Have you ever seen the night sky? Well, of course, you have. But when you live in Chicago the amount of light pollution obscures the awesome beauty of the night. Go out into the Arizona desert, far from any light on a moonless night, with little distorting humidity in the air. While there, you feel like you can reach out and almost touch the stars. And the Milky Way, the Milky Way seems to be a highway toward a cosmic adventure. Any pre-modern person would know the night sky much better than we do. Take the Magi – they would have walked out into the night and seen with their naked eyes 5,000 or so stars. When they told King Herod, “We saw his star at its rising” they were really saying something. From all the stars out there, they recognized the one that witnessed to the “newborn king of the Jews.” Other people in the East saw the same star but didn’t recognize it for what it was – a sign of God’s presence. Here is Chicago we don’t have the astronomical or astrological insight to look up into the sky and see a sign of the Emmanuel, God with us. But there are more mundane stars, markers, indicators of God in our midst. We need the eyes to see these earthly stars for what they are. Let me list some of mine as a way of prompting your recognition of the signs of God’s presence in your life.
I am thinking, for example, of my first Christmas at St. James. After Church I went downstairs to a beehive of activity. The food pantry was hosting its annual luncheon for the homeless and their guests. The hall was beautifully decorated. There was Santa and toys. Music was playing and a wonderful Polo meal was prepared. Each table had a host or two to welcome guests for the dinner. Between the servers, the hosts, and the elves there were more than fifty volunteers all giving up their Christmas morning to make sure that their neighbors had a welcoming experience on Christmas day. I thought, Christ is truly present here in this place on Christmas. Of course, the daily fidelity of the star-quality volunteers who give of themselves and their time day after day, week after week is a constant inspiration. But that particular day filled me with a deep sense of awe that Christ was born in time and took concrete shape in the basement of this Church. The volunteers were stars showing the way to Jesus.
Another beacon enabling me to encounter the coming of Christ is the Bible. Every day there are readings from the Bible at prayers and Mass but every so often a text reaches out and grabs me and shakes me to let me know the presence of God. Psalm 16: you will show me the path of life and fullness of joy forever. Jeremiah: I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you hope and a future. St. Paul: I am convinced that neither life nor death, nothing in the past or in the future will keep me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. St. John: see what love the Father has bestowed upon that we should be called the children of God. But that is what we are. The Bible provides many stars to guide me toward God-with-us, Emmanuel.
This community has been a star showing me the way. Once in the back of Church vesting before Mass I felt a buzz of happiness in the congregation. People were just doing what we do every Sunday (at least before covid), greeting one another, welcoming the stranger, reach out to those who have been away, asking about those unable to come. This is what God intends for us, I thought. We are the body of Christ, the presence of God in the world, when we do those things which lift our minds and spirits in a genuine experience of community. We don’t need to go any further than our own back yard to find the star leading us to Jesus.
For me too, walking on the beach is a star-like experience. Once on the Outer Banks I was walking the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and there was not another human soul around – just lots of birds and crashing waves and skittering crabs and fragrant sea breezes with the tide making its slow progress across the sand. I remembering thinking: this scene has played out this way for hundreds of thousands of years. Being on the beach that day gave me a sense of the eternal, of the God who works the divine magic in ways beyond human reckoning. This moment in nature was a star showing me God’s presence
There are many more stars out there: My brother who overcame his addiction to alcohol to attain not only sobriety but serenity; A young couple who welcomed a handicapped child into their home despite the warning of how difficult it would be with a shrug, “Well, no child is perfect;” Sister Thea’s courage as she was facing terminal cancer with the declaration that she intended to live until she died. The point of all this is not to highlight my experience. It is not unique or special. Every single one of us could make a similar list – times, places, people who were stars, who showed us the presence of God in our lives. All we need do is pay attention. This time of year it is a custom to make a resolution. Let me suggest a resolution we can all make. Every day when we say our prayers let’s think about the last day, the past twenty-four hours. As we review the day notice where we saw the face of God that day and give thanks for it. In that way we too will become magi, those wise people who become overjoyed by following the stars that lead us to see our God is with us.
