"Let us like the Magi allow Ourselves to be guided to Jesus by the Star"
Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord
Fr. Jonathan L. Reardon
January 8th, 2012
Year B

Traditional Italian folklore includes the tale of a witch known as La Befana. According to the legend, the night before the Wise Men arrived at the manger they stopped at the shack of an old woman to ask directions. They invited her to come along but she replied that she was too busy. Then a shepherd asked her to join him but again she refused. Later that night, she saw a great light in the sky and decided to join the Wise Men and the shepherd bearing gifts that had belonged to her child who had died. She got lost and never found the manger. Now La Befana flies around on her broomstick each year on the 11th night of the Christmas season bringing gifts to children in hopes that she might find the Baby Jesus. Children hang their stockings on the evening of January 5th – as Epiphany is traditionally celebrated on January 6th – in anticipation of her visit, hooping that she will fill their stockings with candy or toys. The origins of La Befana date as far back as the Roman's pagan festival of Saturnalia, a one or two week festival starting just before the winter solstice. Many pagan traditions were incorporated into Christmas celebrations when Christianity became the mainstream religion. La Befana was one them.

In contrast to the wandering with, the Magi teach us something important. The Jews had made known throughout the East of their hope for a Messiah. The wise men, therefore, would have been privy to this information and, according to ideas of the time a star would be connected with the birth. God made use of these ideas and the widespread belief about the coming birth of the Messiah. He drew the wise men to Himself by means of things that with which they were familiar. They would have been impressed by this star and drawn to its beauty. And that star became their guide to the Christ child. Pope Benedict XVI notes that the wise men had set out in haste due to a “deep desire which prompted them to leave everything and begin a journey. It was as though they had always been waiting for that star.” It was their guide. Just as the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night guided Moses and the Hebrew people through the desert to the Promised Land, so the that brilliant star guided the Magi to Bethlehem. It led them to the Savior of mankind – not to an earthly king but to our Heavenly King. Their presence is significant as they represent the Gentile nations. Epiphany means ‘manifestation’ and so in the persons of the Magi, God Himself manifests to that He is not only the long hoped for Messiah of Israel, but for the whole world. They bring Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh: gold to honor His kingship, frankincense to honor His divinity, and myrrh to acknowledge His mortality.

It happens quite often in our lives that we can lose our way. We can become like the witch La Befana, flying around from one thing to another looking for the answers to questions, solutions to problems, fulfillment, peace, joy and so on. The question is: where are we looking? Frequently we turn to the ways of the world to help us find the answers to life’s most difficult questions. But there is a huge problem with that. The secular world does not have a vision for humanity. The secular world has no goal in mind for man. It is a society driven by consumption, ignorance, intolerance, self-absorption, superficiality and so on. There is no vision for the human person and thus no guidance. The Church, on the other hand, has a vision for the human person. The Church wills that we come to know, love and serve Christ because in Him we find what it means to be fully human, fully alive. In Him we find the true meaning of ourselves. As the Magi find Christ through the guidance of the star, we find Him through the guidance of the Church. Christ has given us the Church so that we can never lose our way. In His doctrine and in His Sacraments there is a constant flow of grace that keeps our feet firmly grounded in Him and on the path that leads to His heart, to salvation. Every so often, we may need to stop and ask directions. The Magi had to stop and ask directions from Herod himself. But they never lost faith that the star would reappear – and so it did. We too have to stop, pause, ask directions – which may mean seeking a priest for confession, looking up something in the Catechism, asking questions and then contemplating, thinking about it, praying, never losing faith that the star that has been given to us – the Church, in whom is held the teachings of Christ – will reappear and continue to lead us on our way to Christ. Then, we too can rejoice with the Magi for having found the Messiah. We may not always like what the Church is saying through her ministers, we may not always agree with her, but we must have faith that the Church as a divinely instituted entity is our guide to the Savior. Wouldn’t we rather be grounded in something – Someone – that has a vision for ourselves, a vision to help us become the men and women we were created to be? Or would we rather fly around, like La Befana, from one belief to the next, one opinion to the next, only to be left disappointed and unfulfilled? Where are we looking? Who is our guide? 

Rev. Jonathan L. Reardon is a priest for the diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts.
He serves at Sacred Heart Parish in Pittsfield, MA.

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