Are you looking for something more?
- Fr Raphael Ma, CR
- Matthew 2: 1 - 12
A Resurrectionist Vocation Minute for January 7, Epiphany of the Lord
Are you looking for something more?
Today’s Gospel commemorates the story of the arrival of the wise men from the East, who “observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”
We almost take it for granted that these wise men set out on a journey. It’s just part of the Christmas story that we’ve grown accustomed to. But why would anyone actually make the journey? Why would anyone leave the familiarity and comforts of home to go to a foreign land and a foreign people, to pay homage to a foreign king?
The late Pope Benedict XVI in the third volume of his Jesus of Nazareth trilogy, observed that the wise men must have been people of inner unrest, people of hope, people looking for more.
We may never know exactly what made the wise men set out on their journey, but can we honestly say we ever know why anyone – or even ourselves – sets out on a journey?
St. Augustine of Hippo once wrote: “our heart is restless until it rests in you.” We all have a star, that “something more” we’re longing for – no matter how empty or fulfilled life may be for us right now. Do you believe God calls us through these longings? It’s a risk to acknowledge and set out for that something more – but if we don’t take the risk, how will we discover what God is calling us to through it?
“The response of the individual to the call of Christ to imitate personally his life of chastity, poverty and obedience by a life lived in the Congregation marks the beginning of the process of formation. Just as Samuel, when he first heard the call of the Lord, did not know who was speaking to him or what was required of him, so a man, when he enters religious life, needs help to understand the nature, the dignity and the importance of his vocation… the reality of this call is the basis of all formation,”