December
23

“When They Saw the Star”

And when they had heard the king they departed; and lo, the star which they saw in the east went before them, till it came and stood over where the little Child was. And having seen the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. (Matthew 2:9‒10)

The Divine is not in any affection of glory, for what glory has the Divine from man? But He wills humiliation and submission, not for His own, but for man’s sake. For when man is in humiliation he feels aversion for the evil and falsity in him (n. 2327, 2423, 3994), and thus removes them, and on their removal the Divine can flow in with good and truth. … This is the genuine reason for man’s humiliation before the Divine. (Arcana Coelestia 4348.2)

So far as man detests elation of mind, so far humility before God [enters in]. (Apocalypse Explained 803.2)

Through Temptations the concupiscences which are of the loves of self and of the world are subdued, and the man becomes humble. Thus he is rendered fit to receive the life of heaven from the Lord, which life is the new life, such as belongs to the regenerated man. (Arcana Coelestia 8966)

A “star” signifies the knowledges of internal good and truth, which are from the Lord … in the highest sense [it signifies] the knowledge respecting the Lord. (Arcana Coelestia 9293.3, Apocalypse Explained 422.20)

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