The Feast of the Epiphany

“Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.”
 

In addition to the Christmas albums of Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis and the Ray Conniff singers, I recall my Mom playing an album by Gregory Norbet and the Monks of the Western Priory. One of my favorite songs on that album was “Shepherds and Kings.” The refrain went as follows,
 
Shepherds and Kings,
following hopes and stars that take them
deep into the night.
How far have they come?
We should really know
for certainly everyone is a shepherd and king.
 
I thought of these lyrics as I read the opening paragraphs of Bishop William Murphy’s Pastoral letter, Belong More Deeply. Bishop Murphy uses the illustration of the Shepherd and the Magi as a way to describe those who come to the “the manger” of their parish church during the days of Christmas.

These two groups represent so many who are Catholics today. How blessed we are if we are among those who, like the shepherds, have come quickly to Jesus and regularly pay homage to Him by our active participation of mind and heart in the Sunday celebration of Mass. Yet we have also many of our brothers and sisters who are still searching for Him, may be longing to know Him better but, for one reason or other, they cannot find their way to the manger of Sunday Mass. Like the Magi they want to discover the newborn King in their lives and have already followed His star by baptism and some closeness to Jesus. But for many different reasons or circumstances, they are not with us at the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist, the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
 
Both the words of the refrain and Bishop Murphy’s reflection make us mindful that we are all seekers and searchers in the ways of our Catholic Faith. Whether we are actively engaged in the life of the church through faithful Sunday worship and participation in the church community or we seek to know, love and believe in Christ. Some of us are motivated by the blessings we have received and others are prompted by the tragedy or pain they endure. As we look around church on any given Sunday we have no idea how far each other have come and what obstacles still remain. What we do know is that we all seek Him who seeks us.
 
The secular celebration of Christmas ended a week ago and our marking of the New Year has passed as well. There is a great temptation to pack up and put away Christmas but that would be in great opposition to the journey we have been on. We have just arrived at the manger. With the Magi and the Shepherds we have found what we were looking for. We need to stay here in the moment with the Holy Family. If we run away now to go back to our ordinary and busy lives we will continue to wander and seek. The season of Christmas is given to us, so that we might understand that the one we seek is truly with us. Let us take the time to stop wandering and instead pray for the grace to rest in him.
 
There are times when we feel close to God and times we feel far off. We need look no further then the Eucharist that has brought us together abundantly at Christmas and unites us as one body each and every time we celebrate the holy sacrifice of the mass. We are shepherds and kings who have discovered our newborn King.