The
loving providence of God determined that in the last days he would
aid the world, set on its course to destruction. He decreed that all
nations should be saved in Christ.
A
promise had been made to the holy patriarch Abraham in regard to
these nations. He was to have a countless progeny, born not from his
body but from the seed of faith. His descendants are therefore
compared with the array of the stars. The father of all nations was
to hope not in an earthly progeny but in a progeny from above.
Let
the full number of the nations now take their place in the family of
the patriarchs. Let the children of the promise now receive the
blessing in the seed of Abraham, the blessing renounced by the
children of his flesh. In the persons of the Magi let all people
adore the Creator of the universe; let God be known, not in Judaea
only, but in the whole world, so that his name may be great in all
Israel.
--
Pope Saint Leo the Great from
an Epiphany sermon
