The Wonder of Our Universe

The ‘wise men’ are also known as magi, from the Greek word magos, which can be translated as astronomer, sorcerer or visionary. The term magi referred to a group of Persian or Babylonian priests who studied the stars and planets to discern the meaning behind cosmic events. In recent years, many theories have been posited to account for the phenomenon of the star the magi followed to Bethlehem, from Halley’s Comet (which was visible around 12 BC), to a new star, to an alignment between Jupiter and Saturn. Scientists are learning more about the universe all the time, about stars and planets and galaxies. If we were to hold up the smallest coin to a section of the night sky, the area it covers could contain the light from millions upon millions of stars, many of them no longer in existence. In 2003–4, the Hubble Telescope, which is in orbit around the Earth, took a picture of such a piece of sky. The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field is an image of a small region of space in the constellation Fornax, containing an estimated 10,000 galaxies, each one containing 100,000 million stars like our sun. The vastness of our universe can be just too much for us to take in.

We believe in a God who brought everything into being, from the moment of creation when our universe began. For the magi, the wondrous light in the sky led them to the light of the world, the hope of humankind. That is something to celebrate.

Tríona Doherty and Jane Mellett, The Deep End: A Journey with the Sunday Gospels in the Year of Mark