EPIPHANY
MATTHEW 2:1-12
A LONG TIME AGO WHEN I WAS IN MEDICAL SCHOOL I CROSSED PATHS WITH OPUS DEI. YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF THIS MOVEMENT -- FOUNDED BY FATHER JOSE ESCRIVA, WHO IS NOW A SAINT, BUT BACK THEN HE WAS STILL ALIVE AND GUIDING THE ORGANIZATION. OPUS DEI’S PURPOSE IS TO ANSWER THE UNIVERSAL CALL TO HOLINESS -- IT ISN’T JUST FOR CLERGY AND RELIGIOUS. EACH MEMBER OF OPUS DEI IS SUPPOSED TO SANCTIFY HIS WORK, SANCTIFY THE WORLD THROUGH HIS WORK, AND SANCTIFY HIMSELF THROUGH HIS WORK. IF YOU BECOME A MEMBER, YOU ADOPT SOME SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, INCLUDING RECEIVING SPIRITUAL DIRECTION FROM ONE OF THE SO-CALLED “NUMERARIES” WHO ARE CELIBATE MEN AND WOMEN, USUALLY PROFESSIONALS, WHO HAVE BEEN TRAINED TO GIVE SPIRITUAL DIRECTION. MY SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR WAS A PROFESSOR OF DENTISTRY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
I REMEMBER WHEN I BEGAN SPIRITUAL DIRECTION. I HAD A LOT OF QUESTIONS AND I KNEW A LOT OF THEOLOGY; I HAD GRADUATED FROM CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY AND REALLY EATEN UP THE RELIGION AND THEOLOGY COURSES, IN ADDITION TO MY BIOLOGY MAJOR. EVERY MEETING WITH MY SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR I KEPT TRYING TO TURN INTO A THEOLOGY DISCUSSION. ONE DAY HE TOLD ME THAT I WAS MISSING THE POINT. HOLINESS WASN’T ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU KNEW, IT WAS ABOUT HOW YOU LIVED. AND ALTHOUGH I FOUND IT PAINFUL, CHANGING MY LIFE BECAME THE FOCUS OF OUR CONVERSATIONS AFTER THAT.
I THINK OUR GOSPEL PASSAGE TODAY IS ABOUT THAT. WHEN THE MAGI COME TO HEROD, HE GOES TO THE EXPERTS, WHO KNOW THE LAW AND THE PROPHECIES. THEY HAVE NO PROBLEM ANSWERING HIS QUESTIONS. THE MESSIAH IS TO BE BORN IN BETHLEHEM, IT SAYS SO RIGHT THERE IN THE PROPHECY OF MICAH. AND POSSIBLY ONE OF THE REASONS HEROD TOOK THE MAGI SERIOUSLY IS BECAUSE HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN AWARE OF ANOTHER PROPHECY, WHICH WE HEARD IN OUR RESPONSORY PSALM -- KINGS FROM THE EAST WILL OFFER GIFTS AND PAY HIM HOMAGE. AND HERE WERE THOSE STRANGELY DRESSED FOREIGNERS RIDING IN ON THEIR CAMELS. AND THEN THERE WERE OTHER HINTS -- THE BOOK OF DANIEL HINTS, IN A VAGUE WAY TO BE SURE, BUT NOT TOO HARD TO UNDERSTAND, THAT THE MESSIAH WOULD BE COMING ALONG JUST ABOUT NOW. AND YET THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND SCRIBES WHO KNOW ALL THIS DON’T SEEM TO BE MOVED; THEY DON’T GET UP AND GO TO BETHLEHEM.
CONTRAST THEM WITH THE MAGI. WE DON’T KNOW HOW MANY MAGI THERE WERE -- OUR MAGI IN THE MANGER OVER THERE ARE TYPICAL; ONE OLD, ONE YOUNG, AND ONE NOT CAUCASIAN. THEY ARE MEANT TO REMIND US THAT CHRIST COMES NOT JUST FOR JEWS, BUT FOR ALL HUMAN BEINGS. AND EARLY ON IN THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH A LOT OF STORIES WERE MADE UP ABOUT THE MAGI, WHERE THEY WERE FROM, WHAT THEY DID AFTER VISITING THE CHRIST CHILD, WHAT THEIR NAMES WERE. IN SOME EASTERN CHURCHES THEY ARE HONORED AS SAINTS AND GIVEN DETAILED BIOGRAPHIES IN WHICH THEY ACTED AS MISSIONARIES. BUT ALL WE REALLY KNOW ABOUT THE MAGI IS WHAT WE READ IN MATTHEW’S GOSPEL. THE TERM “MAGI” REFERS TO PERSIAN NOBILITY WHO PRACTICED THE RELIGION OF ZOROASTER, WHICH INCLUDED ASTROLOGY, MAGIC, MEDICINE, AND OTHER KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE, AND SOME WERE RULERS OF PARTS OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE.
THE POINT IS, THESE MAGI HAD COME TO THE CONCLUSION FROM THEIR OWN EFFORTS AND OF COURSE THE INSPIRATION OF GOD THAT SOMETHING REALLY IMPORTANT WAS HAPPENING, AND THEY CHANGED THEIR LIVES IN RESPONSE. IF THEY LIVED IN THE CAPITAL OF PERSIA, THEY HAD TO TRAVEL ABOUT 1500 MILES TO GET TO BETHLEHEM. THEY UPENDED THEIR LIVES TO TRAVEL THAT FAR.
I’M GLAD THAT I WAS BORN A CATHOLIC AND HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF A SOLID CATHOLIC EDUCATION. I’M SURE THAT OUR CHURCH IS GOD’S PLAN FOR HUMANITY. IF YOU LOOK AT THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH, AYOU FIND CORRUPTION AND POLITICAL INTRIGUE IN EVERY AGE, INCLUDING OUR OWN. BUT YOU ALSO FIND SAINTS, AND SAINTS REMIND US THAT GOD WORKS THROUGH THE CHURCH. BUT THERE’S NO QUESTION YOU FIND HOLY, GENEROUS, SAINTLY PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE CHURCH. GOD CALLS EVERY HUMAN BEING TO KNOW, LOVE AND SERVE HIM IN THIS WORLD TO BE HAPPY WITH HIM IN THE NEXT, AS THE OLD CATECHISM TOLD US. THE POINT IS THAT WE CATHOLICS GET COMPLACENT; WE FIGURE IF WE AVOID MORTAL SIN AND PUT A FEW BUCKS INTO THE COLLECTION PLATE AND TREAT OTHER PEOPLE WITH HUMAN DECENCY WE DON’T NEED TO DO MORE. BUT THE MAGI IN THEIR IMPERFECT PAGAN UNDERSTANDING, KNEW THAT SOMETHING UNIQUE IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE WAS HAPPENING, AND THEY ORDERED THEIR LIVES TO THAT. AND THAT’S SOMETHING WE SHOULD DO AS WELL. GOD BECAME MAN SO THAT MAN COULD BECOME GOD. THAT’S A QUOTE FROM SAINT ATHANASIUS, ONE OF THE GREATEST DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH.
TODAY WE SHOULD PRAY THAT GOD HELPS US BE MORE LIKE THE MAGI, AND LESS LIKE THE AUTHORITIES IN THE JERUSALEM TEMPLE.
