Today's Epiphany

Epiphany is such a beautiful expression in Christian life. In the ancient Church, it is marked by the baptism of Jesus Christ our Lord when he was baptized by John the Baptist by immersion in the water of the Jordan river - The Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove on the Son of God and a voice was heard from heaven "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased" (Luke 3: 21-22). In the ancient Church, receiving the Sacrament of Baptism of a Christian was the first event in his new life. In baptism the baptized person receives the Divine Christ who resurrected from the dead and is cleansed from their sins. He would first face West and renounce the Devil and his works of darkness, then face East symbolizing that a new day has dawned on him/her. The Bishop would proceed to baptize the person by immersing him/her in water three times. The person to be baptized would have to answer a question from the Creed every time before the immersion: Do you believe in God the Father Almighty?  Answer: I do - Do you believe in Jesus Christ his only Son? Answer: I do - Do you believe in the Holy Spirit and the holy catholic Church? Answer: I do (Source: https://formed.org/study/ from Augustine Institute - presented by Dr. Edward Sri; with special thanks to Msgr. Robert Nusca, Pastor of Holy Rosary parish in Toronto and his team for providing the access code). This experience of the Sacrament of Baptism is the same in the Churches of the East. Some ancient Christian Churches such as the Coptic and Armenian Churches still celebrate Christmas on January 6 - Now January 7 due to the difference between the Julian calendar and the Gregorian calendar.
In the Roman Catholic Church, Epiphany is celebrated on January 6, but refers to the event of the Magi arrival to worship the newborn king of the Jews as the stars guided them (Matthew 2: 1-12). The Magi were astronomers in the first century BC (i.e. Before Christ) who followed the movement of stars and planets and interpreted them according to their beliefs. "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and came to do him homage" they asked as they arrived in Jerusalem. As Herod the King boiled at the idea that there is the probability of another king just born, he sought the advice of the chief priests as to where the Prophets indicated where the King of the Jews, son of David, will be born. They told him "in Bethlehem of Judea" (Matthew 2: 5). He then asked the Magi to go worship the new king and come back to tell him so that he can go and do him homage too. The Magi found Jesus in the manger with his mother and presented him their gifts. In a vision they were told to ignore Herod and go directly back to their land in Persia. They were probably the first to evangelize their world about Christ! The theological School of Nisbis was founded by the Christian community near Persia in the 3rd century. It was influential in Mesopotamia and the East (Cf. John Meyndorff; Imperial unity and Christian divisions; 1989) - Correction may be required as to dates, but the idea is highly significant.
In his homily on Epiphany, the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad spoke of Jerusalem where the Magi first went. He made the clear view that the Council of Jerusalem opened the nascent Church to the nations not requiring them to become Jews first before they are baptized in Christ. According to him this was Catholicity or the Universal Church - a concept introduced by the first Jesuits in China when they accommodated the liturgy to the diverse cultures of the Chinese people. It is the same universality that Vatican II in the 1960s also called for. His homily is found in French here.

How does this square in with modern science and the findings of the Big Bang? There are many good answers for Christians today; notably Joseph Ratzinger's "An Introduction to Christianity" (Revised Edition, 2004). In it Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI shows that the Church accepts quantum mechanics based on Schrodinger's particle-wave superposition. He interprets the experiment as the subjective experience of the scientist's mind (created by the of Super-mind of God - Read me here). I wrote about the "Quantum Universe" here. In Quanta Magazine, a recent article published in December 2018 shows how a new experiment conducted in Paris demonstrated that quantum communication is superior to classical ways of transmitting information (read it here). An article published on January 4, 2019 in LiveScience further makes the claim that combines the gravitational fields found by Einstein with Quantum fields (see it here). The most intriguing lecture given by Professor Tong at Cambridge in 2017 (here) was a step to another event conducted by Dr.Brian Greene at the World Science Festival in February 2018 (here). Another fascinating talk about Quantum Physics and Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity was given by Dr. Philip Ball at Cambridge in September 2018 (see it here). There is yet a more recent article written here by Dr. Robert Kurland on January 3, 2019  in the Catholic Magis Center (https://www.magiscenter.com) where he questions whether Quantum Mechanics speaks to Catholic teaching. His opinion may be pessimistic. Read carefully The Nobel-Laureate Feynman Lectures on Quantum Physics here and Nanotechnology here. At CERN, a recent report published on December 19, 2018 here shows that new projects are underway and are designed to provide answers to the host of unresolved questions relating to matter and the universe, such as the nature of dark matter, which makes up most of the universe, and the mysterious imbalance between matter and antimatter.
It is a fact that discoveries in modern science became possible through much thought that goes back to the philosophical inquiries by St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Albert the Great who brought out the so called "Philosophy of Nature" of Aristotle. Professor John Haldane commented with other scholars on the impact of St. Thomas Aquinas that continues to be taught in universities - Listen to BBC program here.
It is fair to say that St. John of Damascus, an Eastern theologian, who lived in Syria and spoke Arabic before becoming a monk in Palestine has influenced Medieval Western Christianity by his theological writings in Greek and was called "The first Scholastic" (Cf. The Catholic Encyclopedia here)