HomiliesSOLEMNITY OF THE LORD?S EPIPHANY: LIFE IS A CONTINUING JOURNEY AND SEARCH FOR GODMt 2:1-12WE CELEBRATE TODAY the Solemnity of the Lord’s Epiphany. This solemnity is a reminder for us that the coming of the Son of God was meant not only for a particular group of people. Rather, He came for all people of the whole world. God wants to make all men and women His own people. This is what Matthew wanted to convey in the Gospel narrative for this Sunday.
The Gospel relates the story of so-called ‘foreigners’ who went to look for God: they were magi, wise men, kings or astrologers. From the Jewish point of view, they were “pagans.” And these so-called pagans were the very first ones to offer royal gifts to the newly born son of Mary and Joseph. From them we can learn much as Christians. Because they dared to go and search for the new-born King.
These magi are the symbol of the people who are in search, that is, always on the way, pilgrims so to say. Searching …. is this not for us a lifelong quest? There is nothing in our life that we can really keep. Success, health, harmony …. these we have actually never fully possessed and acquired. People may be constantly together but they must also constantly seek out for each other. We may find each other but we can really never possess each other. And if we no longer seek each other then we may eventually lose each other.
This is also true with God. How many people today who remain or who are continually searching for God? And how many people who are tired of searching him, and thus, have stopped the search? They are so many. We have to take note that when we no longer seek Him, then we may also lose Him. He will eventually disappear in our life and His ‘star’ becomes hidden in the superficiality of the world. Whoever wants to seek God must actually be always on the journey. It is worth noting how this being “on the journey” is strongly evident in the Gospels. When Jesus was born, his parents were on the journey. When Jesus dies, he was also on the journey towards Calvary. All His life is actually being on the journey.
About a year ago, there was an article on Pope Francis published in an international newspaper and it was taken from the Pope’s homily delivered at the Chapel of St Martha in Vatican. The title of the article was, “Going to Church does not make you a good person, says Pope Francis”. I notice that from time to time, the said article pops up in the pages of Facebook.
What the title of the article suggests is not actually the main substance of the Pope’s homily. But I don’t know why the article bears that title. In reflecting the gospel story of Lazarus and the Rich Man, Pope Francis was warning people against the dangers of “subtle sin” and in comparing some modern people to the Rich Man, he said that “not all churchgoers are good people”. That is the Pope’s point. But it is unfortunate that some people take the article’s title as an excuse not to go to Mass anymore, because, anyway, doing it does not make one a good person.
But what is our goal of going to the Church? To make us good persons? It takes a miracle to make that happen. In that one hour in the Church, do we want ourselves to become good? That may happen, but often that never happens. Actually, the challenge lies not in the “one hour” of staying in the Church, but in the “twenty-three hours” of the day outside the Church. So, what really is our goal of going to the Church? There is no other goal but to meet our God, to worship our God, and to establish stronger relationship with God.
Going to Church on a Sunday for the Holy Eucharist, for me, is symbolic of what we celebrate today. We walk toward the Church and therefore we are on a journey. Unlike the Magi, we are not following a bright star as guide to our journey. What is observable in our time are the Church bells. When the bells are ringing, we are reminded of our weekly or daily journey towards God. Yes, we know who is our God. But as St John says, God remains hidden and invisible. He says, “no one can see God”, thus, the search for Him continues. Moreover, the fact that our knowledge of him remains incomplete, then, our search for him should continue.
In the gospel passage, we heard that the Magi “were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother.” That should also be our experience each time we participate in the Holy Eucharistic celebration. The worshipping together of the community to God should make us ever more happy and joyful. Amen.
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