She is involved in spiritual formation of seminarians and lay pastoral workers in Toronto and founded St. Mary Marrocco is a theologian, writer and practicing psychotherapist. How we follow the light is up to us to find out. “They were overjoyed at seeing the star,” Matthew’s Gospel tells us of the Magi. The light of Christ illuminates all, equally. That is the kind of work the light enables us to do.įollowing the light ultimately, in this life, will mean having the courage, like the priest at vespers, to profess against evidence that the light enlightens all. Pope Francis has asked us to encounter the poor person, to see each one as they really are, “to discover their inner goodness” and “true needs” - in short, to learn to love. Herod attacked them the Magi honored them. Like the Magi, and even like Herod, we cannot follow Christ’s light without moving closer to those who are lowly in the world. “He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor,” says the psalm of the day (72). Following it might mean coming closer to them.įollowing the light means doing. The light might show us something new about those we are inclined to think of as outsiders, as “the other,” or as “less than” ourselves. It would be hard to imagine a greater intimacy than these terms suggest. Paul points out that those who were thought to be outside Christ’s promise are now revealed to be “coheirs, members of the same body and copartners.” In the epistle for the feast of Epiphany (Ephesians 3), St. We cannot stay where and as we are we must prepare to be changed.
Shemitz)įollowing the light means moving. The Magi were following the “star of wonder, star of night.” (CNS photo/Gregory A.
The adoration of the Magi is depicted in this icon by artist Ayman Fayez. He too was moved by the light, once it was shown to him, but he was moved to violence and brutality, for the purpose of shoring up his own position and power. They did not follow power and wealth, which would have brought them back to Herod. “We saw his star at its rising, and have come to do him homage,” explained the wise ones. They followed the star’s light to the hidden, lowly place where an insignificant Jewish woman was caring for her little child. The Magi, who were wise enough to seek the truth, took advantage of the star to move farther on their journey. How differently they moved under its light. That star shone on all, on the Magi, on King Herod, on Joseph and Mary. The Magi were following the “star of wonder, star of night,” of which we sang at Christmas. “We saw his star at its rising,” the wise ones from the east told the government leader of their day, after Jesus’ birth. It is those who are clean of heart, the Gospel tells us, who will see God (Matthew 5). And as our faith grows, so does our inner vision: Our hearts grow, too. Paul tells us, we will see clearly what we now can get only a glimmer of (1 Cor 13:12). When we see with faith, we see things as they really are - though we grasp them only brokenly. Divine light shows also what is possible. The light of Christ shines on whatever is in our hearts so we may be seen as we really are - not for our shame and detriment, though we may feel that way at times, but for our healing and salvation. “Flood the path with light,” my mother used to pray when it was hard to figure things out she had read this prayer of St. Sometimes we shy away from the light, afraid of what it will reveal sometimes we long for it to show us what is going on and help us find the way. The light of a candle is like that the light of Christ is like that. The light illuminated equally the beauty and scars, pain and hope, poverty and wealth. Holding it high above our heads, he proclaimed: “Behold the light of the universe.”Īnd the light of the candle illuminated everything: the worn-out coats and equally worn-out faces, the eyes intent on prayer books or raised to the flame, the insignificant little huddle of humanity in the midst of a restless modern city. Some were volunteers, some “regulars” who came to eat at this urban mission to the poor. The 15 people gathered in the darkened chapel were singing, in various degrees of relationship to the melody, for vespers was already well underway.
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