Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Terrance KleinJanuary 03, 2014

Most folk know the first verse of Home on the Range, probably from all those years of Kansas studies in school, but many can’t sing the fourth stanza of the state song, the one about the stars.

How often at night when the heavens are bright,
With the light from the glittering stars,
Have I stood there amazed and asked as I gazed,
If their glory exceeds that of ours.
 
In the West, especially if one stands far from street lights, bright stars are an almost nightly promise.  So beautiful and so distant, yet their constancy guides us.  Often we don’t see them because of clouds or city lights, and, sometimes, life itself lowers our eyes.  Yet the stars remain, silent and resplendent.
 
Stars are an apt image of God in our lives.  Sublime surety embraces the horizon, filling the vault of heaven with light. But what ones see in the heavens depends upon one’s stance on earth.
 
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
in the days of King Herod, 
behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
We saw his star at its rising
and have come to do him homage” (Mt 2: 1-2).
 
The story of the Magi is read from the template of the resurrection.  The astonishing reorders the entire world, but only for eyes ready to see.   For Saint Matthew, even those outside the law, such as the Magi, can be given the grace to see the Christ.  Yet one can also be in the right place, at the proper time, and fail to see the Glory of the Lord.  Insight is grace.  Grace is insight.  
 
You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace 
that was given to me for your benefit, 
namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation.
It was not made known to people in other generations 
as it has now been revealed
to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit (Mt 3: 1-2).
 
And so it must be.  The glory of God shines into the world, but it does not overwhelm, does not bare down like the sun, lest human freedom wither in the heat.  Unlike the rest of the world, the soul grows in starlight, when in darkness it looks heavenward to find the light.
 
Isaiah 60: 1-6   Ephesians 3: 2-3a, 5-6   Matthew 2: 1-12
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
Bruce Snowden
10 years 2 months ago
I just love the imagery of light and say thanks to Mr. Klein for linking as ONE, natural and supernatural light, cosmic light and the light of Word of God, enlightening to the nations, the latter giving substance to the former. Very useful meditation not only at Christmas but everyday. See too the Star of Bethlehem a twining of Jupiter and Venus some astronomers say, imaging as it were the two natures of Christ, linked together as one, yet distinct. It's said that all creation are bits of stardust, composites of the same material that lights up the firmament, all creation as it were filled with the fire of starlight, scripture saying somewhere that humanity in Grace will shine like stars in the Kingdom. Light, everywhere! So reassuring too, to know that for God, "Light and Darkness are the same!"
Gerelyn Hollingsworth
10 years 2 months ago
Haven't heard the fourth stanza in 53 years. Had to learn all stanzas to sing for the state centennial in 1961. We also sang: I love the land of the cottonwood, where sunflowers grow tall. Where the mate of the meadowlark echoes his plaintive call. From the Kaw to the gray flint hills, Kansas marches to fame. Our bright STAR in the changing sky is the wheat state U. S. A.! (Can't find the name of it or the rest of the lyrics online. Maybe one of the nuns wrote it just for the occasion.)

The latest from america

The 12 women whose feet were washed by Pope Francis included women from Italy, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Ukraine, Russia, Peru, Venezuela and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"We, the members of the Society of Jesus, continue to be lifted up in prayer, in lament, in protest at the death and destruction that continue to reign in Gaza and other territories in Israel/Palestine, spilling over into the surrounding countries of the Middle East."
The Society of JesusMarch 28, 2024
A child wounded in an I.D.F. bombardment is brought to Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on March 25. (AP Photo/Ismael abu dayyah)
While some children have been evacuated from conflict, more than 1.1 million children in Gaza and 3.7 million in Haiti have been left behind to face the rampaging adult world around them.
Kevin ClarkeMarch 28, 2024
Easter will not be postponed this year. It will not wait until the war is over. It is precisely now, in our darkest hour, that resurrection finds us.
Stephanie SaldañaMarch 28, 2024