THE LIGHT SHINES

HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Malachi 3:1-4       Hebrews 2:14-18       Luke 2:22-40

We have finally made it to Candlemas. With today’s feast, the Christmas festival of light officially comes to an end. As we process solemnly into church, we bear blessed and lighted candles. But what do these candles signify? The lighted candles are to welcome Christ, the Light to the Gentiles, the Glory of His people and our eternal Light. Jesus is to us both Son and Sun. Through the Gospel He is the illumination of the path of our existence and the light to the nations. In our hands today is fire - a mysterious element, an overpowering reality, a force, capable of blinding us with its light. The flame of just one candle has the capacity to ignite a destructive fire like a bush fire; the divine flame, however, ignites a purifying fire that prepares us for redemption.

Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament from which today’s 1^st Reading is taken, speaks of the great and terrible Day of the Lord, and compares this Day with the refiner’s fire and the fuller’s alkali. This ‘Day’ should be understood in terms of an overwhelming, awesome manifestation of God that will both refine and purify the world. Each of these substances - refiner’s fire and fuller’s alkali - possesses fearsome power. Fire is powerful enough to refine gold and silver, while alkali is powerful enough to bleach fabrics as white as snow. These are metaphors regarding the sheer power of God to purify us, and to transform us into the very best we can be. Moreover, these combine to describe the action of God upon us to remove comprehensively any power the devil wields over us. The description of refining and purifying is of the action of the Christ Himself! The 2^nd Reading reminds us of the extraordinary deliverance, already accomplished once-and-for-all, that was wrought for humanity by the self-offering and death of Jesus, the Lord.

Let’s unpack the 1^st Reading so that we can get to grips with it. It helps to realise that there are two messengers foretold in the 1^st Reading, not one. The first will be John the Baptist, who prepares the way. The second will be ‘the messenger of the Covenant” who is Jesus. (Not John the Baptist? No, because he is not divine.)

Jesus cleansed the Temple at the start of His ministry (Jn 2:13-15), and towards the end (according to the synoptic gospels). He said: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2:19-21). St John the Evangelist clarifies this: “but He spoke of the temple of His body”. Zechariah 9:9 prophesies the coming of the King of Peace, who comes riding to Jerusalem not on a warhorse but on a donkey. There is only one such King associated with the Temple, with purification for salvation, and with a Covenant for the people: the Messiah! Jesus is the ‘messenger of the Covenant’. Why? Because only God can be ‘the messenger of the [divine] Covenant’. So, the fulfilment of the prophecy of Malachi is found in Christ. The Lord suddenly enters the Temple in order to offer the solely acceptable sacrifice for the purification and salvation of all mankind.

The ‘messenger of the Covenant’, the Christ, is shown at the Presentation as a 40-day-old infant, as vulnerable as the flickering flame of a candle. The candles we carry remind us of the fragility of the divine Infant. When lit, the wick can be snuffed out easily, as can our own flesh and blood. In accordance with the Law, Mary and Joseph went to the Temple to present the first-born male child to God. Here, God is presented to God: God the Son is presented to God the Father, in His own Temple, in fulfilment of His own Law. In accordance with the Law, Mary and Joseph made an offering of two pigeons. It was called a ‘sin offering’ (cf. Lev 12:8), although Mary was conceived without Original Sin, the fully divine and fully human Child was and is sinless, and Joseph in his purity was called by God to look after them both. In fulfilling the offering, Jesus allowed Himself to be integrally absorbed into our human condition from a tender age.

As tender as he was, Jesus manifested Himself as the Light to the Gentiles and the Glory of the people (cf. Is 49:6). Old Simeon, an upright and devout man who had waited all his life to witness the coming of the Messiah, was inspired by God to announce the great mission of the Child to the world. The elderly prophetess Anna, gifted with abundant wisdom and insight, spoke about the Child to those who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem. Imagine, if you will, how a single candle flame can defy the darkness of a place. In Christ, we see the divine flame defying and defeating every form of darkness, spreading all over the world, purifying, refining and transforming in very personal ways. Now each individual candle, signifying our personal redemption, will be taken into our homes and communities today to enkindle in us the fire of faith and love so that we may be filled with the wisdom and grace of God. Yes, while the purifying flame of God might well be perceived as something to be feared, it is also the flame of hope, love, deliverance, peace and joy. And so, Lord, we open the doors of our hearts to You in faith, that you may enter and enlighten us with your Light. Amen. God bless you.

LIVING IN GOD’S LIGHT

HOMILY FOR THE 3^RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

In our technologically-advanced world, we have seen how the success of companies and markets are dependent upon how often their products are upgraded. For instance, every now and then the media companies produce upgrades for their applications and phones, and alert their customers to download them in order to upgrade them. Similarly, as human beings we desire upgrades whenever they become available. There is that innate urge in us to move up to something better, isn’t there? We are always praying for better days and for things to get better for us. Nobody enjoys living on an endless diet of doom and disaster. No one likes to risk repeating a disappointing or depressing experience. Everyone wants to have happiness and joy, peace and freedom rather than doom and gloom. Happiness and joy, peace and freedom were the great desires of the Israelites too at a time in their history when they were under oppression from the Assyrians. The Israelites dreamt of being redeemed, uplifted – ‘upgraded’ if you will - from their woes. Among the people there was hope and expectation of God’s deliverance.

The 1st Reading (Is 9:1-4) sets the scene in the North Eastern regions of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali (later Galilee). Because the North East was the most fertile part of Israel, the Assyrians subjugated it first. By Isaiah’s time, the land had been paganised by incomers, and the minority Jewish population was struggling to hold on to its traditions and the worship of God. Isaiah encouraged the indigenous Jews in their struggles, in their ‘walk in the darkness’, with prophecies of hope for the future and of the appearance of a great light to overcome that darkness. Isaiah foretold the coming of a King, a King infinitely more powerful than all other kings, a King who would lead them from darkness to light, from sadness to gladness, from wretchedness to rejoicing. This was a great Messianic prophecy that went beyond their current situation to the coming of Christ Himself. It is Christ who is the King. It is Christ who is the Light. It is Christ who alone is capable of dispersing darkness and despair.

It is no accident that the prophecy of the 1^st Reading is quoted in the Gospel (Mt 4:12-23). St. Matthew links Isaiah’s prophecy (that the people that lived in darkness has seen a great light) directly to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. Jesus began His ministry with an urgent call to repentance: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand”. His next move was to call his first four disciples, two pairs of brothers (Peter and Andrew, James and John), who were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. In their desire to live in the Light of the Messiah, these men responded promptly to the urgency of His call. We, in common with these apostles, have been called by the Lord. Even before we receive baptism into the family of faith, we are born into our biological families in their geographical and cultural situations. As followers of Christ, we have our families and our jobs to consider in tandem with our Christian vocation. Should we care less for our families and not do our jobs as well as we might, simply because we are Christians first and foremost? Are they supposed to take a back seat? Not at all! Our calling as Christians is to immerse ourselves in the message of light in order to bring the light of Christ with us into our family lives and our work lives. That these men left their nets behind to follow Jesus indicates to us that they purposely shunned every distraction inimical to their calling. In imitating these first four apostles, then, we too ought to leave our nets to follow the Lord; in other words, we ought to dispense with those distractions and values that clash with our Christian calling.

One such distraction is highlighted by St. Paul in the 2nd  Reading (1 Cor 1:10-13,17) where he called on the faithful of the Church at Corinth to move out of the darkness of division into the light of Christian unity. In the Church at Corinth there were four parties. The 1st group allied itself with Paul. This group consisted of Gentiles who lived Christianity with an exaggerated sense of freedom, mistakenly thinking that the Gospel of Christian freedom implied freedom to sin rather than the freedom that comes from not sinning. The 2nd  group affiliated itself with Apollos. Apollos was a Jewish academic from Alexandria, an eloquent man who had a deep knowledge of the Scriptures. This group comprised intellectuals who were fast turning the fulfilment of Religion into Philosophy. The 3^rd group aligned itself with Cephas. ‘Cephas’ in Aramaic (the language that Jesus spoke) means ‘rock’. St. Peter was the ‘rock’ (Mt 16:18) upon whom the Church would be founded. Jews, who sought to teach adherence to specifically Jewish norms, made up this particular group. As legalists, they exalted the Law and belittled the working of grace. The allegiance of the 4^th group was to Christ. This group was made up of the peasants and people at the bottom of the social strata, who, in their poverty, laid claim to being the only genuine Christians. Their real fault lay not in saying that they belonged to Christ – which of course they did - but in the intolerance and self-righteousness they displayed in claiming that Christ belonged only to them. Paul invited these four groups to come down from their perches and embrace unity in belief and practice. 

The same goes for us today. We have just concluded the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. To kick off that week of prayer, Pope Francis stated that: “the community of the baptised is not a mere ‘standing beside one another’, and certainly not a ‘standing against one another’, but wants to become an ever fuller ‘standing together’”. This must be our aim as Christians. Week on week, we come together, bringing with us our rich and varied talents and offering them for the purpose of building up the body of Christ, the Church. And on September 30, 2019, Pope Francis also announced in his Aperuit Illis, that the third Sunday in Ordinary Time would be celebrated as the Sunday of the Word of God henceforth. The Word of God unifies and offers us a great light for our paths. 'Your Word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path' (cf. Psalm 119:105), declares the Psalmist. ‘Walking in God’s light’ would then mean an enthronement of the Word of God - the Scripture - in our lives, praying with it, and standing together to build up the Community of faith with it. As we walk in God’s light, so we live in it. ‘Living in God’s light’ means that our skills and strengths have been given to us to enhance the unity that exists among us. Let us pray: Loving Father, we thank you for sending your Son to be one of us and for letting us be called by Him. We also thank you for providing us with your Word daily to nourish and to guide us. Look upon your people with mercy, for we are divided in so many ways; and grant us the spirit of your Christ to make us one in love. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. God bless you.

LOOK, THERE’S THE LAMB OF GOD

HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

According to the Gospel (John 1:29-34), when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him, he identified Jesus as ‘The Lamb of God’. John declared: Look, there is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Let’s explore what he meant when he described Jesus as ‘the Lamb’. The description would have been understood by every Jew present. Lambs were a vital element in Jewish religious practices outlined in the Torah and the Jewish books that Christians know as the Old Testament. In the lead-up to the time of Jesus, the life-blood offering of animals (and especially of unblemished lambs) took place in the Temple in Jerusalem, which was the place of ritual sacrifice in Jewish worship of the One God. From this Jewish religious practice, we get the expression ‘the sacrificial lamb’. The sheep and their lambs in the fields around Bethlehem when Jesus was born were almost certainly destined for sacrifice rather than for consumption. The Bethlehem shepherds were Levitical shepherds meaning that their lambs were raised to be used for sacrifice. As such, they had to be without blemish or they would be worthless; so the shepherds wrapped them in cloths when they were born to keep them from injury. Thus, when the shepherds visited Jesus, and saw him wrapped in swaddling clothes, they recognised a lamb without blemish, set aside for sacrifice.

In Judaism, lambs were sacrificed in two major religious rituals. The first of these was in the historical commemoration of the event of the Passover. The second was in the practice of sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem every morning and evening. The Lamb was used not only as a sacrificial offering, but also for ritual cleansing and sanctification.  In declaring to the world that Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, John flagged up a specific message to his contemporaries and to us.

The Passover is still celebrated by Jews today. The earliest book of the Bible (cf. Exodus 12:11-13) records that the Passover Lamb was slain, and its blood was sprinkled and smeared on the doors and lintels of the houses of the Israelites. The blood identified the Chosen People of God and delivered them from destruction. In pointing out Jesus as ‘the Lamb’, John prophesied that by Jesus’ precious blood, His chosen people would be identified, delivered from death and saved. There were great prophecies about the Messiah in terms of a sacrificial lamb: Christ is like a lamb led to the slaughter house (cf. Jeremiah 11:19 and Isaiah 53:7); St. Paul identifies Christ as the Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7), and St. Peter spoke about Jesus as the spotless and unblemished lamb who ransomed men from sin (1 Pet. 1:18-19). The final book of the Bible, Revelation, uses the title ‘Lamb of God’ with reference to the Christ (e.g. Rev. 5:7.13) no less than 27 times. 

The longing of the Jewish people for purification from their sins in order to be reconciled with the perfection of God, perfection that could not tolerate imperfection, culminated in the practice of sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem every morning and evening. The intention of the ritual sacrifice was to plead for the remission of the sins of the people of God, and to plead for the sanctification of the priests and the place of worship (cf. Exodus 29:38-42). The daily Temple sacrifice assured the Jewish people throughout the known world of God’s presence among them. From here we deduce seamlessly that John’s pointing out of Jesus as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world indicated that He (Jesus) would be sacrificed daily, both for the remission of the sins of His people in His Kingdom, and also for the sanctification of His priests and the universal Church. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice offered to God the Father for the remission of our sins. This is what we have been re-enacting in the daily sacrifice of the Holy Mass for two thousand years. In the Holy Mass and in the Eucharistic offering, the Church is constantly sanctified, and her members participating in the unbloody sacrifice of the altar are cleansed of all venial sins. 

Granted that the idea of animal sacrifice may be somewhat repulsive to our generation, it might be helpful for us to think instead of the notion of ‘bail’ or of ‘restitution’ when considering what Christ stands for as the sacrificial Lamb. A guilty criminal may be remanded in custody before he is sentenced. The law may set bail too high for him to afford, and so he has to stay in gaol. He cannot pay enough to liberate himself from prison. To achieve freedom, he requires the help of another person to pay his bail. Similarly, as prisoners of our sins (our personal deliberate wrongdoing, our imperfections), we require the help of someone else to bail us out. That someone else is Jesus the Christ. He is the Lamb of God. His bailing-out is final. He puts our sins behind His back so that no one can convict us of them again. He made the perfect restitution for each one of us with the sacrifice of His life. Have you noticed that there’s something spectacular with regard to the day our Lord died for us on the cross? St, John the Evangelist states (cf. John 19:31) that Jesus died on same day that lambs were being sacrificed in the Temple in readiness for the Passover. With that, Jesus’ offering of Himself, His  sacrifice on the cross, replaced and completed once and for all any offering and sacrifice that has been made, that is being made, and that ever will be made, for the remission of sins.

Every Christian, then, is called to be a lamb. We are called to imitate Christ the Lamb in conquering sin, saving ourselves and others, and going the extra mile for the sake of our fellow human beings. Just as the blood of the unblemished lamb became a protective sign for the Israelites in captivity in Egypt, the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, became the power that totally crushed the intimidation and torments of the evil one. So too, the Christian lifestyle has to be that which serves to protect the interests of every single human being, born or unborn, especially in a world riddled with discrimination and intimidation of every sort. Why? Because we all share the same Lord: God is God, the One God that the genius of the Jews discerned. Jesus is the Lord of all the saints everywhere, as St. Paul writes in the Second Reading (1Cor 1:1-3). In striving to be lambs for the world, we gain the graces of innocence and meekness, and are armed with no more than the spirit of service and humility. We are the servants of the Lord. We are stewards, called and appointed by Our Lord. As the Psalmist says, we have come to do His will (Ps 39:9). It is in this light that the First Reading (Is 49:3, 5-6), addresses the chosen people of God as servants, who have been called to restore the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the survivors of Israel. This is our mission as servants, to restore/uplift and to bring back / preserve. May the Lord guide us as we labour in our calling. Amen. God bless you.

“IT IS I WHO NEED BAPTISM”

HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka

First Reading: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7      

Second Reading: Acts 10:34-38 

Gospel: Matthew 3:13-17

The Solemnity of the Baptism of Jesus marks the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of Ordinary Time. It celebrates Jesus’ passage from His hidden life to that of His public ministry. So, this is another manifestation of Jesus…another epiphaneia … insofar as it announces to the world the divinity of Jesus. Those who witnessed this manifestation were the people along the banks of the river Jordan where John the Baptist was baptising. Today, however, we too can witness in our personal lives the same event in various ways. 

In the Gospel (Mt. 3:13-17), Jesus went to John to be baptised. John tried to dissuade him, stressing that “it is I who need baptism from you”. John was fully aware that Jesus was the Christ. The Christ, of course, was and is the Eternal Word, the Anointed One of God, anointed by God Himself for His mission to redeem mankind from sin. As Jesus emerged from the water, the voice of the Father affirmed Jesus’ status: ‘this is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on Him’. Centuries earlier, Isaiah anticipated this declaration, communicating the words of the Father to the waiting world in the song of the Suffering Servant. The Christ, the Messiah, was to be a suffering Messiah, endowed with the Holy Spirit. We discover from Isaiah in the First Reading (Isaiah 42:1-4.6-7) that Jesus, the Anointed One, is endowed with the spirit of justice, the spirit of gentleness and the spirit of liberation.

John articulated his concern at Jesus’ request for baptism, reminding Him that the Christ would need no baptism, and therefore He (Jesus) had no need to be baptised. Indeed, John thought that Jesus ought to have been baptising him, rather than the other way around. John’s baptism with water was a call to repentance, in which case baptism would surely not have been appropriate or necessary for the Christ. Jesus, however, corrected him, declaring that baptism was necessary in order to fulfil all that righteousness demanded. Apart from giving mankind an example to follow, His baptism would initiate the beginning of His public ministry. His coming to John to be baptised indicated that the time was ripe for Him “to be about [His] Father’s business” (cf. Lk 2:49). How come the time was ripe? 

A new chapter in the history of the Chosen People opened when John started baptising Jewish penitents in the Jordan. Until John’s baptism of repentance, never had it been known for any Jew to submit himself to baptism. Up until that point, baptism had been reserved solely to proselytes (converts from a pagan religion) seeking formal admission to Judaism. Realizing how sinful they were, and how much in need of God’s forgiveness they were, Jewish people of Our Lord’s time sought baptism from John, both as a means of demonstrating their repentance publicly, and also in the hope of being ritually cleansed of their sins. People were hungry for God. People had grown conscious of their need of God as never before. And this was the moment for which Jesus had waited some thirty years. In His baptism, then, Jesus identified Himself with humanity, with everyone who longs for God and with everyone whom He came to save from sin. Jesus identified with each one of them back then and with each one of us now, assuring humanity that our hunger for God would be satisfied, and that our search for God would not be in vain.

How far do we experience this search for God in our lives today? Do we feel able to take the opportunity to reflect on those words of John the Baptist by repeating them in the silence of our hearts? It is I, Lord, who need baptism. For whenever we commit to do this, we discover areas in our relationship with God that require the cleansing of baptism. We discover areas in our dealings with others that require the cleansing of baptism. We discover areas in our own personal lives (things we wouldn’t dream of disclosing to others) that require the healing of baptism. Imagine Jesus coming upon that horrible internal mess, and instead of being horrified, still pleading that He be baptised so that you might be saved. Would you be willing to allow Him to undergo that for you? We are the ones who need to be baptised. We must be able to come to that point of self-condemnation, to realize what our own personal sins are, and to name them. In so doing, we attract God’s commendation.

At this point - repentant, baptised, forgiven and accepted - we might be tempted to boast of being filled with the Holy Spirit. After all, what does it mean to be ‘baptised in the Holy Spirit’, if not by submitting ourselves to being led by the power and promptings of the Spirit?

After the Baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove and the Father spoke. This sequence of events symbolizes to us that when, by our contrition and submission, we welcome Christ, the Holy Spirit permeates us. Then it is possible that we too could hear that voice of commendation (like the voice of the Father to the Son). Well, on hearing that voice of commendation, we might be tempted to promote ourselves to being one of God’s favourites! Ah, but the Second Reading (Acts 10:34-38) tells us that God has no favourites. He does accept, however, each and every person who is in awe of Him and does what is right. We truly become beloved of God when we invite His Christ to descend into the river of our lives (of which only we know the depth) to ensure that through His Baptism we too might be cleansed, saved, and assured of eternal happiness. Our invitation to Jesus to descend into the depths of our lives actualizes the best within us, forming strong bonds of faith with each other in the overwhelming awareness that we are one with The Lord Jesus. This is what baptism should mean for us today and every day. Together we pray that today’s Solemnity will cause an eruption of burning desire for God in every citizen of the world. Amen. Let such desire burn in you yourself right now! Amen. God bless you.

THE STAR TREK: THAT MARVELLOUS JOURNEY

HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Reading 1: Isaiah 60:1-6

Responsorial Psalm: 71:1-2, 7-8, 10-13 Response cf. v. 11

Reading 2: Eph. 3:2-3, 5-6

Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12

The word ‘Epiphany’ comes from the Greek epiphaneia which translates as ‘a manifestation’ or ‘a striking appearance’. This is a Solemnity that celebrates the manifestation of the God-man, Jesus Christ, to the world in search of Him. This Solemnity remembers principally the visit of the magi to the Infant Jesus and Jesus’ manifestation of Himself to the Gentiles. Little wonder, then, that it could also be called ‘the Feast of the Three Kings’ who went to see the Infant King, Jesus. We are reminded that we too have been made in the image of God ‘to see’ the manifested Jesus, the King of the Universe, who has been born for us. We are called on by the manifested God-man to arise and shine like the star in order to show Jesus to the people of our time.

The Magi belonged to a caste of wise men, associated variously with the interpretation of dreams, astrology and magic. They were alleged to have come from Medea, which was part of the Persian empire (which is why the Bible recorded that they come from the East). History has it that the caste tried to overthrow the ruling powers, but that the attempt failed. Thereafter, the caste changed tack and put all their efforts into the search for holiness and wisdom instead of power and prestige. In Persia the caste became the equivalent of the Levites in Israel. They were the instructors and teachers of the Persian kings, and no sacrifice could be offered satisfactorily unless one of the magi were present. These men were skilled in philosophy, medicine and the natural sciences, and were known for their goodness, truthfulness and holiness.

In those ancient times, there was a firm belief in astrology and in how it affected people’s lives. People believed that the stars influenced (or were connected to) a person’s destiny. The magi shared in this belief, and attempted to interpret the stars in connection with human destiny. Now we know that, we are in a position to understand how the Gospel of St. Matthew (Mt. 2:1-12) speaks of the way some magi divined their way to Jerusalem by reading the stars. The way people come into our lives, apparently by chance or coincidence, is an illustration of this pre-Christian belief. For instance, through a chance encounter - on a bus, on a train, at a party, at an event - a person comes into the life of another person who eventually becomes the husband, the wife, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law or a business partner. No one knows or can anticipate what surprises the Lord has in store for us.

The star identified in the gospel reading must have been of immense significance to the magi. In those days, on the first day of the Egyptian month, Mesori (Sirius, the dog star) rose at sunrise and shone with extraordinary brilliance. The name ‘mesori’ means ‘the birth of a prince’; and to those ancient astrologers, such a star would undoubtedly have indicated the birth of a king. We don’t know what star these magi actually saw. What we can say is that their expertise lay in watching the stars and planets – ‘the heavens’ - and that they interpreted a previously-unseen brilliance as marking the entry of a hugely-important king into the world. Their star trek began!

It might seem extraordinary to us that those men embarked on a journey from the East to find and pay homage to a new-born king; but the marvellous thing is that, round about the time that Jesus was born, there was a strange feeling of expectation in the air in that part of the world about the coming of a king. How marvellous and extraordinary it is that God chose to manifest Himself first of all to Gentiles. The wise men from the East were Gentiles, not Jews, not members of the Chosen People of God. This is highlighted in the Second Reading (Eph. 3:2-3a.5-6): that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promises of Christ Jesus through the Gospel. The manifested king, Jesus Christ, is the Universal King. His Kingdom knows no discrimination, for we all belong to a chosen race - a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart to sing the glory of the Lord (1Pet. 2:9).

These wise men, the magi, sought out God in their geographical situation and through the depth of learning required by their profession. They discovered the King of the Universe through their dedicated efforts within their area of specialization. As interpreters of the stars, they searched for and found the Messiah. We too can find the Messiah. Our love of Jesus, our relationship with Him, plus our knowledge of what He taught and of what His Church teaches, all these serve to influence what we actually do. When we take Him seriously, our understanding of the mission inherent in our vocation and career shines through. Think for a moment about the deep learning of the wise men. Did all that effort and experience lead them to discover the evil plan in the message of Herod? 

Well, yes it did. Their experience of interpreting dreams led them to conceal information from Herod and to avoid further contact with him. Their decision to rely on their interpretative powers allowed salvation history to go ahead unhindered. And so the world was saved by the life, death, Resurrection and Ascension of Our Beloved Lord. Our careers in life are the routes God expects us to follow to save the world in our own day. It is good practice to emulate the wise men, who rejoiced and promoted the cause of the divine in their own lifetime. We can do this too, both by allowing ourselves to be amazed by God’s wonders, and also by working together to fulfil His will continually on earth. Amen. We have been encouraged by the journey, the pilgrimage, of the magi; let us then continue on our own pilgrimage of life. Let us become the citizens of that city of God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, that are called forth in the First Reading (Isaiah 60:1-6) to ‘arise’ and ‘shine’. God bless you.