Then you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow . . .
Isaiah 60:5
The Old Testament passage for January 5 describes God’s light drawing the members of the tribes of Israel together and to itself. The verse above, particularly its second line, is what stands out to me from the passage and from this week’s readings.
It doesn’t surprise me that this verse is the one that jumps out at me from all the ones chosen for this week. Romantic themes and imagery are what resonate with me. I watch, read, and write stories about what it means to love.
When I think about the feast we celebrate today, I think of a brilliant light leading wise men who are not Hebrews to baby Jesus. I think of how the magi bring him gifts that don’t seem appropriate for a baby.
Nonetheless, these gifts teach Jesus’ spiritual family members about who He is and what His mission is. I think of how, while what the New Testament passage calls a star leads the wise men from afar to Jesus, the magi don’t tell Herod where to find Jesus. In other words, I engage my mind and its ears and eyes in the story.
But when I read the second line of Isaiah 60:5 this time around, the story of the Magi seeking the infant Jesus took on a new dimension for me. Or at least I received the story’s message in a new way. I imagined the Incarnation of Christ as a physical sensation within me. It
Isaiah 60:5 says the experience of Christ in the flesh cannot be contained in any way, not even within a single time period, space, or culture. And yet it is tangible everywhere.
It reminds me I’m called not just to follow the Light but to let the pain and pleasure of it in. I’m to be a vessel as much as the next person, and the next. The Light has the weight and power of water as much light. It is as much like a swollen river as it is an astronomical occurrence that makes night like day.
What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:
The “Hark!” podcast from America Media explores the history and messages of various Christmas carols. (If you can’t access the link in this section without subscribing to America, I encourage you to search for the podcast and the “We Three Kings” episode in particular in the podcast player of your choice.) Each episode is named for the title of the carol featured in it. This episode about “We Three Kings” discusses the familiar components and interpretations of this week’s gospel passage. It also offers some insights I’d never heard before. Here’s a teaser: maybe the gifts of the magi were for Mary too.
This week’s prayer:
Lord, open the eyes of my soul so I can follow Your light. Make me “be radiant at what [I] see” (Isa. 60:5). Make my heart “throb and overflow” (Isa. 60:5). Amen.
Plenty of events and experiences can make God’s light harder to see and to follow. Yet the power of that light doesn’t weaken, only my ability to perceive and to experience it does. This power isn’t limited by cultural or political differences or geographical borders. It’s a power that seeks to not to dominate but to offer all of itself, to guide, to reveal, and to invite everyone to find union with it by embracing its qualities.
What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:
Nontando Hadebe characterizes the heavenly body whose light the magi followed having an impact similar to the one I imagined two weeks ago that Gabriel had on Mary when the angel announced she was called to be the mother of God. And why shouldn’t the astronomical event share a purpose and an impact with Gabriel’s message? Both announce that the union between the human nature and the Divine Nature has been and will be restored. The difference between the two events is that the first one seeks the participation of an individual in that union while the second seeks the participation of a group that represents everyone else. The magi, like the shepherds, are among the first people to accept the invitation to participate in the same union that Mary and Joseph have already given their “yeses” to.
Beyond this week’s readings:
Lord, help me to see through the eyes of the Spirit that your guiding light is as bright for me as it was for the magi. Open me to the graces of keeping my eyes on that light and of following wherever it leads — regardless of my expectations about what the destination should look like. Amen.
What looked like an unusual planetary alignment started me and my two brothers on a journey west. Our traditions had taught us that such an alignment signaled the birth of a new ruler. It would be our duty to inform the influential people we served if they should shift their alliances. We we did our part to encourage prudent alliances by acquainting ourselves with as many leaders in as many places and areas of life as we could. Because many leaders in the region consulted us before making business, personal, and political decisions, we set off to follow the movement of the disturbance in the heavens.
We took with us gifts for the leader to whom we felt certain the disturbance would lead us. Along with supplies for our own sustenance, we took gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We knew all leaders needed gold for their coffers. We also knew that all leaders needed Someone greater than themselves to turn to when strategies and alliances failed to bears much fruit as they hoped. Therefore, they sought incense to accompany their supplications to this Higher Power. Finally we knew that all leaders faced much loss as a consequence of their responsibilities. Indeed all leaders themselves will one day die and are well-served by being reminded of their mortality, and so we carried with us the myrrh — a perfume for anointing a body after its soul is no longer bound by this world.
Ours was a jarring journey, and not just because of the swaying and lurching of the camels on which we rode. The disturbance exuded a light that overpowered nights to an extent we had never before seen — and we had been studying the skies since before we could remember. It made the night almost as bright as day so that anyone who wanted the cover of darkness to hide their unsavory activities put a moratorium on doing business. Dusty, rocky roads were empty. No whispering escaped from alleyways to reach my ears. The clop of the camels hooves did not seem to send silhouettes scurrying.
Yet as we passed the opposite limits of our city, we saw sheep in the fields awakened from their nightly rest by the brightness. Some fled toward it as if toward an unseen shepherd while others fled from it, wild-eyed as if desperate to escape a growing conflagration.
To our surprise, when we reached the gates of the palace in Jerusalem, the planetary alignment was still moving. We’d agreed to stop at the palace in order request an audience with the current occupant, despite the continued advancement of our guiding light. The palace guards that would need to be consulted first in order to request an audience could provide valuable background information about any power shifts that were underway.
“Have there been murmurs of rebellion? Is someone challenging Herod’s rule?” I asked a guard.
“We would not tolerate so much as a thought of treason if we know about it. Why? What have you heard? And from whom? You will be rewarded handsomely for your information.”
“I have heard nothing out of the ordinary, except that the villages towns and cities have sounded like their outskirts. I have heard only the braying and bleating of animals unsettled by the bright heavenly body that has become visible.” I told him what its appearance meant to my brothers and me.
To my surprise, the man led the three of us straight to Herod, to whom I repeated what I’d told his guard.
“Many of my people do not put much faith in such signs. He gave a gesture of dismissal, and I thought this would be the end of our audience, but he continued. They’ve hardly left their villages and have not traveled beyond Jerusalem. I, however, am privileged to have enjoyed the delights of Rome on many occasions, to have dined with Caesar. I do not dismiss ideas such as yours so easily. Still, I am concerned only if the people have reason to believe the Chosen One of God has been born. Guard! Call the priests and scholars of the law.
As far as I could tell, every priest and scholar in the kingdom arrived, though they must have been called out of sleep.
“Where is the anointed one to be born?” The king asked them.
One of the summoned subjects answered for the rest. “In Bethlehem of Judea, for it has been written through the prophet:
‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel. ‘”
(Mat. 2:5-6).
The king scratched his chin. “I see.” He waved both arms. You are dismissed, priests and scholars.”
They rushed to remove themselves from the palace.
The king turned to me and my brothers. “Where does this heavenly convergence seem to be positioned.”
“It does seem to be moving toward Bethlehem of Judea,” I said.
“Follow it. Then return here, and I will see and reward you immediately. I must know what you find. As the leader of my people, I must maintain peace. I need to know if a coup is afoot in Bethlehem. Or if you find the Anointed One, as the leader of my people, I must be the first to do him homage — in order to keep the peace — by letting the people know I still honor the One True God.”
To my eyes and ears, Herod had made it clear that he hadn’t wanted his priests and scholars to know how we interpreted the developments in the heavens. He didn’t want to plant a seed of the idea that the prophecy was being fulfilled. He perceived even such a seed would be a threat to his power. I had been consulted by enough leaders like Herod to know what their fears and ways of dealing with them often were. Despite his pious words, Herod lived as a friend of Caesar, not as a son of Abraham.
I had a dream that night that confirmed what I had suspected — and more. The dream told me that the brilliant convergence in the heavens would lead me to a simple craftsman, his wife, and their child. The child would put our gifts to use because he would lead in three ways — as a priest, a prophet, and a king. He would lead through wisdom and service, not by instilling fear and using it to exert control. My brothers and I had always endeavored to exercise our influence in this way. What better way to continue on this path than for me and my brothers to submit ourselves to the Source of these virtues and to heed the warnings of the sacred messenger that had come to me in the dream?
We did not go back the way we had come.
The Bible.The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. “Sunday July, 2 2023: Readings at Mass.” The New American Bible, 2001. Universalis for Windows, Version 2.179, Universalis Publishing Ltd., 26 Feb. 2023, https://universalis.com/n-app-windows.htm
Sitting with the Sacred 