Following the star

THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD: ‘MATTHEW 2:1-12’

The episode of the three Magi has many lessons for us. The Gospel tells us that they came from the east to Jerusalem seeking the God-child because a miraculous star had appeared to them.

Some fathers of the Church explain that they must have received an inner light in order to conclude, from the apparition of the star, that here was an important event, for which it was worth making such an important trip at the cost of a lot of sacrifice.

“We...have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2). Their use of the word “worship” means that they were seeking God.

We are all God-seekers. As Saint Augustine said, “Lord our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

Only God can satisfy the human heart. And that is why, until we do not orient our life in this search for God, we shall never attain the happiness we all seek.

But at a point of time, the Magi lost the star. There may be times in a man’s search for God that he may lose his initial light and inspiration. It is not the time to throw away the towel. At such a moment, we should not give up the journey and think of the whole adventure as if it were a nice dream and nothing more.

The Magi did not decide to go back to the east just because they lost sight of the star. They did the most reasonable and logical thing to do. They asked the persons who were in the position to know.

The Gospel tells us that herod

“sent them to Bethlehem” (Matthew 2:8). herod had the means to find out, and he found out that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. he sent the Magi to the right place in spite of his limitations and even in spite of his bad will.

During moments of darkness, we should seek the advice of the right person. We should realize that God’s grace works through the proper channels established by God and in times of spiritual difficulties, we should look for these channels and trustingly adhere to them.

Some people have the bad habit of asking advice but conditioning their acceptance of it to their own whims. Some people may go from confessor to confessor until they find one that will tell them what they wanted to hear in the first place. They are not really looking for advice. They are only looking for support for a conclusion they have already made.

It is as if the three Magi had decided beforehand (for any number of reasons) that they wanted to go to another town. And when told that they had to go to Bethlehem, since they had not thought of that, they would keep on asking around until they find a Jew who would tell them finally to go to were they had wanted. Is this not foolish?

Let us follow the advice and the way of acting of the Magi in the Gospel. They had the courage to undertake their journey in search of God. And they had the common sense to pursue it to the end.