We contemplate the Bible as God s revelation to us. We reckon that it means something, that it s telling us something we need to know. And so we look at it intently. The Magi needed all their astrological scrolls, and all their conversations with older astrologers, to certify to them that the heavens were worth scanning and to suggest what such a Star as this might signify. They needed their astrological tradition.
Tradition focuses and informs our attention to Scripture.
The Christian communities in the second century Mediterranean world recognized the biblical canon on the basis of the apostolic tradition which they had received. And they acknowledged the bishops in apostolic succession to be the authorized interpreters of Scripture through the lens of these creeds. In similar fashion, Tradition continues to focus our attention on Scripture today, and to help us grasp its meaning. Their eyes received the light of the star, and in the complex way in which vision operates, their eyes transmitted representations to their minds of that object in the heavens. The Magi s eyes stand for Reason, the human receptor and processor of the data to which Tradition guides our attention.