by Fr. Tommy Lane
There are, we might say, parallel universes in the Gospel today (Matt 2:1-12). There is the world of the three kings, and there is Herod in his world. The three kings were men of faith, not the faith of the Jewish people, but men of faith, faith strong enough to cause them to travel to find Jesus. There is also the world of Herod, a dark and dangerous world. He was power-hungry and killed one of his wives, her parents, and two of his sons. Soon after today’s Gospel, he had about thirty young boys around Bethlehem killed in the hopes that he could snuff out the Messiah even though at this time Herod was already in his sixties (Matt 2:16-18). Did he think he would live forever and that by the time Jesus would be an adult, he would still be king of Judea and Jesus would be a threat to him? Herod was devious and deceitful, and completely duplicitous in his conversation with the kings. His intentions were evil. His mind was horrific. It was filled with horrible thoughts. Contrast his intentions with the intentions of the kings. They had beautiful intentions. They had calm minds. Their minds were filled with peace. These two worlds, the horrific world of Herod and the peaceful world of the three kings, came together briefly in conversation but then parted never to meet again. How could Herod in his dark, dark mind, ever understand the world of the three kings? He could not unless he underwent a major conversion. He would need, we might say, brainwashing. He would need all the evil thoughts and intentions washed out of his mind to be replaced by good, calm, and peaceful thoughts in order to understand the world of the three kings.
We live in these two worlds. Just as there are parallel universes in the Gospel, we too live in parallel universes. There is a world of calm and peace around us and there is a world of horrible intentions around us. One example of the world of calm and peace is that on Sunday night it was announced on social media that the following day, New Year’s Day, there would be three hours of prayer from 3-6pm to Our Lady on a hill in Bosnia for peace and as a gift to Our Lady for her intentions. It was raining but 10,000 people showed up on the hill to pray the rosary together and sing a verse of a hymn after each decade of the rosary. They stayed in the rain praying for three hours. It was broadcast on the internet and hundreds of thousands of people around the world joined in praying with them online. If I were to guess, based on partial viewer statistics, I would guess that up to a million prayed the rosary together for three hours on New Year’s Day for peace and for Our Lady’s intentions after it being announced only the previous evening on social media. I am sure that nothing like it ever happened before. There is also the evil world around us. It impacts each of us in different ways. Just as there are parallel universes in the Gospel, we too live in a time of parallel universes and two worlds.
One of the parallel universes is a happy place, the one with Jesus at the center beside his mother Mary. Although the kings encountered the evil world of Herod, they were not overly impacted by it because they went to Jesus and Mary and were guided home a different way. Whenever we are impacted by the evil of the world around us, we too can go to Jesus and Mary to experience peace. There is no other way to experience true peace in the midst of the world such as it is. We know that we are not understood by others, that their world is so different to ours that it is difficult to help them understand our world. But we can pray for them with love and ask Jesus and Mary to protect us.
The three hours of prayer on Monday were a beautiful gift to Our Lady. A gift to Our Lady is a gift to Jesus. The three kings found Jesus with Mary. We too will find Jesus with Mary so a gift to Our Lady is a gift to Jesus. The three kings gave gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Jesus. If we have not yet given a gift to Jesus or Mary during this Christmas season, there is still time to do so.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2024
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for January 6: Epiphany of Our Lord
God will win the battle against evil 2021
The gift of our love for Jesus 2020
The events of the Epiphany played out today 2013
Jesus’ birth revealed to the nations by a star because Jesus is Savior of all 2007
From star reading, horoscopes, and astrology to worshiping Jesus
Baby Jesus, the Wise Men and Herod (also in mp3 meditation reduced quality)
stories for Christmas