Someone once described love as the ability to see butterflies in caterpillars. I think that holds true for faith too. The feast we celebrate today, the Epiphany, is a good example of that.
Epiphany, a strange sounding word of Greek origin, simply means seeing something, or someone, more clearly than ever before. It’s sudden, and it takes your breath away. Something we are very familiar with we suddenly discover has more to it than we thought. Someone we thought we knew inside out suddenly gob-smacks us into seeing that we can’t take her, or him, or anyone else for granted ever. Mystery rules, ok! That’s epiphany. We need constant contact with mystery so life’s richness isn’t diluted.
After their vision, the three wise men in today’s gospel reading (Mt 2:1-12) have their dream. It warns them to avoid Herod. Some people can’t cope with mystery. Their attitude is all wrong, their values are all wrong, they are all wrong. As the wise men avoided Herod, so too must we, with whatever name or in whatever form he may appear. He’s the one who tramples on caterpillars and thinks butterflies are for the birds. Clearly, besides mystery we also need our dreams.
Copyright: Fr. Tom Cahill SVD (Intercom) |
