Journeying to Jesus

     Well, it's back to routine, back to schedules, back to the everyday. Hubby left for work earlier this morning and it's just me and Jr. now. Yesterday we took down our Christmas decorations. When I put them up I always want as much as possible all over the house. But when it's time to take them down I wish I didn't have so many. That's the way it goes! In many ways the house feels emptier but in other ways it feels cleaner, more organized now that the clutter is gone.

      We went to church yesterday morning. It's always a bit of a jolt for me to go to church after New Years and see the Christmas decorations still  up, to hear Christmas carols being sung and for the liturgy to be about Jesus' birth. I forget that the month of December is the Christmas season for many people but in the Catholic Church, it's only the preparation for Christmas. Now we're in the Christmas season. Now Jesus has been born and it's time to celebrate.
    The gospel reading yesterday was the story of the three magi following the star. It does not indicate in the text how many men there were but based on the number of gifts presented to Jesus, the number 3 stuck. It's believed they were from Persia and very educated. They had read a prophesy that spoke of a king being born. The magi (where we get our word 'magic' and 'magician' from) followed the star.They stopped in Jerusalem, having received an invitation from King Herod who wanted to kill Jesus because he didn't want anyone usurping his throne. Herod instructed the men to return once they had found Jesus to tell him where he was. The wise men, warned in a dream, did not return. (Furious, Herod instructed his soldiers to kill all the baby boys under the age of 2 in Bethlehem. By that time, the holy family had fled.) The magi returned to the path that led to Bethlehem where Jesus was born. They presented him with gold, frankincense and myrrh to honor him.

      Our deacon gave a great homily to go with this story. The wise men had a desire and a goal to meet Jesus. They started off with good intentions, full of conviction and excitement. How many of us can relate! We want a closer relationship with God, we want to meet him. We won't let anything get in our way! But who can blame the magi when after journeying many days from Persia, an invitation from the king of Jerusalem lured them from their path? To meet royalty! To rest in luxury! To eat good food! They were no doubt also curious as to why the king wanted to meet them and they probably felt that as foreigners, it wasn't a good idea to refuse the invitation. So they veered off course, as so many of us are wont to do. Something distracts us, something tempts us, something else seems so much more important. We lose sight of the bigger picture. And that's okay, because fortunately, we eventually come to our senses and come back to the path we had set out on.

        The deacon brought up a good point, one that I had never considered. The wise men brought Jesus very valuable gifts, to show that they recognized the importance of this little baby. Matthew, the author of this text didn't choose gold, frankincense and myrrh randomly. These three gifts were the standard gifts for kings and deities during that time. They also pointed to Jesus' role: gold representing his kingship, frankincense representing his priesthood and myrrh, representing his death. I had read about this during my studies. The deacon asked, "What does a baby need with these gifts?" A baby doesn't need these things. Jesus didn't need these things. God didn't need these things. 

      This story is all about journey and should make us think about our own journey to Christ. At the end, when my journey is done and I stand before God, what will I bring him? My 3-bedroom (on the same floor) house? Our two cars? My diamond earrings? My new fancy camera? God doesn't need those things. God doesn't care about those things. He doesn't want them. He wants me. Just me as I am. I would be embarrassed to kneel before my Savior and say, "With the sacrifice you made, with love you gave me, I was constantly wanting more stuff. I envied people who traveled and bought expensive things. I was always thinking about how to get more money." I'd like to be able to tell him that I loved and was loved because of him and that was enough.

La Fiducia in Dio (1834) "Trust in God"