OMELIE / Omelie EN

06 gen 2018

06/01/2018  Epiphany of the Lord 

06/01/2018  Epiphany of the Lord 

Reading 1, Isaiah 60,1-6 * Psalm 71 * Reading 2, Ephesians 3,2-3.5-6 * Gospel, Matthew 2,1-12

Isaiah invites the people of Israel to rejoice because God has a preference for it, He gives it a mission in order to benefit all the peoples! All other nations, as a matter of fact, are disoriented; everywhere on Earth is darkness, but not over the people of God: this is enlightened by the Lord's glory, and then it has the attention of all the peoples coming as if to buy light and wisdom and bringing plenty of gold and frankincense, images of the joy of whom finally finds the true king and the true God! The people of Israel, even if it is so small, will gather around itself all the nations of the world, to fill them with joy and life!

"Your light has come": this is the announcement of the prophet. Jesus' disciples understood it, the Church understood it since the very beginning of its mission, and, thinking of the Lord's birth, it has said: "The Word was the real light that gives light to everyone; he was coming into the world". Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled by Jesus' birth! The evangelist Matthew shows us this truth using a very special story.

A star has risen, as the prophets had foretold. This star, of which have become aware a few wise men representing peoples far away, is announcing the birth of a king and indicates the way to follow in order to meet Him: this is the way that brings to the people of Israel! They, pagans, are coming with the treasures which Isaiah is speaking of in the Scriptures, that are certainly unknown to them. Since the very beginning Jerusalem is an enemy of the king they are looking for; it is not an enemy of whom is searching for Him, not to put up a poor show and in order to take advantage of their job! The leaders in Jerusalem, as a matter of fact, know that the king should be born, and they also know where, but they neither are moving nor are moved! This preludes to His future sufferings and to his future violent death! The Scriptures, researched by the scribes, confirm the sign of the star, and the star reappears on the way the Scriptures are referring to. When the wise men recognise the matching of the message of the star with that of the Scriptures, they exult filled with the greatest joy! It is a joy similar to that the disciples of Emmaus will experience, when they will be able to think of the events they witnessed in the light of the Word of God reminded them by their unknown travel companion!

The representatives of the peoples and of their religions bend their knees in front of the Child that is in Mary's arms. They adore Him. They give the treasures to Him, what is useful and what is beautiful, even the myrrh, that is to say the desire to prolong after death our being on Earth! Jesus is recognized by them as the true king, king of their life, of their present and of their future; they recognize Him as true God too: this is why they adore Him! Obviously Jesus does not say a word to them! If they can hear anything at all, they hear it from Mary’s lips. The Child instead, without saying or doing anything, tells them about humility and discretion, poverty and obscurity, simplicity and obedience, mutual communion and hope!

A lot of fantasy went into deciphering that odd star. Should we use some as well? What on earth could possible mean that star attracting with its own light, while it guides towards something else, that is not bragging about its light and its beauty, but it accompanies for a long time all the way up to meeting a Woman with her Child in her arms?

Somebody is even thinking about the astrologists, of their horoscopes, of the tempting light of some medium or charming guru! If their light definitely guided us to adore the Son of God, it would be welcome! Instead, their glimmering drives us far from Jesus, while deluding us it makes us dream and sweat, making us, in the end, slaves of situations without escape or of unscrupulous men!

Let us look instead at the experience we already have. Who did make you reach the King of kings? Who did make you meet Jesus with huge joy and give you the strength to open Him your precious caskets? Was it a person, a friend maybe, the page of a book or maybe some illness? Was it the suffering after the death of somebody you held dear or getting to know a community of believers? What was for you the «missionary» star?

Whatever possibly your star has been, now you can forget about it: and you are happy, not because of it, not even because of the Scriptures, but because of whom you reached, of Jesus, who gave meaning to your life, let you enjoy the Father’s love and made you discover that your heart too has been created for loving, even better, that it is already a fountain of love! He made you discover that each one of us is made for Him, all men out of every people and of every religion! All of us, whoever kneels in front of Jesus, we discover each other as brothers, joyfully. And whoever kneels in front of Him desires to have everybody else as brother, they want then that everybody gets to enjoy the light coming from His face and from His Mother’s face, and they aspire to become «stars» as well,  guiding others towards Jesus.