Hermitage Note: The Christmas Star

I was able to catch a glimpse of the event last night … the aligning of the two planets that created the appearance of the bright star in the western sky. My view was a bit obscured by the mostly defoliated trees that line both sides of the railroad track that runs by us.

They call this event a great conjunction. I am glad that I got to see it. The alignment is an extremely rare thing. The last great conjunction was 800 years ago. Lesser alignments happen every 20 years and are not nearly as spectacular. I will never see another great conjunction. Whether or not I am here to see the next lesser event, well, I have no idea how many grains of sand are left in the hour glass measuring the length of my life.

Was it a great conjunction of these two planets that the indicated the humble birthplace of the Infant King? I think not. The star over Bethlehem, in my mind, could have been none other than the Shekinah Glory ... much like the fire by night and cloud by day leading the Israelites ... illuminating the sky.

I cannot help but to look beyond “things” for the view that is so often missed. Something that Thomas Merton wrote comes to mind as I think about what I saw in the western sky. Merton wrote,

Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity and love. [Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation]

And I wonder.

How many falling seeds will bounce off of my still too-hard heart today?