“Before you get serious about Jesus, first consider how good you’re going to look on wood!” Daniel Berrigan S.J.
We recall a special pilgrimage of faith on the 6th of January every year. We celebrate the visit of the wise men from the east to see the baby king in the stable with his mother and father, bringing their gifts.
We call it The Epiphany because it represents the recognition of God’s coming by the Gentile (that’s us) world. ‘Epiphany’, that moment of sudden awakening or realisation.
But let’s not forget the Epiphany was very much a dangerous journey for the Magi. And if we disciples go in search of the Christ child, we too will likely place ourselves in harm’s way.
For, as Herbert Mc Cabe OP once put it – this is the paradox truth about Christians who go on the pilgrimage of faith: ’If you love, you will be hurt and even killed. If you do not love, you are dead already.’
Sometimes we can get lost in the pious holy card images of what was an incredibly risky and violent journey. Herod became furious when he realised, he was tricked by the Magi, and sent his soldiers to slaughter all the boys aged two and under in and around Bethlehem, perhaps between six and twenty children, in the hope of killing the baby Jesus and eliminating any competition for his throne.
We too live in a violent world like the Magis. In this age of dislocation, when people around the globe are on the move, fleeing violence, crushing poverty and despair, the Christ child is again being persecuted in the faces of the tens of thousands of children at risk in the Middle East and Africa – not to mention Myanmar and so many other places.
The Feast of Epiphany, this journey of the Magi, reminds us then that the Spirit of God, who was breathed out over the waters at creation, continues to move among us to love, call and enlighten all who are open to God’s presence.
This Spirit moved the Magi to give away their material possessions as they searched for something more real, more profound. God’s Spirit is not confined to any individual, any people, any church building, no matter how magnificent.
Notice, it is not King Herod, the scribes or the temple priests of Israel who recognise or worship the newborn king, but outsiders, foreigners. If we shut our doors and our hearts to people of difference, like Herod or the infamous innkeepers of Bethlehem did, we might miss a chance to welcome bearers of God’s Spirit and God’s Word.
We encounter a better role model in Mary of Nazareth, who welcomed these unfamiliar guests and their unusual gifts rather than turn them away. It is easy to imagine this humble woman “reflecting on” and “treasuring” this visit, as she did the night she received her first unexpected visitors, a band of impoverished shepherds from the hillsides near Bethlehem singing God’s praises and speaking of angels (Luke 2:19).
So, let’s set out again on this ‘dangerous’ feast of the Epiphany and listen to Pope Francis as our guide for the journey: “We are called: To set out on a journey, like the Magi, following the light that always desires to lead us at times along unexplored paths and new roads. To listen not only with our ears … with our heart and whole being. To be silent between what we hear and what we say. To move out of our comfort zones. Never lose our sense of humour. The star’s light is there to help us see what us is around: the poor, afflicted, the lowly, the planet, the cosmos and each other.”
Br Mark O’Connor FMS is Vicar for Communications and Editor of Catholic Outlook.
This article was originally published in the 2024 Advent & Christmas | Summer edition of the Catholic Outlook Magazine. You can read the digital version here or pick up a copy in your local parish.
