January begins with Epiphany – the showing of the Christ Child to the wise men who had followed the star to Bethlehem (the “House of Bread”). Whether they were kings or astrologers, following a new star or comet interpreting a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, they represent the gentiles who would receive the Word, and the Wise of every age who persevere in the search for truth even in unlikely places. The astronomers who scan the skies today see many wonders, but nothing more wonderful than a human child who is also one of the three divine persons. Are there other intelligent races out there in space? Might some of them be unfallen, as C.S. Lewis speculated? Is Christ for them too, or do they have their own incarnations of the Word? (St Thomas Aquinas did not seem to rule it out.) We know only that we live, and that we are called to search out the truth, and that truth is revealed in love.