I Believe in My Star, I Believe in my Gift

January 6, 2019

“They were overjoyed at seeing the star.” (Mt 2:10)

A word from Karl Rahner for Epiphany:

“Let us step forth on the adventurous journey of the heart to God! Let us run! Let us forget what lies behind us. The whole future lies open to us. Every possibility of life is still open, because we can still find God, still find more. Nothingness is over and done with for him who runs to meet God, the god whose smallest reality is greater than our boldest illusion, the God who is eternal youth and in whose country there dwells no resignation. We roam through the wilderness. Heart, do not despair over the sight of the pilgrimage of men and women. Do not despair. The star is there and it shines. The holy books tell us where the Redeemer is to be found. Ardent restlessness urges us on. Speak to yourself! Doesn’t the star stand still in the firmament of your heart? Is it small? Is it far away? But it is there! It is far away only because your generosity is thought capable of an infinite journey. But the star is there. Even the yearning for inner freedom, for goodness, for bliss, even the regret that we are weak and sinful – these, too, are stars.”

I believe in my star. I also believe in my gift – the only gift I have to offer, which is myself. A bowl of poverty and weakness is what I have to offer, but in the giving of it, and the receiving of it by One who loves me – wonder of wonders – the gift begins to glitter like gold, to give off fragrance like frankincense, and to hold forth the promise of a life laid down in sacrifice, like myrrh. May it be so. Amen.

Image: The Three Magi, Byzantine mosaic c. 565, Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy