Seeking God …

The Feast of the Epiphany (the 6th January – 12 days after Christmas Day) is both the end of Christmas and the beginning of our journey towards the Feast of the Presentation (or Candlemas), on February 2nd.

The magi are metaphors for the journey of faith of everyone seeking to find and follow God, expressed through life around us and God-Self within.  It is a continual  pilgrimage undertaken by those willing to leave the comfort of home and face uncertainties and challenges along the way, before recognising ‘God with Us’, acquiring the eye to see, the ears to hear and an open heart to all humanity.

In the Feast of the Epiphany we celebrate the visit of the Magi to the infant Christ.  The mysterious nature of the story, told only in Matthew’s gospel, allows it to be retold in many ways as a parable of dedicated search for truth and for God, regardless of the starting point (cf. Mt 2:1-12).

Writing of the Magi and their quest, Malcom Guite in his poem ‘Epiphany’ says:

Their courage gives our questing hearts a voice
To seek, to find, to worship, to rejoice.

Epiphany

It might have been just someone else’s story,
Some chosen people get a special king.
We leave them to their own peculiar glory,
We don’t belong, it doesn’t mean a thing.
But when these three arrive they bring us with them,
Gentiles like us, their wisdom might be ours;
A steady step that finds an inner rhythm,
A  pilgrim’s eye that sees beyond the stars.
They did not know his name but still they sought him,
They came from otherwhere but still they found;
In temples they found those who sold and bought him,
But in the filthy stable, hallowed ground.
Their courage gives our questing hearts a voice
To seek, to find, to worship, to rejoice.

~ Malcolm Guite, from Epiphany Sonnets in his book ‘Sounding Seasons (Poetry for the Christian Year).

See also The door is always open – Presentation Sisters Union North East Ireland (presentationsistersne.ie)