Today, is the Solemnity of the Epiphany, the day we remember the Three Kings. (The Gospel does not tell us the number of kings, by the way!)]

Because these readings are the same for every year, often times I have given the same homily every year. However, this year, I won’t. It is time to share a more profound theme that is in this story.

Matthew in his Gospel here is doing more than relating a story about some wise men from the East coming to visit Jesus. He is telling a profound spiritual parable that when we read it, we will see a deep lesson for our lives. It will lead us to make a choice. He will even display all the consequences of each choice. So what see here, like in the creation story, a profound teaching that is missed if we look at this story only at the surface.

What is happening here? We see these wise men from the East, they are not Jews, but actually gentiles, or what we would say today, pagans. They were actually Zoastrians who read the stars like you and I would read newspapers. Now, this is not an endorsement of astrology. In fact, astrology is prohibited in Judaism as much as it is prohibited in Christianity. This is the point, these people were not Jews. The Old Testament prophets predicted that the time would come when people all over the world would come to worship, in the land of the Jews, the one God. Matthew is showing us that this time is near.

The key element here is that they, out of protocol, stop and express their desire to visit the new King of the Jews to Herod. He is probably the most evil king known to history. We all know that he lies to them of his intention to worship the new king and later kills all male children under the age of two, to protect his own reign.

The magi  then go and worship Jesus, bringing gifts.

If you look at the story and contrast the Magi with Herod, you begin to see a powerful message that Matthew gives us, here and throughout his Gospel.

You have a choice, embrace Christ or the things of this world. There is no middle ground.  If you choose to embrace Christ, expect that journey to lead you far from home; be ready to leave all that is familiar in your journey and to give all that you have to the living God. If  you do this, you will be encounter this God and you will never be the same. However, if you choose the things of this world, you will seek to kill Christ to protect whatever it is of this world that you hold dear, and you will lose everything in the end.

This is Matthew’s lesson to us.

We live it everyday.

Everyday, we confront Matthew’s lesson to us. If you seek Christ, be ready to sacrifice all to find Him. If you seek the things of this world you will do all that is necessary to keep them, even to kill Christ. There is no middle ground.

In December, a powerful drama played itself out in Texas. I am sure you saw the story on the news. A teen suffered all his life from a heart condition. When he was four, he had a near death experience, that was intensely positive and he never forgot it. His life continued and over time his heart condition became more serious. He almost died in the summer during a tonsillectomy. On December 6th, he had another near death experience when he had another heart attack at school. On December 18th, he uploaded two videos to Youtube in a style that is found on the site that uses flashcards to tell a story. He used the flashcards to tell his whole story including the near death experiences. He explained that on December 6th he found himself in a peaceful place that he did not want to leave, he did not want to come back. On Christmas day, he had his fatal heart attack and died. His parents discovered the videos the following day and now they have over 3 million views worldwide.

There is a fascinating lesson in that, he was a Christian, not Catholic, but a true seeker of Christ in the way he knew. When he had his near death experience on December 6th; he did not want to come back. He was ready to give up everything to stay, in what he described through the words of a rap artist named Kid Cudi, as Heaven. It reminds me of the pearl of great price.

If you want to encounter Christ, you don’t have to give up everything, but you have to be prepared to do so.  The minute your love of Christ involves choosing anything instead of Christ, you will become hostile to Christ.

We have been attacked from outside the Church and even from inside the Church from those who have chosen their world on their terms. When you do that you become hostile to Christ. The most hostile to Catholics and even all Christians are those who most want their world their way.

Everything that you value more than Christ, can lead you to be hostile to Christ. Everything! Jesus warns about this in the Gospels.

Take this week as a community and personally to look at what is the greatest treasure in your life. If it is not Christ, can you make it less important than Christ? If not, then it will turn you from Christ. I mean everything.

• If your job is more important than Christ, it will turn you hostile to Christ.
• If prestige is more important,
• reputation,
• passion,
• lifestyle,
• political position
• and, of course, any material things.
• Even language and culture. The Church is filled with empty parishes that once flourished rooted in a language, culture or type of spirituality. Now the people still unite based on language, culture or type of spirituality; but they don’t go to church.

If this world is more important than Christ, eventually you will join it. If Christ is more important than this world, be ready to lose everything in this world, but to gain the infinite, in every sense of the term, in Christ.

As Matthew teaches us, the choice is always ours.

God Bless You,

Fr. Robert J Carr

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