The Epiphany of the Lord (A); January 5, 2020

Is 60:1-6   Ps 72   Eph 3:2-3   Mt 2:1-12

Deacon Jim McFadden

 

         “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we have observed his star in the East, and have come to worship him”

(Mt 2:2) These men, traditionally described as a threesome, left East Asia, some say Persia, to follow a Star, whose light would shine into their hearts and radically change them and us. What was it about that Star that made them set out?

One of the early Church Fathers, St. John Chrysostom (died 407 AD) noted that “the Magi did not set out because they had seen the Star, but they saw the star because they had already set out.” Their hearts were already open to new horizons that they were willing to leave their comfort and security systems. They believed the heavens were offering new possibilities because they were being guided by an inner restlessness. They were open to something new.

Twenty years ago Fr. Ronald Rolheiser (OMI) described this “inner restlessness” as The Holy Longing, which is the search for a Christian spirituality. If I may quote Rolheiser, he writes that we have an “unquenchable fire, a restlessness, a longing, a disquiet, a hunger, a loneliness, …an all-embracing ache that lies at the center of human experience and is the ultimate force that drives everything else” (The Holy Longing, p. 4). He notes that “Spirituality is, ultimately, about what we do with that desire.” Such a belief was first noted by St. Augustine, who wrote in his Confessions that “You have made us for your yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you” (Chapter One, p. 1).

The Magi, I believe, personify this holy longing; they represent those who long for God, who yearn for their ultimate home. They represent those who have not let their hearts be anesthetized by the lures of the world, which promise an illusory happiness.

The Gospel addresses the holy longing for God because it is not about the past but is written in the present tense. Hence, a holy longing for God helps us be alert to the seductions of the False Kingdom that promotes the lie that happiness can be acquired through the goods of the world. This longing is kept alive in the People of God, who gather Sunday after Sunday to plead in the last words of the Bible, ‘Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev 22:20).

Believers who feel this longing are lead by Faith to seek God, as the Magi did, for they know that the Lord is beckoning them, that as they follow the Star, the Lord awaits them. So, they go beyond their secure precincts and silos to the peripheries, to the frontiers, to places that have not been effectively evangelized, to encounter their Lord.

The attitude of the Magi was so different from attitude that was dominant in King Herod’s palace, where no one realized what was taking place in their midst. As the Magi made their way to the obscure suburb of Bethlehem, Jerusalem slept. It slept in collusion with a Herod who, rather than seeking the source of true Happiness, preferred to slumber. They slept, deadening their hunger, cauterizing their conscience. Herod is bewildered; he is afraid. Faced with the newness of a new ruler who would turn the world upside down, he closed in upon himself, relying on his wealth, status, achievements, and power as King of Judea. Herod’s bewilderment lead him to control everything and everyone. He tried to manipulate the Magi to learn the exact time and place of the birth of this new King. There can be only one sovereign and Herod wanted to win at any cost. In his culture, as ours, there is only room for “winners”, and Herod would take extreme action to be on the winning side. Herod’s bewilderment was born of fear and foreboding to anything that would challenge his egoic, narcissistic, self-referential way of life. Rather than be attuned to his holy longing, Herod became afraid, and that fear led him to seek security in doing a horrible crime. As another 5^th century church Father St. Quodvultdeus observed, “You kill the little ones in their bodies, because fear is killing you in your heart” (Sermon 2 on the Creed: PL 40, 655).

Brothers and sisters, whom do we follow? Do we join the Magi or do we align ourselves with the Herods of the world? Do we dwell within the shadow of a dark Empire. Are we asleep being oblivious to our holy longing? Do we believe that like Herod we can create our own happiness through the false idols that never deliver what they promise?

Or, do we say along with the Magi that the Star leads us to the Christ Child, Who is the One, who has made known that God is close to us, that God has become one of us so that we be one with God. God expresses the greatness of his power not according to fear and domination, but by satisfying our holy longing through a helpless Baby whose strength is only the love that he now entrusts to us. Our calling, along with the Magi, is to share that Love with others.

Brothers and sisters, our holy longing is realized in the Christ Child. There is no Plan B. Just as the Magi, we know have a radical choice to make. Do we manifest the Christ who is dwelling among us, animating our values, choices, and behavior? Are we sharing the Good News of Bethlehem? Are we prostrating ourselves to the Christ Child, who is the real source of our identity, who is the center of our being, who becomes our life, and who is our ultimate ruler. The holy longing for God is realized in Jesus. Amen.