Epiphany
January 7, 2024: A Reflection for the Epiphany of the Lord
Matthew 2:1-12
We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage. Mt 2:2
They were scholars, they were respected right-hand persons to the king, they were astrologers. And most of all, they were seekers. Today we call them Magi, wise men. You might say that a deep hunger drove them. Drove them on to search into the source of this gnawing hunger to know.
To know through what they read, what they saw, what they experienced. To go deep within themselves until they touched the bottom and knew. Knew what can’t be explained but only received. To be touched by God and given the gift of themselves. To trod the path of wisdom. The path that led them on a tedious journey to follow a star.
A journey that would take them from familiar territory to walk in darkness with only the shimmering light of a star on its own journey as their companion. They travelled together, these seekers and this star. Each one following the purpose and destiny that would culminate in the discovery of a child.
The star brought its shimmering light to cover the child in its glow. The seekers brought gifts to lay at his feet. They knew. This child was the answer to their hunger. This child was Emmanuel – God with us. A God they could touch and love and be loved in return.
Suddenly all made sense. They knew their journey was just beginning. They knew they no longer had to search in the night for God. God was in each and every person. In fact, God was in all that they set their eyes upon. Their purpose and destiny was to live for this God by living for all whom God brought into their lives. They were ‘no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God’, to quote St. Paul.
The Seekers realized that all along they were being sought. Their hunger was different now. They experienced an Epiphany. They KNEW that God filled every atom of that which he created. The hunger became love and the journey now led them to follow the star which shimmered on the faces of one another and the ordinariness of their lives until they saw the face of the Child in it.