An image of this seeking can be seen in the Magi, who were led to Bethlehem by the star. For them God’s light appeared as a journey to be undertaken, a star which led them on a path of discovery. The star is a sign of God’s patience with our eyes which need to grow accustomed to his brightness. Religious man is a wayfarer; he must be ready to let himself be led, to come out of himself and to find the God of perpetual surprises. This respect on God’s part for our human eyes shows us that when we draw near to God, our human lights are not dissolved in the immensity of his light, as a star is engulfed by the dawn, but shine all the more brightly the closer they approach the primordial fire, like a mirror which reflects light. Christian faith in Jesus, the one Savior of the world, proclaims that all God’s light is concentrated in him, in his "luminous life" which discloses the origin and the end of history. There is no human experience, no journey of man to God, which cannot be taken up, illumined and purified by this light. The more Christians immerse themselves in the circle of Christ’s light, the more capable they become of understanding and accompanying the path of every man and woman towards God.
Adoration of the Magi, Workshop of Gerard David
(Netherlandish, Oudewater ca. 1455–1523 Bruges), ca. 1520, Oil on wood, 27 3/4
x 28 7/8 in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Used with permission. Excerpt from Lumen Fidei of Pope Francis, 2013.
