EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
In 2022 Pope Francis referred to Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night (1889) in his homily for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord: “A great painter, Vincent Van Gogh, once said that his need for God drove him to go outside at night to paint the stars. For that is the way God made us: brimming with desire, directed, like the Magi, towards the stars.”
Van Gogh’s Starry Night illustrates this Epiphany yearning for the greater mystery. It is in Goethe’s phrase, a portrayal of our “holy longing.” Gaze at the familiar painting to enter the Epiphany experience. See the black cypress tree on the left pointing upward to the dancing heavens. The thick brush strokes evoke that of a fire, perhaps the burning bush (Exodus 3). They are both sacred manifestations of the divine. From the sleepy village, the church spire echoes the cypress by pointing upward. Where do you see the sacred in this canvas?
The magi were similarly enchanted by the Christmas star. They wandered westward to enter deeper into the mystery of star and the majesty of the heavens. If the village of St. Remy from Starry Night was dark, so was Herod’s realm. But this was a different darkness, a shadow many of us share when we are shrouded in fear, greed and jealousy. But the church spire points upward pointing out of the darkness to the beauty, joy and hope of the heavens.
Epiphany points us all heavenward, reminding us to look up out of our darkness to divine beauty; to look for the sacred in the drama of unfolding creation around us and within us.
The Starry Night can be a spiritual signpost that points us toward moments and places where we touch the sacred. Contemplating the image can cause us to ask:
- What are the darknesses in our lives that make it difficult to see and be with God?
- What are the cypress trees and church steeples in our lives that point us heavenward?
- What are the dancing stars in our lives that let us glimpse sacred moments?
- What are the places of beauty in our lives that bring us close to life?
- Where do the roads leading out of the village take us? In other words, what do we do with our epiphanies?
Our personal geography of Epiphany helps us to map out those places where we are aware of being bathed in grace like the magi were bathed in the light of the Christmas star. For me, it is in my home with my family, my parish church and its vibrant community, in the spaces where I teach and learn, in the English Lake District mountains of my youth, in the Canadian landscape, in the sacred art in galleries and cathedrals, and at my desk in an act of participating in creation.
Let us then consecrate our epiphany places and epiphany moments on this Solemnity and like the magi offer gifts of gratitude and wisdom to the source of this inspiration.
Les Miller is a husband, dad, grandfather and catechist. He has served the Catholic education community for 40 years as teacher, chaplaincy team leader, Department Head. AQ Instructor, textbook writer, and Religious Education and Family Life Consultant. Les authored the 25 Questions Series, Words for the Journey and award-winners Catholic Teacher’s Companion and Northern Light. Currently, he is an instructor and advisor with the Archdiocese of Toronto’s online Catechist formation program and lead contributor to the St. Monica Institute’s series on praying with art, Abide in Beauty.
