(Audio)
Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come,
the glory of the Lord shines upon you.
The magi saw this light. They saw the star at its rising and they knew they it meant that a king had been born.
Nations shall walk by your light,
and kings by your shining radiance.
The magi came because of the light of the star. This then was no ordinary king for whom the very heavens heralded his birth. We can see that the magi realized this because they came to do him homage and to offer their treasures before him.
It was not made known to people in other generations
as it has now been revealed
to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:
that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body,
and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
The magi were the first representatives of the Gentiles to offer worship to the newborn king. They were the first ones to whom the promise of God to Abraham, that his seed would be a blessing to all nations, found fulfillment.
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.
The magi must have had a great hunger to see where this light led in order to motivate so difficult and arduous a journey as theirs. How much could they have realized about the king who was to be born? It is hard to say. But the way they prostrated themselves and did him homage, opening their treasures before him shows that they were not disappointed.
What star, then, do we follow? Is there anything in our lives that can motivate a journey from routine and complacency into the foreign, unfamiliar, and even dangerous? Jesus is the light of the world! Should not his light be able to so command us, even now? Especially now! Since the mystery that was not made known to people in other generations has now been revealed to us, since all the promises to God find their 'Yes' in him (see Second Corinthians 1:20), how can we not follow him wherever he leads?
Then they opened their treasures
and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Let us lay our own time, talent, and treasure to Jesus through the hands of his mother, just as the magi did. The star that the magi followed showed the way to the true fulfillment and lasting treasure for every human heart. That fulfillment, Jesus Christ, is the same, yesterday, today and forever (see Hebrews 13:8).
Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
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