Epiphany 1,2,3 (Matt 2:112)

SEARCH FOR GOD IN PRAYER

"Epiphany" means "showing, or "making public". Today, we celebrate Jesus the Saviour, brought to the public notice of the people who were not Israelites. What’s more to the point, they accepted him.

The Magi were possibly astrologers from Petra in modern Jordan, which is to the east, rather than from Babylon in Persia, to the north. Their visit represents the respect paid to the Saviour of Israel by the gentile nations. Jesus was shown to the nonIsraelites as their Saviour also.

They found him, but only after a long and difficult search. Finally, "going into the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage" (Mt 2:11).

We can see in the long journey of the Magi our own search for God especially through prayer. I would like to consider this aspect of the Epiphany. The search calls for effort and selfsacrifice. It demands faithfulness to the light that God gives us, determination to follow what light we are given, and rejoicing in the light when it is bright and clear.

We learn, like the Magi, that our search involves the gift of ourselves, our time, attention, longing, and affection. We are successful at some times more than at others. Success is often marked by our joy at being at home in God's presence.

So, Epiphany carries an invitation to deepen our prayer life and to be more aware of God's presence in our daily life. Praying is absolutely essential for maintaining a life of faith and hope and love for God and others.

There are different ways of praying, and they are all important.

At present, we are offering public worship together with one another who believe in the same God and Saviour Jesus Christ. We share the same words, we sing together. We are not supposed to cut ourselves off from those who are worshiping with us. Now is not the time for private devotions. Instead, we support one another in praying, and in living fraternally as fellow Christians.

There is a less public way of praying, and that is with our religious community or in our home with the family. This is important, too, for building up unity in faith and love. Here, too, we pray together, and use set forms of prayer, such as the Liturgy of the Hours, or the rosary, and grace before meals. Perhaps, we belong to a prayer group.

Then, there is private, personal prayer, which we do for some time each day, by ourselves. We make time for personal prayer, and free ourselves from having to do anything else at that time. We drop every other interest, and search for the presence of God in our lives. We don't have to kneel. We can be seated, or standing, or walking, or on a train, or driving - although we had better keep our eye on the road - whatever helps us most to concentrate on the presence of God. We use our favourite prayers, such as the Our Father, or we simply use our own words to speak to God. We tell God about ourselves and our needs. God knows already, but we need to spell them out. We also adore, praise, and thank God in our own words or in silence.

When we practise prayer alone, or together with our community or family, or join in public worship, then prayer is more than a formal procedure. Informality is fashionable nowadays. Many of us have dropped the formality of our Sunday best, but we don't come to parade our labels or our virtues, any more than the Magi came to parade their expensive gifts. We come as we are, to find Jesus, our Saviour and our God.

Mary’s Child may bless us with his own gift of enjoying his presence in silent wonder and contemplation.

No doubt, we pray in these ways already. We discover ourselves, but more importantly we discover the other person who is ultimately Jesus, our Saviour. And doesn't he challenge us at times! He confronts us through our conscience, draws us out of ourselves and turns us towards him in himself and in others.

When our prayer is not just a formal relationship, or getting through garbled words as quickly as possible; when it is a deep friendship that draws us out and joins us to Jesus in gratitude and affection, then, like the Magi, we have found our Saviour. He shows himself to us.

May Jesus, our Saviour, teach us to pray and guide us to find him in every moment and every circumstance of our life.