Homily for week of January 2, 2011

EPIPHANY, 1/2/11 (little Christmas)

Isaiah 60: 1-6, Ephesians 3: 2-3, 5-6,Matthew 2: 1-12

Many people will say that HOPE is a hard to find today. Many ask where God can be found in so much of the world’s suffering and struggle. There are many times when failure, pain and destruction can seem overwhelming. In recent years, darkness, violence and fear seem to have won the upper hand in our world. The temptation to despair or give up can be all too easy.

From the beginning of time or history men and women have been travellers and walkers on the earth. For as far back as we can determine we have had the desire to go to another place, whether for food, for protection, for a home, for adventure, for shopping, or just to find out what lies beyond the next hill. We seem to be explorers by nature. We have a vision that we want to make real and a hope that we want to fulfil.

Think, for instance, of some of the classic travellers of our own times: like Lewis and Clark making their way across the vast wilderness of the United States reaching the Pacific Ocean. Lewis and Clark began near St. Louis, Missouri, in May 1804 and returned there in September 1806. They travelled a total of about 8,000 miles across the Rocky Mountains, and down the Columbia and other rivers to the Pacific coast. They were brave and hopeful explorers. They were pioneers from the Midwest in hopes of finding a better life.

Or 160 years ago the Irish coming across the ocean to settle in what is now Cadyville and built this Church with their own hands. Think even of the astronauts of our own day, risking their lives in order to put a foot mark in the dust of the moon or Mars. All these people were visionaries. They had no idea whether they would ever reach their destination, but they were willing to travel in order to find out whether their hopes could be satisfied. In a sense, we might say that they were following the light of a star. That seems to be one common element of human life on this earth: We are not always happy where we are and we imagine that there is something which will fulfil our dreams by moving on to somewhere else.

So, we come to this festival of the Christmas cycle that we call by Epiphany or Little Christmas. It contains within its story something of what we have just been describing. It is a story of some individuals whom we call Magi, saw a star and heard someone was born in a far-off country whom they imagined would straighten out the world. They were determined to get on the road, to travel, to go find this person and show him reverence and respect. While we do not know how many Magi there were, there were at least three since they gave three gifts to Jesus. The magi were a type of astrologer. More than mere interpreters of the stars though, they were astronomers, highly educated and learned men who were also mystics.

The magi are important, but the gifts they presented are more important for teaching us about Jesus: Gold was a gift for a king, so Jesus is a king. Frankincense was a gift given a priest for offering prayers, so Jesus is also a priest. And myrrh was used to anoint the dead. King. Priest. Death. Just who is Jesus?

As far as we can tell the Magi story is exactly that: It is a story, but as with all stories, there is buried within it some lessons about God and our relationship with God. What did the early disciples of Jesus have in mind when they told the story?

The Magi are surely symbols of ourselves. They were clearly seeking after something. And their persistence led them to find just what they were seeking. They could have done nothing about their great longing. They could have tried to just ignore this painful desire. But instead they set-out on their journey. It was to be a journey full of uncertainty and danger. Finally, they found the Lord. God’s plan always has the unexpected/

Our journey towards God is a very difficult. For many of us it is not on a well paved road. It has detours, bumps, holes, low shoulders. It is a road that is often filled with garbage and left overs. Sometimes it takes a person many years to even find the right road. There is a saying that says: IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING ANY ROAD WILL TAKE YOU THERE. Why would we want to find God or Jesus if we have never heard of God or Jesus?

Because God has written on our heart a desire to see him and to know him. There is a built in longing for God. There is a built in longing for love and for happiness. That desire is there even when we ignore it. In each one of us here is a thirst for God and for happiness. So often we try to satisfy that thirst for happiness and love by loading ourselves with possessions and clutter. It is not that possessions are bad. The problem is that they are not good enough to give us love and happiness.

Silence and prayer are two sure paths for finding God within. There can never be an excuse for not making the journey within ourselves. A certain place to always find God without ourselves is in the poor and in the weak -- an elderly parent, a sick friend, a depressed neighbor. Our own weakness, is the very place where God can most powerfully enter our lives.

Like the Magi, our road to God is or change and a willingness to strike out into unknown territory. The star of Bethlehem is the light that will light up the road for us and guide us home.