Adoration of the Magi
Pope Francis said something which got the juices running:
"What is the mystery in which God is hidden? Where can I find him? All around us we see wars, the exploitation of children, torture, trafficking in arms, trafficking in persons… In all these realities, in these, the least of our brothers and sisters who are enduring these difficult situations, there is Jesus (cf. Mt 25:40,45). The crib points us to a different path from the one cherished by the thinking of this world: it is the path of God’s self-abasement, that humility of God’s love by which he abases himself, he completely lowers himself, his glory concealed in the manger of Bethlehem, on the cross upon Calvary, in each of our suffering brothers and sisters."
"What is the mystery in which God is hidden? Where can I find him? All around us we see wars, the exploitation of children, torture, trafficking in arms, trafficking in persons… In all these realities, in these, the least of our brothers and sisters who are enduring these difficult situations, there is Jesus (cf. Mt 25:40,45). The crib points us to a different path from the one cherished by the thinking of this world: it is the path of God’s self-abasement, that humility of God’s love by which he abases himself, he completely lowers himself, his glory concealed in the manger of Bethlehem, on the cross upon Calvary, in each of our suffering brothers and sisters."
He is talking about a real stumbling block- something unexpected which challenges the way we view the world, and in a particular way, those around us. Humility, littleness, real suffering and difficulties, and God in the midst of it all. That really is a curiosity, a mystery worth thinking about for awhile... God- all knowing, all powerful, eternal- choosing to come as one of us, a newborn infant who needed all the care and protection of his parents, who grew up as we do, learning, working, loving, tempted, suffering and dying.
Ecce Homo (Behold the Man)
Ecce Homo (Behold the Man)
This mystery is very much among us, and the same stumbling blocks we trip on, grasping for understanding- violence and exploitation of all kinds, war, homelessness, even illness and disability. The people who live in these situations are different expressions of the same path that was foretold and brought into being in Bethlehem and ultimately on Calvary- that of humility. It was in humility that God revealed Himself, and in which he still does.
So what's the point of all this? Well, really a question: what do you see when you look around you? What do you see and feel when you see a homeless person slouched against a building or at an intersection or when you look into the face of a refugee, or a person with an intellectual or developmental disability? I can tell you for myself, it is difficult to see faces, eyes, personality- it is hard to not be uncomfortable, to know what to say, and certainly to have much expectation. Yet there is something I have learned: these are people who know, among many other things, something about humility. Each time we are with our special friends, we learn about joy, gratitude and patience, about providence and perseverance, and about taking care of each other- and a million other things we are always amazed by and which I would say, are the fruit of humility.
Did you read the story about this man, who was given $100 and then followed to see what he would do with it? Well, as expected, he went to a liquor store. Then, to the great surprise of his follower, the man came out with a large bag of food, which he proceeded to share with others.
The point? If we allow preconceived ideas, our own perceptions of how something should be, to lead us, we can be deceived, we can miss reality. Without humility we miss the light, which leads us to The Light, the Truth, and which is revealed to us in the little ones, the suffering ones, in those from whom we might least expect it.
This doesn't make much sense compared with the things we are taught to value. This is the shift in perspective the Magi had to make, and which is also our constant challenge, as Pope Francis reminds us:
"The wise men entered into the mystery. They passed from human calculations to the mystery: this was their conversion. And our own? Let us ask the Lord to let us undergo that same journey of conversion experienced by the wise men. Let us ask him to protect us and to set us free from the temptations which hide the star. To let us always feel the troubling question: “Where is the star?”, whenever – amid the deceptions of this world – we lose sight of it." [my emphasis]
The point? If we allow preconceived ideas, our own perceptions of how something should be, to lead us, we can be deceived, we can miss reality. Without humility we miss the light, which leads us to The Light, the Truth, and which is revealed to us in the little ones, the suffering ones, in those from whom we might least expect it.
"The wise men entered into the mystery. They passed from human calculations to the mystery: this was their conversion. And our own? Let us ask the Lord to let us undergo that same journey of conversion experienced by the wise men. Let us ask him to protect us and to set us free from the temptations which hide the star. To let us always feel the troubling question: “Where is the star?”, whenever – amid the deceptions of this world – we lose sight of it." [my emphasis]
