Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 2,1-12.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,
saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.”
When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.
They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet:
‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.'”
Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.”
After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.
They were overjoyed at seeing the star,
and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.
Epiphany
1) The star: It is the figure that we find in this passage, it guides us to the encounter with Jesus, it is the one that illuminates the path. The one that guides and accompanies us. Today that star in your life has to have a face, surely there is a star in your life, a person, a face, a name and a surname. While you are listening to this reflection, think of the person who today is the star in your life. The term “Christian star” is that Christian who leads his brothers and sisters to Jesus, who also accompanies them on the way; that person who might not have all the answers to your questions but accompanies you, who is there by your side. Be a Christian star, that Christian who even accompanies in moments of darkness, and not a shiny Christian because the shiny Christian ends up burning and breaking relationships. A shiny Christian is that person who wants to save himself, fulfills his norms, goes to mass every Sunday and even every day but is unable to see someone beside him who needs help. The Christian star shines in the darkness of those who seek Jesus and helps them find Jesus . You also have to illuminate your brothers and sisters at night, in those moments when they cannot see anything, do not let the night of life lose them because they are your brothers and sisters.
2) Herod: He is the presence of those who seek God in an interested way, they want to use God for their business and not to worship him. Yes, he seeks God, but not to worship Him, but for his business, to save himself, and how many of those do we have around us or could it be that we are one of those that use Jesus for business or we use Him for our goals. Lord, I come to see you because I need this, and this, and this. We also plan to assassinate him because once we achieve the objective, we get rid of God, we don´t even remember him, see you later, we don´t even approach him to thank him. We eliminate him; We address God in utilitarian terms. I use you and then I throw you away.
3) The kings: We see in them how God calls people who are very different, who come from different places, but that is where unity is, the unity of Catholicism. That is the meaning of Catholicism, being universal. One of our problems is that we need to respect the charisma of others. The kings were united by a star to find Jesus. Today, we ask Jesus to let us see that star so that we can be united among us; not so divided, so that we can be united as Catholics and that we respect each other, that we respect those who evangelize in a different way, and those who come from a different institution, because one has a different charisma than the other, that is where the richness is, in the differences, and that one comes from one place and the other from another and that we are on our way to see Jesus, being able to work together not in one uniform way, not exactly the same, as we are all different. This is how we come to Jesus. Lord, today we present to you our journey. Let us always see the star.
God bless you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Remember, heaven is our goal.
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