Reflection for the Lord's Epiphany (1/7/2024)

Back in 2004, I planned a road trip around the southeast corner of New Mexico. We started with a couple days of skiing in Ruidoso. Then, drove down to Alamogordo to check out White Sands National Park. The third leg of the road trip took us to Roswell. The final destination was Carlsbad Caverns National Park. I had never been to any of these areas before but I trusted the information I gathered on the internet on these locations.

Back then, I had one of those Rand McNally Road Atlas as my GPS. It was quite the adventure in our rental 15-passenger van but not without its challenges. We were supposed to backtrack to Ruidoso after Alamogordo to get to Roswell but, because of the bizarre that blew in the night before, we had to take a detour through Lincoln National Forest. It was a white-knuckle drive because we were driving on a narrow road with a 100-feet drop off on the other side of the guardrail. I was going 10 mph and every time I stepped on the gas, my friends told me slowdown. It was a memorable road trip and we made it there and back safe and sound. 

I cannot imagine what the three Magi (or Wise Men) must have felt when they left their home to embark on a journey into the unknown with just a star at its rising to guide them. This takes a lot of faith, trust, and hope on their part. Faith in what they learned about the star in their studies is true or their search was all for naught. Trust that, while the journey might be perilous, that they would be safe and protected during their travels. Finally, hope that what lies at the end of their journey - the newborn king of the Jews - is everything that they had hoped for (which, as we all know, was that and so much more for them and for us). Most of all, unlike King Herod, they did not allow fear, inadequacy, and worries to consume them and darken their actions and intentions.

Just as the Magi were guided by a light that led them to Christ, let us also be guided by the light of Christ in our own lives so that we can become the light of Christ for others in our world. How? Let us reflect on the gifts that the Wise Men brought for the Child Jesus and how they relate to the three offices of our Lord Jesus Christ that we are baptized into - priest, prophet, and king. The gift of gold for a king; however, not a king that lord over others but one who is a servant leader. Jesus came to serve, not to be served. The gift of frankincense for a prophet, who is called to lift others up in prayers but also spread the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ by sharing it with others. Finally, the gift of myrrh, to remind us that we died to our old self in the water of baptism so that we can rise with Christ to new life in him.

Let us, therefore, be like the Magi and walk this journey of life not in fear, inadequacy, and worries but with faith, trust, and hope because we are guided by the light of Christ.