Pope on Epiphany: look up to
Jesus, dare to set out and give freely
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| Pope Francis at Mass in Rome's St.Peter's Basilica on the fest of the Epiphany, 6 January 2018.-AFP |
Pope Francis invites Christians to imitate the Magi who
“looked up” to “the star”, risked to “set out” and brought their “gifts” to
the Child Jesus “without expecting anything in return”.
By Robin Gomes
Pope Francis on Saturday held out the Magi as models, urging
Christians to dare and look up to the star and “set out”, shaking off their
comforts, to “give freely” and “do good” to “the least” of the “brothers and
sisters” of Jesus. The Pope’s exhortation came in his homily at a morning
Mass in Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica on the solemn feast of the Epiphany.
The Jan. 6th feast of the Epiphany, a holiday in
the Vatican and Italy, commemorates the visit of the Three Magi, or Wise Men
from the East, who followed a star to find the Baby Jesus in Bethlehem, an
event that symbolizes the manifestation of God, made man, to the people of the
world outside the chosen people of Israel.
Delivering his homily in Italian, Pope Francis focused on
three actions of the Magi - they see the star, they set
out and they bring gifts.
The star of Jesus gently invites
The Pope explained that for the Magi everything began by
raising their eyes to heaven to see the star - the star of Jesus which the Pope
said, “does not dazzle or overwhelm, but gently invites.”
There are other brighter stars such as success, money, career,
honours and pleasures that do not point the way. Like meteors they blaze
momentarily and fade, but the Lord’s star, the Holy Father said, “does not
promise material reward, but ensures peace and grants… joy”.
Shake off worldly comforts
Just as the Magi set out on their journey after seeing the
star, the Pope said, the star of Jesus demands that those who seek Him “leave
behind the armchair of worldly comforts and the reassuring warmth of hearth and
home.” “In other words,” he said, “if we want to find Jesus, we have to
overcome our fear of taking risks, our self-satisfaction and our
indolent refusal to ask anything more of life.”
The Pope acknowledged this is not easy, just as the Magi
came across Herod and the priests and scribes who were all afraid of
the new things that God was bringing about. Christians too can
fall into the temptation of the priests and scribes who talk
much about faith but take no personal risk or pray, complain but do no good.
On the contrary, the Pope said, the Magi “talk little and journey much.”
Giving freely
Finally, the Magi do as Jesus does: they bring costly gifts
of gold, incense and myrrh. The Pope said the Gospel becomes real when
the journey of life ends in giving. “To give freely, for the Lord’s sake, without
expecting anything in return” is “the sure sign that we have found Jesus,”
the Pope said. Giving freely, the Pope further explained, means “to do
good without counting the cost, even when unasked, even when you gain nothing
thereby, even if it is unpleasant.
The Pope said that Jesus “asks us to offer something for
the least of His brothers and sisters,” who have nothing to give in
return - the needy, the hungry, the stranger, the prisoner, the poor. He
said, “We give a gift pleasing to Jesus when we care for a sick person, spend
time with a difficult person, help someone for the sake of helping, or forgive
someone who has hurt us.”
If we only love those who love us, we do as the pagans, the
Pope said, and concluded urging Christians to “try to think of some free gift
that we can give without expecting anything in return.”
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