January 6, The Epiphany of The Lord
Let’s follow, we too, the star
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. …. After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way. Mt 2,1-12
Great it was the amazed astonishment by which, during the year 2000, we followed the appearance of a comet which crossed the sky. It is good to raise the glance up to the firmament, to look to the high, because it remarks the desire of infinite which is inside each man. In the other beings of the creation, as the crystals, the flowers or the animals, this desire is manifested as a natural trend to the perfection, towards the more beautiful form: from the flower which addresses to the sun, to receive that light which makes its colour shining, to the cat of the house, which accurately polishes its hair. The man, to be elevated towards its perfection, cannot limit himself to beautiful forms: he must go via a spiritual path. The man too, as the Magi, has to be guided by a star which, by the end of the journey, will bring him to the Lord: this will be the place of the adoration. In our society there is a lot of smog, not only atmospheric, which impedes not to see the stars, but this does not choke the desire of infinite which exists in each of us, and if this aspiration in not satisfied by the horizons of the faith, then other horizons are searched. The trend is, anyhow, to go further, to not accept the limitations, which the man wants always to overcome. In front to the limitation of the sin, we can choose to overcome it by the prayer, or to demolish it by stating that everything is allowed: in both cases we will go further, or in elevating us, or in downgrading us. Due to such reason those parents who chose not to propose to the sons a path of faith expose them to risks of every nature, as, unfortunately, the chronicles prove. Exactly in these days, during a meeting at the Catholic University, a colleague of mine has confirmed , without being aware of it, this meditation of mine. She said to be shocked when realizing that the young people, of which she takes care in the recovery community which she coordinates, behave as they want to go further over their transgressions. She ended her speech by saying, disconsolately: “By this way there is no limit to the evil!”.Being aware of this risk, today well scattered around, we ask to the Lord the strength and the enthusiasm to propose to the young people other paths to the infinite.