"Where is the King of the Jews who has been born? For we have seen his star rise, and have come to worship him." The wise men did not have much to rely on: an unexpected star and perhaps some knowledge of Jewish prophecies that had reached them in their distant land.
Those who were physically closer, the wise men of Jerusalem, showed no inclination to follow the star. How often we are embarrassed by converts and people who, having had much less contact with the Catholic faith and life than we do, once they discover it, value it much more than we do.
How harmful, how stultifying it is to be a mere cultural Catholic, to have everything at hand and to make so little use of it. It is often necessary for people to come from far away - culturally, spiritually and even morally - and at great cost to expose us for our neglect of the treasure that is so accessible to us.
Too easily we get used to the stars that God sends us and we stop seeing them. Gathering every Sunday as a Christian community to relive Christ's sacrifice on the Cross and receive his Body is a star. It is a luminous point of faith. It is light, if we were prepared to see it.
God places people around us - a spouse, a good friend, a priest - to be stars for us. A challenge to step out of our comfort zone, to undertake a new initiative in the service of God and souls, is a star for us. When St. Teresa of Calcutta saw a man in a desperate situation in a ditch and helped him, it led her to dedicate her life to the poorest of the poor. That man was a star for her.
The voice of our conscience that calls us to live a higher standard of living than the average around us is also a star. It calls us precisely not to conform, not to simply do what others do. It was that spirit of conformity that led the wise men of Jerusalem, and perhaps even some people in the land of the Magi, to stay behind and not follow the star. But it was that refusal to conform, to heed the voices that told them they were exaggerating or called them crazy for undertaking such a wild journey, that led the Magi to the encounter with the Christ Child: "When they saw the star, they were filled with immense joy. They went into the house, saw the child with Mary, his mother, and fell on their knees and worshiped him."
Homily on the readings of the Epiphany of the Lord (C)
Priest Luis Herrera Campo offers his nanomiliaA short one-minute reflection for these Sunday readings.
