A Short Gleam of Glory

It’s Epiphany again.

From Newman:
Solomon, the great type of the Prince of Peace, reigned forty years, and his name and greatness was known far and wide through the East. Joseph, the much-loved son of Jacob, who in an earlier age of the Church, was a type of Christ in His kingdom, was in power and favour eighty years, twice as long as Solomon. But Christ, the true Revealer of secrets, and the Dispenser of the bread of life, the true wisdom and majesty of the Father, manifested His glory but in His early years, and then the Sun of Righteousness was clouded. For He was not to reign really, till He left the world. He has reigned ever since; nay, reigned in the world, though He is not in sensible presence in it—the invisible King of a visible kingdom—for He came on earth but to show what His reign would be, after He had left it, and to submit to suffering and dishonour, that He might reign.

There are two sides to the Christmas coin: the stranded (not homeless!) travelers. The young mom. The inhospitable town. The stable/manger. The death threats. The escape to Egypt. It was bad.

The other side of that coin is Epiphany, where we see that, as humble as it was, it was still the arrival of the King of Kings. Witness: the shining testimony of nature, the supplication of kings, the worrying of an empire, the creation of great poetry, the crowning of a queen, the appearance of a bonafide angel, the devotion of the pre-born, the teaching of the wise, the joy of a party with an open bar (and a great bartender).

As Newman reminds us, it didn’t last. But for awhile anyway creation got to stretch a bit, and the Lord got to be a kid (which is still the best way to prepare for being an adult).