We like the wisemen need to turn to the Star of the East, Mary...

Epiphany January 3rd, 2011

Today we continue our Christmas celebrations with the feast of the Epiphany, which means manifestation. We know it more commonly as the day of the visit of the three wise men to the house at Bethlehem. The word epiphany derives from a Greek word for an official state visit: the formal appearance of a king in an outlying district. The Epiphany in our sense is when the King of all kings, the King of heaven and earth made His formal appearance to the outlying district of the world and to all of its inhabitants.

The story can be rather fascinating; as we can speculate much about who exactly were the three wise men or what actual star did they see. Have you ever wondered why only the three wise men recognized the significance of the star and so followed it? No one else in the area could recognize the star, not even the ones who were supposed to be wise; nor did they follow it to find the Truth that lie beneath it. We read today that Herod and his court were thrown into confusion over the arrival of these three men with their caravans. So why did they not recognize the star and to Him whom it pointed? The scriptures are silent on this point in today’s passage. The Dead Sea scrolls incidentally contain a star-chart predicting the Savior’s birth. Some think this might contain a key to the mystery of the Magi; perhaps they were astronomers who had the same chart. Maybe so, but we can conclude for sure that the main reason why the Magi recognized the meaning of the star and Herod and his supposedly wise court did not, is because of faith; the Magi were open to it, Herod and His court were not. To see in the Christ child the divinity of God is an act of faith.

Herod and the court, as well as most, saw Jesus as a political rival; they lack faith. Herod professed to be a religious man, a Jew; however, he expected the Messiah to be manifested with great spectacle and power when He came. As a result, because he did not want to give up his kingdom and power, he tried to have Jesus killed, demonstrating of course, his lack of faith.
The wise men however did demonstrate faith. As an act of faith, they brought to the Holy Child gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh: gold- the offering to a king; frankincense- the gift given only to Divinity, and myrrh- the spice of burial. Faith alone allowed them to do this; the gifts represented them giving themselves and all they had in adoration to the God Child there before them.

If then we want to find a practical lesson today, the message and the meaning of the star is foremost. Jesus Himself said: “seek and you shall find.” God sees to it that people who really care, who are really looking for right answers with a sincere, humble and open heart will find him. For the person of good will, who really wants to know where Jesus is, where he or she can find Jesus, God will send them there own personal “ time of the star” to find Jesus through the eyes of faith, just as through faith the Magi found the star to lead them to Him. God will help anyone find Jesus, believe in Him and follow Him if they will seek with their whole heart and mind.

A Second lesson is that like the star in the heavens, God makes Himself available from every corner of the earth, from the darkest recesses even of every human soul. Which is to say that his Gospel of truth, love, forgiveness and redemption reaches out to all people everywhere who are of good will. God will provide the means for every person to reach the truth they need to be saved, and he will also provide the grace that person needs to live their lives in accord with that truth in order to attain their salvation. The person for their part however must be of good will in order to both know the truth and accept it by changing and living their lives by the help of God’s grace in accordance to the truth they have received-they will then be able to receive the peace promised by the angel to all men of good will.

A third lesson is that we who have experienced the time of the star in our own lives can help others to do so as well. So many only look for Jesus in the spectacular instead in the ordinary simple ways He manifests Himself to us. We can in a sense by our faithful witness, kindness and service help others to see the star of Christ in their own lives, to find Christ who comes to them in the simplicity of a poor manger. Our very stance as a Catholic can shout out (as today’s reading does);

In a sense this third lesson is most relevant of all today. All around us, in our neighborhoods, in the offices, factories, stores, schools, or hospitals in which we work and move, there are scores of people who, for various reasons, have never taken the time to look up to see if there is a star in the heavens for them. Our joy in Gospel living, our fidelity to Christ and to His One True Church, our service to others, the very way we speak or act, can help these people “look up.” We call this evangelization: drawing others to search for, and to experience, the light and warmth of the Star of Bethlehem.

However, I speak not only about the non-believer but about so-called believers as well; remember Herod professed to be a Jewish believer and still missed the meaning of the star. How many there are today, who while they say Jesus’ name and profess to believe in Him, nonetheless deny Him on His altar. How many Catholics have left the Church to “find” Jesus, not realizing that they had His true physical presence all the while right before them in their Catholic Churches, on her altars and in her tabernacles? They have failed to realize how close our Lord is to their lives because God presents himself to us under the insignificant appearance of a piece of bread, because he does not reveal himself in his glory, because he does not impose himself irresistibly, because he slips into our life like a shadow, instead of making his power resound at the summit of all things. How many souls are troubled by doubt because God does not show himself in the way the expected! They have looked for Him in the spectacular and in the emotionally charged, but there in the Eucharist He waits in a greater simplicity, silence and poverty than in the crib of Bethlehem. Perhaps they never knew, maybe no one told them, maybe they only think God will be only be found in vibrant and emotionally charged worship services and so miss His bodily presence in the Holy Eucharist; We can’t however assume they are not open to the truth. It is up to us to manifest to them the truth; that the God-man is still with us, along with his sacrifice offered in love for us at every Holy Mass. It is up to us to tell others that the star given to us today from our Heavenly Father is the gift of faith--faith in His Church, faith in the Eucharist only available in His Church and faith in the truths God gives us through the same Catholic Church and her teachings, which we faithfully live out in our daily lives with the help of God’s grace.

And so we if we are to lead others to the star of Christ we must first in imitation of the wisemen come in faith before the newborn king reborn on the crib of the altar of the Holy Mass. And there, just like the wisemen as well, we too in an act of faith are to bring our gifts of gold, incense, and Myrrh. In our case though, our gold is the treasures of our heart to be offered to Jesus made present to us in the Eucharist. The Incense we are to offer is the sweet fragrance of our good works, of our little acts of love done each day for the Love of God, and as our witness to others of our love for God. And what of the Myrrh? The myrrh is the very sacrifice of ourselves, our hearts, all that we have and are, offered to the Heavenly Father as an oblation of love in union with the sacrifice of His only Son made truly present by the power of the Holy Spirit before us on this and every altar where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered by one of Christ’s priests.

But the sacrifice of our gifts, of ourselves, isn’t the end. When we leave our gifts before Jesus newly born on the altar, He, never being outdone in generosity or love, repays the sacrifice of our gift with something not even the wisemen were able to experience. Jesus leaves the crib and offers us the gift of Himself in Holy Communion. And through our communion with Him, if we open our hearts in faith and allow ourselves to be changed by Him, He will possess our hearts and consume us in love. Then we can take the gift of faith out to others and lead them to Jesus by the witness of our love for Him. But he can only remain in us, if we leave all our earthly treasures behind, just as did the three wisemen, which is why they are called wise.

We like the wisemen need to turn to the Star of the East, Mary and ask her to help us lead others to Jesus who waits in with simplicity, poverty, humbleness and silence in the Eucharist. His is the antidote for all our anxieties and fears, including pain and death. He is the Bread of Angels that removes our pains, our cares, our worries; He alone brings joy and peace to our soul, he alone satisfies our whole being. Holy Mary, stella Maris, stella orientis—Holy Mary, star of the sea, star of the east pray for us, lead us safely to Jesus. Amen.