{"id":1569,"date":"2015-01-05T10:00:07","date_gmt":"2015-01-05T10:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/?p=1569"},"modified":"2014-12-22T14:15:03","modified_gmt":"2014-12-22T14:15:03","slug":"commentary-epiphany-lord-6th-jan-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/commentary-epiphany-lord-6th-jan-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Commentary on Epiphany of The Lord 6th Jan 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s commentary is given by Fr Donagh O\u2019Shea OP (http:\/\/goodnews.ie<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Ours is not the first age to look east for wisdom; the East has always had a reputation for it.\u00a0 The word \u2018magi\u2019 is translated here as \u201cwise men.\u201d\u00a0 \u2018Magus\u2019 meant different things: a magus was a member of the Persian priestly caste; or one who possessed occult knowledge and power (this is the origin of our word \u2018magic\u2019).\u00a0 If people had the careless habit of throwing around the term \u2018New Age\u2019 in those times as many do now, the Magi would certainly have been called New Agers.<\/p>\n

Herod was one of history\u2019s great tyrants: he spared no one, not even his own family; to keep his grip on power he murdered his wife, three of his sons, his brother-in-law, an uncle, and his mother-in-law.\u00a0 He had been appointed \u201cKing of the Jews\u201d by the Senate in 40 BC and he had already reigned for over thirty years.\u00a0 He was in no mind to hear of a new king, especially one who was no son of his. \u201cHe was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him.\u201d\u00a0 He was frightened to hear of a rival, and the people were frightened because they knew what he was capable of.\u00a0\u00a0 But the chief priests and the scribes \u2013 the religious authorities of the day \u2013 were able to give him directions in locating this rival.\u00a0 They knew in detail about the expected arrival of \u201cthe anointed one.\u201d\u00a0 They had studied the Scriptures, they knew the prophesies, they knew where to look.\u00a0 And they used all that knowledge to direct a killer to him.\u00a0 Nor was it just a momentary lapse of judgment: Herod would fail to kill him, but later on they would succeed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Magi were foreigners, pagans, astrologers: everything that was most base in the eyes of the religious authorities.\u00a0 Though they had not the benefit of the prophecies the Magi came and did the Child homage.\u00a0 Tradition calls them \u201ckings\u201d \u2013 judging, probably, by the wealth of the gifts they brought.\u00a0 At any rate they came looking for a king.\u00a0 Where do you look for a king?\u00a0 In a palace.\u00a0 Who else is likely to be there?\u00a0 A royal family.\u00a0 But the Magi came to a cave or a stable where they found a poor family, with animals and perhaps a few shepherds.\u00a0 All the appearances would have told them they had made a ridiculous mistake, yet \u201cfalling to their knees, they did him homage.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

We can look at the significance of this from many angles.\u00a0 Preparation is no guarantee that you will be ready; it may actually blind you, because you prepare according to your own idea.\u00a0 There is no substitute for an open heart; learning sometimes has the effect of closing the heart, and in some cases even the mind.\u00a0 Religious authority is the most perilous of all: the claims are absolute, the deepest things are at stake, and with the years comes the habit of listening to no one.\u00a0 The most chilling feature of this story is the collusion of the religious leaders with Herod. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Later on, when simple people were shouting out their enthusiasm for John, the Pharisees said to him, \u201cTeacher, order your disciples to stop.\u201d\u00a0 He answered, \u201cI tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out\u201d (John 19:40-41).\u00a0 We are not to be surprised at where praise of God can spring up.\u00a0 It is not recorded that any of the authorities went with to Magi to search for the Child; it was the pagan astrologers who sought and found him.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s commentary is given by Fr Donagh O\u2019Shea OP (http:\/\/goodnews.ie). Ours is not the first age to look east for wisdom; the East has always had a reputation for it.\u00a0 The word \u2018magi\u2019 is translated here as \u201cwise men.\u201d\u00a0 \u2018Magus\u2019 meant different things: a magus was a member of the Persian priestly caste; or one<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-feasts-celebrations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1572,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569\/revisions\/1572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}