Epiphany

"Where is the newborn king of the Jews?" Mt 2:2

Stability is something we all seek.  We want a permanent job, a house or apartment of our own that we can afford.  We want our children to do well in school and enter strong solid marriages.  It goes on and on.  Stability is like a prize that we cannot live without, but today's readings ask us to make a very deep examination of conscience.

What kind of stability are really seeking? Jesus does not offer us the kind of stability that God seemed to promise the Jews of old. Though they would enter the Promised land and build a temple that signaled to all the world that they were God's people, Jesus tells us that stability of place is not the gift he is bringing, not the Good News. He promises us internal stability, the assurance that God is with us in the flesh, and will send his Spirit to dwell within us and among us forever which makes us God's holy temple and his tabernacle. We are a pilgrim people who build places of worship and call them churches, but the real church is us.  United in faith with the assurance that God will be our anchor, we are set free from the compulsive need to live in one place, have the same job forever, and measure our success by what we have rather than who we are.

Our challenge on the feast of the Epiphany is straightforward: How open spirited are we?  How ready are we to welcome the message of salvation and hope no matter where it comes from? Because Herod and "all Jerusalem with him" Mt 2:5 was so threatened by the loss of their fragile power, they could not hear the good news of God becoming human in Jesus, making it necessary for astrologers from the East to seek, to find and offer homage to the new born king of the Jews. The story of the Magi is still told today because it reminds us to let go of our limited understanding of the gospel and listen with open spirits to the epiphanies happening all around us every day.

Today, ask God to give you a stable relationship in faith to continue your journey.