GOSPEL MEDITATION - ENCOURAGE DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF SCRIPTURE
We may walk many roads when we search for God, and He leads us all the while. The men we honor today were not Jews. The Messiah wasn’t coming for them, not in the minds of Jesus’ contemporaries. These men were astrologers. They were adept at reading portents in the sky, a practice condemned in the Mosaic covenant. Still, to the best of their knowledge and awareness, they were seeking the truth. This truth led them to journey from their own homeland to honor a king they’d never met, one they couldn’t be sure truly existed. “‘We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.’” Who do you know seeks God so tenaciously?
“Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,” the Gospel tells us. Who are the seekers in your own life? Maybe it’s your cautiously curious co-worker, the neighbor who unexpectedly found peace on a yoga retreat, or your desperately angry child who has chosen, for now, to go their own way. Perhaps they’re not overtly headed for Jesus now, not yet. But they may well be seekers of truth in ways we didn’t expect. Our invitation is to listen, inquire, and give directions when appropriate.
The magi and modern-day seekers can inspire us as well. When is the last time you sought God’s truth so tenaciously? As believers, it can perhaps be easy to become desensitized to the Christmas season and to the miraculous reality we recently celebrated. Mass may have been lovely, but so was the succulent roast beef, the crisp smell of evergreen, and the warm glow of family. Consider asking yourself, “God, do I know you as well as I should? Would I journey as far as the magi to meet You, if I could? Do I journey to meet You daily in prayer? What do those answer say about me, and about our relationship?” Perhaps we, like the magi, can once again be “overjoyed” at seeing the Light of the World.