Kenny Rogers, an American musician once said, “if you want to see the wonders of age, follow the evening star”. I’m sure his statement must have been inspired by the story of the star which we just heard in the Gospel. Today we celebrate the revelation of God in his Son, Jesus Christ, the Epiphany or Theophany in some traditions. About the self-revelation of God, the prophet Isaiah testified, Matthew gave witness to it and Paul confessed about it. In his vision, Isaiah sees kings walking by the shining radiance of Israel, and Matthew records three kings following a star. The prophet again sees the wealth of the nations being brought to Israel, and behold Matthew reports of the Magi coming forth with gifts, including gold, to which the quantity is not known, but who dare travels thousands of miles in search of a king only to give a few grams, certainly it must have been a few kilos. However, this is just evidence of God’s fidelity, that God is faithful to His promise, what He promises he delivers.
What
is key to this celebration is God's interest to live among human beings and
revealing himself to them. Not only to Israel, but to the whole human race, as
Paul testifies that ‘the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same
body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel’ (Eph 3:6).
We are likely to fall into the temptation of thinking that the Gentiles were a
special group of pagans. The term is inclusive of us. We ourselves are a part
fulfilment of this prophecy. It is among the Israelites that God chose to
reveal himself, and it is through their history that we have become partakers
of this mystery. The Church of today is what it is through the fulfilment of
this prophecy in part; and the Church of the future will be what it shall
become through its fulfilment in completeness.
So, God’s self-revelation is God’s own invitation to humanity, that we
may know him, love him, serve him, and in the end become one with him, as the
Catechism teaches (CCC 358). This we can only achieve by an untiring and
constant strive for holiness, by a personal transformative project subtended by
pull factors not push factors. Spiritual matters are highly personal. What we
need is God’s grace in seeing and following his star, and his wisdom to
interpret the signs of time. At some point the star will not be visible and we
may end up in the care and hospitality of Herod, but what is important is to
remember that our destination lies not in Herod but in the new born King. The
avenue to the true King is only marked by his star. As our Father Founder St.
Anthony Mary Claret would say in his autobiography, “Jesus and Mary are my only
support and guide, the models I propose to follow and imitate (Aut 642).
Inspired by this statement, probably today we can say Jesus is the only star
that leads to God, that needs to be followed and imitated. Reflecting on Kenny
Rogers’ earlier statement I would say, “if you want to see the wonders of God,
follow his star.’”
George
Chidyamatondo
II
Year Theology
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