Do we see the hand of God working in our lives?

“We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage” (Mt 2:2).

 

These words of the Magi show us that they were observers of the heavens and of the stars. We now have the advantage of telescopes to see the stars. Recently I’ve been learning a bit more about telescopes. It’s amazing how they work and how they assist us in knowing how vast the universe really is. I think if the Magi had lived in our time, they might have wanted to work at NASA with the Hubble Space Telescope.

 

Yet the star they followed only took them as far as Herod, as Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen explains in one of his talks on the true meaning of Christmas. Archbishop Sheen then says that it was the scriptural prophesies from the book of Micah which pointed them to Bethlehem: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (5:1).

 

Was it a supernova, was it the aligning of planets? Was it the birth of a new star? These were astrologers who took time and charted the heavens. They recognized when a new star came into being. It seems whatever the phenomenon was, only those who were looking for it seemed to notice it. This small celestial detail pointed to the arrival of the Savior. So it would seem God preferred to come in obscurity, in a way that many would not see or recognize him, but only those who were looking for him.

 

As we finish the Christmas season, let us ask ourselves if we have seen Jesus in the small events of our lives. It amazes me how active heaven is during the Christmas story. It is the angels who instruct the Holy Family, often in the night or in a dream. Do we see the hand of God at work in our story, too? Do we experience the help of heaven guiding us as we also seek to meet the newborn King?

 

Father Timothy Forgét is pastor of St. Jane Frances de Chantal Parish in Randolph and St. Mary of the Seven Dolors Parish in Osmond. Contact him at twforget@archomaha.org.