Wise men: not just a nice Christmas Story

Mt 2:1-12

When I was five years old I got to play one of the wise men in our Church’s nativity play. You can probably guess my costume. I wore a bathrobe and a towel tied around my head. In my hands I held a box covered in gold wrapping paper.  Today, on the feast of the Epiphany, we should take a closer look at the wise men. The wise men are not just some nice story that we tell at Christmas or extra characters in a manger scene. In fact, the story of the wise men that we find in today’s Gospel actually presents a model – or paradigm – for our lives as Christians. Their story is our story. Let’s walk through their journey and see how it relates to our own. We will, of course, start at the beginning. How did these men come from a faraway place to meet Jesus?

The Star

The wise men were attracted to Jesus by the light of a star. It is very unexpected that the wise men – who were pagans and not part of the people of Israel – would be among the first to meet Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews. This shows that being led to Jesus was God’s pure gift. God wants each and every human being to come to know His Son. In His goodness God has led us to Jesus. What is the star that led you to Christ? How did you come to believe in Jesus? How did you end up being a Catholic? Though we might all answer this question differently, I bet that nobody here received a phone call from Jesus telling us to follow Him and go to Church. Isn't it the case that we are led to Jesus by some intermediary? Usually we are drawn to the beauty and goodness of Jesus through some person or event. For the wise men it was the star. God put people in my life who led me to Jesus: my family, teachers and friends at University. He also had me live through different experiences, some happy and some difficult. I can see that even something as simple as a book that I read at the just the right time helped lead me to Jesus. What are the “stars” in your own life? Give thanks for these people and experiences. They are a free gift which God put in our lives to lead us closer to Jesus.

Detour with Herod

On their journey to Jesus, the wise men got side-tracked along the way and found themselves in the company of Herod. The very same thing can happen to us as we try to follow Jesus: we take detours and get off-track. This can happen without us even being aware of it or making a conscious choice. Perhaps we become too busy with school or work and slowly drift away from Jesus by no longer taking the time to be with Him in prayer and at Mass. Or maybe some crisis in our life, such as an illness or death in the family, can cause us to become discouraged or lose faith for a time. We see this even in the lives of some of the saints. Take, for example, St. Ignatius of Loyola who was born in Spain in the year 1491. Though he was raised as a Catholic, as a young man Ignatius took a serious detour from the path of following Jesus. He was a soldier who was very concerned with gaining honor in battle, keeping up with the latest fashions and chasing women. Ignatius was arrogant and addicted to gambling. On one occasion he was arrested for beating up a rival. Ignatius did eventually get back on the path to following Christ. Though perhaps not as dramatic as St. Ignatius, in different ways we too can get sidetracked as we follow Jesus. The important thing is that when we notice our mistake we repent and get back on the right path.

They meet Jesus and give Him gifts

After their detour with Herod, the wise men finally were able meet the baby Jesus.  When they met Christ, the wise men did something very significant: they laid their gifts at His feet. We are called to do the same. In different ways, we have all met Christ and have caught a glimpse of His goodness, beauty and love. After we meet Jesus the only proper response is to lay our gifts at His feet. We give Him the gift of our time, to spend in prayer, and the gift of our love and devotion. We also lay at His feet our talents so that He can use us to serve others.  St. Ignatius met Jesus in a striking way, literally. One day while he was defending a fortress, a cannonball struck his leg, badly breaking it. While he was recovering, St. Ignatius asked that books be brought to him. To his dismay, the only available ones were a book on the Life of Christ and one on the lives of the Saints. While reading these books, St. Ignatius met Christ and was drawn to the beauty of a life spent serving Him. He decided to put his whole being at the service of Jesus. Years later he wrote a prayer, called the Suscipe, which expresses well the sentiments in his heart and those of the wise men as well:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,

my memory, my understanding,

and my entire will,

All I have and call my own.

You have given all to me.

To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; do with it what you will.

Give me only your love and your grace,

that is enough for me.

Like St. Ignatius and the wise men, after we meet Christ we are called to lay our gifts at His feet.

St. Ignatius

They take a different path

After they have met Jesus given Him their gifts, we are told that the wise men went home by a different path. Encountering Jesus should never leave us unchanged. After meeting Christ during his recover, St. Ignatius took a radically different path. He thought to himself, “what if I were to live like these saints I keep reading about?” Ignatius became to devout his life to prayer. In time he became a priest, serving countless people, especially the very poor in Rome. Eventually he started a large religious community called the Society or Jesus, or the Jesuits, of which our current Holy Father, Pope Francis, is a member. From time to time it is helpful to ask ourselves, “in what way has my life changed as I follow Jesus?” In what ways am I trying to live more like Jesus and be of service to others? Like the wise men, meeting Christ should encourage us to take different paths.

When I was five, I dressed up as a wise men for an afternoon. Today let us remember that we are called to imitate the journey of the wise men our entire life. Where are you on this journey? Are you currently following a star to meet Jesus? Are you on a detour? Are you laying your gifts at the feet of Jesus? Are you allowing Him to take you on a new path? This journey is one that we can go through time and time again during our life. Wherever we may find ourselves, let us try to recommit ourselves to following Jesus. Let us pray that we might have the same desire that burned inside the hearts of the wise-men: a desire to always seek Jesus, to lay our gifts at His feet and to follow Him wherever He might lead.

Mary be a Mother to me now

LK 2:16-21

Did you make any New Year’s resolutions this year? For those who made resolutions, how many of you made a resolution regarding your physical health? Each New Year, many of us resolve to get in shape, go to the gym or lose weight. We are used to making resolutions to improve our physical health. Perhaps this year we should consider making a resolution to improve our spiritual health.  On this the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, I suggest that we resolve to improve the relationship we have with Mary.

Jmvkrecords

Often people have difficulty with the idea that as followers of Jesus we are called to have a special relationship with Mary. Perhaps some of you have had to answer questions like this before, “why do Catholics worship Mary?”, “why pray to Mary when you can go directly to Jesus?”  When it comes to Our Lady, people encounter difficulties in two areas:

1. Catholic beliefs about Mary, such as the Immaculate Conception and Marian titles such as the one we celebrate today, Mary, Mother of God. Some people have difficulties calling Mary this.
2. Catholic devotion to Our Lady. There are those who struggle to see why we should have a special relationship with Mary and why we would pray to her.

These are important concerns that are well-worth addressing. Many non-Catholic Christians and even some Catholics are a little uncomfortable with the way Catholics view Mary.

For this reason, it is important to remind ourselves and others that Mary has no other mission than to lead us closer to Jesus. At Christmas we are reminded of this every time we look at the Nativity scene. There we see Mary presenting her Son to the world. Mary gave birth to Jesus some 2000 ago, bringing Him into the world. As Catholics, we do not believe that her mission ended there, however. Still today, she has a critical role in bringing Jesus more and more into our hearts. There is a very simple test for us to know whether our devotion to Mary is good and true. If our devotion to Mary is a true one, then we will find that over time we are led to a deeper relationship with Jesus.  Throughout history there have been many reported apparitions of Mary, such as in Fatima, Lourdes and Mexico City. At each of these approved apparition sites, Mary’s mission has always been to encourage people to better know and follow her Son Jesus. She is never the center of attention. She is not trying to be a replacement for Jesus. As Catholics we do not worship Our Lady.  Mary’s mission has always been to leads us closer to Jesus.

More than this, when Catholics profess certain beliefs about Mary or give her particular titles in order to defend what we believe about Jesus. This is the case for the Marian title that we celebrate today, Mary, Mother of God. This title for Mary is very ancient. Try to imagine that the year is 431 and you are in Ephesus, which is in modern day Turkey. About 250 bishops have gathered to resolve a very important dispute that strikes to the core of belief about who Jesus is. The leader of one camp is Cyril of Alexandria. He is arguing that Jesus Christ is true God and true Man and that these two natures of Jesus are united in one person. In other words, the baby that Mary gave birth to is true God and true Man. Because of this, it is right and proper to call Mary by the title “Theotokos”, which means, “Mother of God”. Nestorius, on the other hand, does not feel that Mary can be given this title.  Maybe she could be called “Mother of Christ” but not Mother of God. Though Nestorius would say that Jesus was true God and true Man, he would emphasize more the disunity between these two natures of Jesus, rather than the unity. In the end, the Bishops sided with Cyril. The Council of Ephesus in 431 declared solemnly that Mary was indeed Theotokos, Mother of God. Giving Mary this title is a clear way of saying that Jesus is at all times true God and true Man and that these two natures are united. Therefore, giving Mary the title of Mother of God is actually a way of defending what we believe about Jesus.

  

"Am I not here, I who am your mother?" (Jolivaresb)

On a personal level, Mary is one of the greatest gifts that Jesus gave to His followers because in Mary He has given us a Mother.  Perhaps some of you have been to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. The Basilica was built close to the site where Mary appeared to a poor indigenous man named Juan Diego in the year 1531. Above the main entrance to the Basilica is a very visible phrase, written in large letters for all to see: ¿No estoy aquí que soy tu Madre?, “Am I not here, I who am your Mother”. These words are part of a famous conversation that Our Lady had one day with Juan Diego. Mary had already appeared to Juan Diego and had made arrangements to meet him again. Before the meeting, however, his uncle, Juan Bernardino, fell ill.  Juan Diego was anxious to care for his uncle, so he made the decision to skip his appointment with Mary avoided the spot where they were to meet. Not surprisingly, Mary found him anyway. When she caught up with him, she asked him why he was so worried. After all, she said “am I not here, I who am your Mother”. These words are put at the front of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe to remind each one of us that Mary is our mother. She is always near us. She always cares for us. We should feel confident going to her whenever we need help. When Jesus was giving us Mary to be our mother, He gave us the greatest of gifts.

Making resolutions at New Year’s is, I think, a good thing. It shows that we have hope for a better future and want to take steps to make this a reality. I can think of few resolutions that should give us as much hope as resolving to develop a deeper relationship with Mary this year. We can do this in different ways such as praying the rosary, reading a book about Mary or just remembering to ask Mary for help when we need it by saying something like, “Mary, mother of Jesus, be a mother to me now.” Close to 2000 years ago she gave birth to Jesus, true God and true Man. Today give her permission to allow Jesus to become more alive in your heart. 

Can't choose your family!

SIR3:2-6, 12-14 ; COL 3:12-17 ; MT 2:13-15, 19-23

Whenever I hear these readings from today, I have flashbacks to when I was a child sitting in the pews during the feast of Holy Family. When the readings said that children should honor, respect and obey their parents, my dad would elbow me a little bit and my mom would lean over and say “now listen carefully”. When the readings spoke about how a husband and wife should behave towards each other, spouses around the Church would look at each other, perhaps each thinking that the other should be paying closer attention.  Since Christmas is such a special time for families, it is very fitting that we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family right after Christmas. It gives us the opportunity to reflect on the fundamental role family plays in our life as Christians.

Family is of vital importance in helping us to fulfill our ultimate vocation. Family has a fundamental role in helping each of us become what God wants us to be. But, what is our ultimate vocation anyway? What are all people in the world called to be whether they are the Pope, a religious sister, a married person, a priest or a single individual? Blessed John Paul II explained it this way:

“God created man in his own image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26, 27): calling him to existence through love, he called him at the same time for love. God is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8) and in himself he lives a mystery of personal loving communion. Creating the human race in his own image and continually keeping it in being, God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion (Gaudium et spes, 12). Love is therefore the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being” (FC, 11).

Our ultimate vocation is to become more loving and more capable of living in community. This is something that we must learn, it will not happen automatically. Family is not just a group of people who happen to be related, whether they like it or not. Family is a school in which we learn how to be a better human being. We learn to love, to make sacrifices, to be patient, humble and to put others ahead of ourselves. Family plays a central role in helping us to fulfill our ultimate vocation.

As we all know from experience, family life poses its share of difficulties and challenges.  Though it has many joys, living in a family at times is often tough. We may think that the greatest pressures for a family come from the outside. For example, we see in the Gospel today that the Holy family was threatened by Herod and were forced to flee. Today, many families suffer similar challenges that are outside their control: war, poverty, excessive busyness due to work or school or an illness in the family. Are these the external pressures the greatest risk to a family? It would seem not. Many families pass through such difficulties and come out stronger in the end. The greatest challenges facing families often come from within. Members of a family usually have different personalities and temperaments. As the saying goes, “you can choose your friends, but you cannot choose your family”. Disagreements, arguments, misunderstandings and hurt feelings are a daily, if not hourly occurrence. Families can be torn apart when there is unwillingness to forgive, enter into meaningful conversation and put other people’s needs in front of one’s own. Family life is full of such difficulties.

It is precisely these challenges, however, that help form us to become more loving. In particular the interpersonal conflicts among members of a family can help transform them for the better. I once heard a very helpful analogy for how this work.  Family life can be compared to a “rock-tumbler”.  A rock tumbler is a small, hollow, machine that you put small stones into.  Each stone has its own jagged edges.  After the stones have been placed in the machine and your turn it on, it begins to spin.  As the machine turns over and over, the rocks tumble inside, hitting each other and grinding one against the other and the sides of the machine.  Slowly but surely, the jagged edges of the stones rub one another smooth.  After some time each stone becomes polished and beautiful.  In this analogy, we are the stones.  Just as the stones have their rough edges, each of us have our own weaknesses and idiosyncrasies, for example, impatience, pride, or laziness.  As we live together, we have confrontations and frustrate one another.  We smash into each other like the stones inside the rock-tumbler.  Overtime we begin to see that the weaknesses and idiosyncrasies of those we live with are opportunities for growth.  With God’s grace, family life can make us more patient, sympathetic towards others and capable of cooperation.  Like the stones inside the rock-tumbler, we become more polished – our weaknesses become smoothed.  Through the interpersonal struggles of community life, God is forming us to become more loving.

In order to grow, we must respond generously to the challenges that come with living in a family.  God can only form us if we cooperate generously.  In the “rock-tumbler” analogy, the stones will become polished overtime whether they want to or not.  This is not the case with us! Just because we are given opportunities to grow, doesn’t mean we make use of them. Often we pin the blame on others. We can think “if only my husband/wife/child would change then everything would be fine”. Perhaps the best thing to do, however, is to look at ourselves. How can we respond more generously to the challenges of family life? The first and second reading from today give some ways we can do this: showing honor, respect and obedience to one another. Here are three areas in which can be generous in responding to the challenges of family life:

1. Generosity with our time. Since everyone is so busy its takes a conscious choice for family members to spend time just being together in each other’s company.
2. Generosity in communication. This includes being open and honest with others about what we are feeling and going through in life as well as listening and trying to understand where other people are coming from.
3. Generosity in making compromises. We often must put the needs of others ahead of our own if a family is to work well.

In order for God to use family life as a means to transform us, He requires our generous response.

We have all probably seen those road signs that say, “caution, work in progress”. When we see this, we are meant to slow down and be patient. Perhaps, every member of a family should wear such a “work in progress” sign. Family life, together with its many challenges, is meant to transform us.  Today we can reflect on our personal situation and ask if there is one area in which we can be more generous. Perhaps we can choose to spend more time with our family, even if it means cutting back in other areas. Maybe we need to work on one particular relationship by listening more and being slower to judge. Perhaps we can be more flexible in putting the needs of others ahead of our own. Whatever it is, let us respond generously. Family life is not easy. It is however a wonderful school. Let us learn our lessons well.