Cathedral Shrine of St. James in Compostella, again by tradition the resting place of the remains of James the brother of the Apostle John in the gospels. Some members of our parish stopped at Santiago De Compostella late this past fall with Father Starbuck. Cologne and Compostella both have been pilgrimage sites since Medieval times.
Unlike my journey in a climate-controlled bus, Father Codd’s journey to Compostella called to mind what the journey of the three magi in some respects was like. Father Codd spoke of the great enthusiasm with which he began his trek. But that early euphoria gave way soon to dealing with painful blisters on his feet, the vagaries of weather from cool mornings, to hot suffocating heat, to fierce thunderstorms. There was also the constant threat of dehydration, the search and provision of adequate food, as well as variety of pilgrim’s “refugios”, shelters for the night staffed by hospitaliers, who like the refugios varied from the clean and friendly to the dirty and disinterested. And finally, there were the fellow pilgrims on the way, the part of his experience I could relate to from my pilgrimage, all united in a common journey yet each on the way for their own personal reasons: an act of penance for transgressions committed; intercession for some special grace; thanksgiving for a grace received; the search for meaning and purpose in life—all being drawn to an encounter with God.
Today’s feast of the Epiphany celebrates all of us as pilgrims. Though the journey of the Israelites back from exile to Jerusalem or the Magi’s journey following the star in the gospel took place centuries ago, both stories are symbols of our lives. All of us are on a journey through life; each of us is searching for purpose and meaning an eternal union with God.
For the Israelites and the Magi, like pilgrims of past centuries and still today to Cologne and Compostella, this search for God in this world has as it’s visible symbol a place. For the Israelites it was the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. For the Magi it was the star’s leading them to Bethlehem. In both Fr. Codd’s recounting of his journey, and my own experience at Cologne, I found it telling that both the reliquaries of St. James and the Magi are located at the altar of both cathedrals. This detail is not without significance. The reliquaries are placed there to remind the pilgrim that neither St. James nor Casper, Melchior, Balthasar are the ultimate object of their journey, but in encountering them, they in turn, point the pilgrim to Christ who is God.
We do not need to go either to Compostella or Cologne to experience the truth that both of these sacred places proclaim. We all come here today, and every Sunday, as pilgrims, all of us with our hopes, dreams, petitions, thanksgivings, all of us in his or her own way searching for an initial or deeper experience of God. Here, at the altar, in each Mass we have a continual epiphany, through the scriptures and the Eucharist, of the presence of God for us in Jesus. Each Mass is a “refugio” a refuge offering us food, shelter, hope and companionship on our journey until we come to our heavenly home.