EPIPHANY OF THE LORD (IV)
(text
only, to print)
(Ideas taken from the homily of Pope Benedict XVI, pronounced in the vigil
prayer of the World Youth Day, on
Today we celebrate the memory of three wise men, the names of which we do not
know; but the Christian tradition (in Spain) calls them the kings,
Melcior, Gaspar and
Beltsasar.
Among the people who have brought joy to the world, the magi (or the kings) are
among the main ones, bringing joy to children and to adults. Let us also
celebrate the Holy Mass of this feast with joy.
The gospel has explained to us that
when
Jesus was born in
We do not know where they came from. Some say from
Persia. It seems that they came from a far away land.
They had come because they had seen a star that had indicated to them that the King
of the Jews had been born.
We can easily imagine the commentaries of those who stayed behind at home,
saying that they were dreamers. But in
fact they were very realistic people, with their feet on the ground, and thus thought
that they would find the child in a palace. For this reason they
went to the
palace of king
Herod, looking for the King of the Jews.
They would be amazed, on arriving to
They did what was normal: they went to see
Herod and asked him where the King of the Jews had been born.
God used an evil, sensual and bloodthirsty man to indicate to them where they would
find the child.
The
evangelist
tells us that king
Herodes said:
Go
and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word,
that I too may go and do him homage
(Mt
2:8).
God uses men, who sometimes are evil men, to make his will known.
Herod
tells them to go to
They undertook the way to
The star stopped above the house where Jesus, Mary and Joseph were (they were no longer in a stable),
and
on entering
the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves
and did him homage
(Mt
Their journey had finished. They had reached their goal. But at this moment, a new
inner journey began for them that would change their whole life and their way
of thinking. They had imagined a very different king from the one they had
found.
They knew that the world was disordered and they were anxious because of
this. Surely they had heard about the great prophets of
They had undertaken their journey with this conviction. In fact, they looked
for the justice and the peace that had to come from God, and wanted to see this
King, and to prostrate themselves at his feet and thus, them too, serve in the
renovation as the world.
But most likely the Magi had to change their concept of the king Jesus and
change themselves. Now they had seen that the power of God was different from
the power of the great ones of the world. The way God has of doing things is
different from what we imagine, and we would like to impose it on God Himself.
God does not compete with the power of this world and its kings. God
does not have armies. The power of God is love. Loving is how God acts,
opposing injustice, thus installing the
The Magi do homage to Jesus and this has a sense of reverence and service. They
offer to him gold, incense and myrrh; gifts they offer to Jesus as God and man.
With their gifts they wanted to recognize that that child was their King. They
also sought to express that they were putting themselves at his service with
their own power and possibilities, following his way of love and justice.
The Magi learn that the way of love and justice cannot be imposed by human
laws. They understand that they have to sacrifice and give
themselves, as Jesus did by dying on a cross. They learn that their life has to
comply to the way God exerts his power. They understand
that they must become men of truth, righteousness, pardon, goodness and mercy.
Leaving
Application to our Christian life
The Magi are the first to follow the star and to set out on a journey to
go and adore Jesus. After them, there is an almost infinite list of men and
women who, following the star of their Christian vocation, in the search for
Jesus, have found, as the Magi did, the baby Jesus in the arms of Mary.
Among them, the canonized saints stand out, as well as many others whom we do
not know, and whose attitudes, actions and lives, reveal the
richness of the Gospel, especially
the message of love given by Jesus at the Last Supper. They are like a great
illustrated book of the
richness of the Gospel.
They are like landmarks indicating to us the way that leads to
The true revolution
Those of us who are old, have seen true revolutions, the program or which was entirely
based on human power,
without mentioning
God, as was the case with Fascism and Communism. Ideologies
alone, do not save the world if they don’t include the faith in the Creator,
who is the guarantee for our freedom and for that which is really good for the
person and society.
The Magi found the authentic Jesus, not
like some people who want to follow a Jesus shaped in their own way, and not the
Jesus the Gospel shows, and our mother Church, in spite of her deficiencies,
teaches us to follow.
Jesus is the living water flowing from the fountain of God’s heart
Allow me, before finishing, to make a comparison.
Jesus is the living water flowing from the fountain bringing to us eternal life,
and the Church is the
pipe or channel by which this water arrives to us. The water
pipe can be better or worst and have its escapes, but thanks to the
pipe
we have been able to wash our face this morning, if we have done so. Thanks to
the Church, with its defects, we know Jesus to adore Him and to love Him.
Pope John Paul II has shown the true face of the Church in the great number of saints
he has beatified and
canonized:
Maximilian
Kolbe,
Edith
Stein, Mother Teresa of
Calcuta,
Father
Pio, etc. He has also asked for
forgiveness for all the evils committed throughout history, by word or deed,
by the members of the Catholic Church.
May the Kings take us to
May you have a good day of the Epiphany.