As a public presentation to the world, we respond. Both shepherds and Magi responded by seeking out the Child to marvel and to worship. However, Herod responded with a somewhat malignant motive. Jesus was right when He told the Apostles, “Those who are with us are for us and those who are not with us are against us”. Either you are on His side or you are not. Herod was on the opposite side of Jesus.
If we fancy ourselves on the side of Jesus, then we have things to think about.
The three Magi brought gifts befitting the King. More than the status of a King is true worship. If anything, the gifts, even with gold, were just side shows. Significantly, these men had come from the far ends of the known world to behold the Child. That is devotion and dedication. Perhaps we should ask what attitude we bear when we come before the Lord.
Our present attitude is pretty much exposed via the system of obligation. The present religious practice is that we are required to attend Mass on a Sunday or any of the designated days of obligation. If the basic attitude were simply to fulfil it, then we may have just missed out on what the Magi did. They were under no obligation to come from afar. Yet they willingly embraced the hardship of travel in order to come and behold the child. Can you imagine yourself moving heaven and earth in order to come worship the Lord? Or do you feel compelled to be here? Last Sunday, when we launched the Jubilee, as part of the rite, there was a procession into the Cathedral. We announced that those with mobility issues should remain while those who can walk should join in the procession. There were mutterings about having to “vacate” the Cathedral and to go out into the hot sun. When we chafe under such a minor inconvenience, can we endure a more rigorous demand like persecution for our beliefs? We have become worshippers of convenience.
Compulsion does not grow well in the soil of freedom. St Augustine in his famous Confessions remarked that the God who created us without our permission cannot save us without our cooperation. That is how profoundly free we are—to accept or to reject. But God is also a “mysterium tremendum et fascinans”. It means that He is both a fearful and a fascinating mystery. Whether we recognise it or not, man fears that God will punish him if he does not toe the line. Even the Psalms highlight the fear of the Lord as a virtue. Whilst its meaning is “reverence”, what we hear it as “terror” or being terrified by the Lord. In fact, dictators are powerful because they know how to exploit our weakness which is the fear of the consequence of our inability to love.
But if like the Magi, nothing is going to stop us from coming to worship the Lord, then, gifts should be unfolded. If we come here because our hearts are searching for the Lord, then our gifts will represent that. We bring our best before the Lord. Perhaps the system of tithing might be brought up. Tithe is a method of ensuring that if all else fails, at least 10% is reserved for the Lord. But that can brings us back to the compulsion of giving. True giving is not calculative. To clarify, I am not suggesting donation. Just trying to see how we can move away from having to be dutiful out of compulsion to being dedicated out of love.
The Cathedral that is rebuilt in the centre of Paris should be our model. The French decided to return to the ancient Gothic structure that represented the best of what the mediaeval artisans erected for the Lord. Those Gothic monuments soaring into the sky sprang from a foundation of love. Since that should be the case, then we should spare no effort to give God our best. It is represented by our offering to Him the best of who we are. It is quality and not just quantity.
The same qualitative principle at work is to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbour as ourselves. Again the love for the Lord is the engine that powers our love for others and not the other around. Loving others in order to “prove” that we love God is to fall into the trap of giving grudgingly at best or merely fulfilling the obligation at worst. A good example is when the collection bag comes. Everyone seems to be putting in. You will look bad if you alone do not put anything in. The giving will be grudgingly or just fulfilling the obligation. Again the point is where our heart is, there is our treasure.
Finally, after the Magi had offered their best, they also made the decision to follow the star on their way home. Having the desire to worship God, we render Him the finest gift of ourselves and we should earnestly strive to follow the north Star. This so-called “true Star” is not the same as that which is promoted by popular culture. Our “celebrity star” puts a stress on my self-fulfilment and whatever I want to do. Everyone is his or her my own star. No. The Star is Christ Himself. He is the light that shines upon our path. Once we have found Him, we must not let go, no matter what. He is the treasure which we would want to hold onto forever, even if it should cost our life.
