One of my favorite authors, Annie Dillard, observed that if you want to see the stars you must leave you nice, warm, comfortable, well-lit room and go out into the darkness. We might add, and if you are looking for a particular star you must go into the darkness often since the stars move with the seasons and you must have studied the heavens to name the one you are looking for. (“Oh look, there is Antares.”) The Magi were able to recognize the star that led them to Jesus because they were willing to go into the darkness again and again and look.
This can serve as a metaphor for the life of prayer. Often our prayer is one of petition, asking God for what we and our world needs. This is a right and proper thing to do since it puts us in right relationship, God as the giver and we as the receiver. But petitionary prayer is not the only type of prayer and it can be dangerous if we limit our prayer to petition. When we don’t get what we are asking for we all too easily can think God doesn’t care, isn’t listening, isn’t there. To prevent this from happening we must use other types of prayer — traditionally they are praise, thanksgiving, contrition, petition. For me the most important prayer is what I caLL the prayer of presence, of simply being with God. Psalm 131:2 puts it “I have stilled my soul, Like a weaned child to its mother.” The image of resting in mother’s arms captures what prayer is. But this kind of prayer requires entering into the darkness. You must quiet your mind and not be remembering what she said to you yesterday, thinking of the chores you have today, making a grocery list, recalling that scene from the movie. Our minds are constantly churning and to truly be in the presence of God demands quieting our souls and sitting in the dark. As the magi learned, this is not a one time thing but you must enter the dark again and again to find the way to Jesus.
To stretch the metaphor — for the magi to find Jesus they needed companions on the journey. I doubt if one magus (the singular of magi) would remained in the darkness long enough to see the star and then make the journey. It was because he had companions that he persisted in star-gazing and persevered in seeking the child. That is our story of prayer as well. We also need companions in prayer, those who are struggling as we are in the darkness, those who are walking with us toward Jesus. But as the story of the magi demonstrates, having people with us in prayer eventually gets us to our heart’s desire.
