4-Jan-2017 Dear Friend, Most of us are creatures of habit and we keep doing things by routine. Even in our faith journey we settle for the safe and the known, but God is not bound to our ways of encountering Him. Most of us travel to God by the routes mapped out by generations of faithful Christians, but we should be hesitant to condemn those who take other roads in their search for the same God. Today’s readings challenge our routine and set ways of God-encounter. Have a ‘God-of-surprises-filled’ weekend! -Fr. Jude. Sun Ref. Epiphany: ‘Manifested by the Star, as the Lord and Savior of all peoples!’ 8-Jan-2017 Isaiah 60: 1-6; Eph. 3: 2-3, 6-6; Matt. 2: 1-12;
Returning from exile the deported Jews have set out on a journey to Jerusalem, a Jerusalem lit by the multiple candles of the rebuilt temple. The prophet looks beyond Jerusalem, to a city beyond this, not to the earthly city but one that the Lord will build, to which all people are welcome to journey. This city will be the city of the kingdom of God built on faith. Already the prophet believes that all kinds of people from all over the world, from every tribe and nation are on the move towards this heavenly Jerusalem. The QuestOnce upon a time, in a far off land deep in shadow, there lived two orphans who were very unhappy living in shadow-land. One day they decided to leave their homeland and journey beyond mountains until they would come face to face with the light that makes colours. So while the rest of the country was fast asleep in their grey beds, they packed their few belongings in a knapsack and set off on their quest to discover the light and bring it back to shadow-land. – Most of the stories we remember from our own childhood are stories of quests where the hero leaves the world of the familiar and sets out for an unknown country in search of something special. Many of our great religious stories follow the same pattern. Does our faith journey lead us on such a quest?Denis McBride in ‘Seasons of the Word’ In today’s Gospel Matthew tells the classic story of the arrival of some strangers in Jerusalem. They are called ‘Magi’, variously translated as astrologers, magicians, wise men. Mathew contrasts the Magi who follow natural means - the star, against the wise men of Judea who are able to follow their own sign – the scriptures. They have enough information from their scriptures to discover where the new king will be born, but they are not ready to act upon this knowledge which has been revealed in the scriptures. By contrast the wise men from the East travelled from distant places, following a star and journeying in faith and hope. They are willing to be instructed by a scripture foreign to them and are rewarded by their discovery of the new-born king. After the Magi found the babe in the manger and offered their gifts they were ready to return home but were warned not to go back by the way they came but to return by a different way. This suggests not just a new geographical route but a new mentality. This little detail perhaps has a significance all its own. All are invited to discover God through the different journeys in faith that they undertake. But after encountering God we cannot be the same, we cannot return to our old ways. The encounter has to change us. It is impossible to encounter Christ without it affecting the way we live our lives. What’s your star sign?“How wonderfully God adapts his Christmas message to the capacity of his hearers! For the shepherd he uses a manger; for the Magi, a star; for the learned scribes, for Herod, and the wise men from the East, scriptures. The wise men symbolize for us the countless multitudes long-exiled from paradise yet retaining some lingering, undefined nostalgia for it. How many had this presentment about the King of the Jews, born under a luck star? Only the Magi undertook the journey and followed it through to the end.”The Bible Missal AdventurersWhen pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager made their historic flight in 1986 with their spindly Voyager aircraft, the whole world followed it with excitement. For nine days a sky-watch was kept tracking their first non-stop global flight without re-fueling. Achievers and risk-takers like Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager have always fascinated us. Marco Polo journeying to India and China, Christopher Columbus coming to America, Admiral Byrd going to the South Pole, our Astronauts flying to the moon: such adventurers have always aroused our admiration and our skepticism. – It was no different at the time of the Magi in today’s gospel story. To the cynical observer the Magi must have seemed foolish to go following a star. These astrologers had to be a little crazy leaving the security of their homeland to venture forth into a strange country presided by a madman like Herod. Nevertheless, to the person with the eyes of faith, the Magi had discovered an immense secret. They found not only the secret of the state, but the secret of the whole universe –the secret of God’s incredible love for his people. For the child they found was no ordinary child but the very Son of God become man.Albert Cylwicki in ‘His Word Resounds’ Star of BethlehemGordon Wilson’s daughter was killed by a bomb in Enniskillen on Remembrance Day 1987. Instead of calling for revenge, he forgave her killers and began a campaign for peace and reconciliation. He said: “I am a very ordinary sort of man. I have few personal ambitions and no political aspirations. I just want to live and let live. Life has been kind to me in the main, and I have tried to live by the Good Book. I do not profess to be a good man, but I aim to be. I would like to leave the world a better place than I found it, but I have no exaggerated ideas of my ability to do so. I have hitched my wagon to a star, a star of hope, the Star of Bethlehem.”Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies’ I have a dreamA dying king wanted to bequeath the reins of his reign to the wisest of his sons. To test them, he inquired, “what would you do if you were made king?’ The eldest bragged, “I will make our people rich!” Said the second, “I will make our people powerful!” The youngest replied, “I will plant a dream in people’s minds and hope in their hearts.” Highly pleased, the king invested his youngest son with the right to reign. On August 28, 1963, before a quarter million Afro-Americans Martin Luther King Jr. thundered, “I have a dream that former slaves and slave owners will sit together at the table of brotherhood....I have a dream that little black boys/girls will be able to join hands with little white boys/girls as sisters and brothers.... I have a dream that my four children will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.” Likewise Mahatma Gandhi envisioned “The India of my dreams.” Martin Luther King and Gandhi left their footprints indelibly on the sands of human history.Francis Gonsalves in ‘Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds’ We three kings...For the Magi, at the end of their journey, it was to engage the sacred, to look into the face of Christ and falling down, to offer him their gifts and worship him. It is the same for us: to offer our gifts and talents and minister to Jesus –which, in fact, we do whenever we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and clothe the freezing because when we do these things for the very least of humanity, we are doing them for Jesus himself. It’s all there in today’s gospel. That’s why the story of the Magi resonates so well with us. Deep in our subconscious, you see, we recognize ourselves; we are the Magi still en route. That recognition forces us to examine where we are right now on our spiritual journey, what risks we have taken for the sake of the kingdom of God, or even, perhaps how our quest for God has been replaced by false idols or sidetracked by modern day Herods. We are made to pause in our life journey and ask: is it possible that we have gained the whole world at the expense of our own souls? If so we pray:O star of wonder, star of nightStar with royal beauty bright,Westward leading, still proceeding,Guide us to thy perfect light.William J. Bausch in ’40 more Seasonal Homilies’ We are all the hiding-place of God. May our every action reveal Him! Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections.These reflections are also available on my Web site www.NetForLife.net Thank you.
