A few years ago, shortly after my ordination as a priest, I was serving as a curate there in the Parish of Ss Peter and Paul in Athlone. I lived for two years in the presbytery there and while I was there I had to re-learn how to light a fire. I hadn't lit a fire in perhaps ten years but the house I lived in needed a fire for a bit of heat in the evenings.
I learned how to light a coal fire, a turf fire, and a fire made mostly from wood. There are a few basic things that I learned about making a fire: It's easier to light small, dry pieces of fuel; a fire made from a mix of fuels will light quicker and be easier to keep going; there has to be plenty of air in the fire to get it going; and obviously wet fuel is useless!
Things that give life to us
Even while our lives may seem to us to be shrouded in darkness; in the midst of that darkness, already the light – a small, dim, flickering light is shining in the darkness, inviting us to follow the way of light and life and peace.
The gospel this morning is more than simply the story of the three wise men. It isn't simply a nice follow-on from the nativity story. No, it is a key part of the gospel and it tells us two really important things – who Jesus really is, and who we really can be. We struggle with both of these, not just one of them. We don't just struggle with believing in God, we struggle with believing in ourselves!
The first thing the gospel tells us is who Jesus really is. The three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh are three ways of telling us about Jesus. Gold tells us that Jesus is a King. Frankincense tells us that Jesus is divine and worthy of worship. And Myrrh tells us that Jesus is really human, that he really suffered and died. The bringing together of these three aspects of Jesus tell us that he is a culmination of all three of these parts of life.
So, in imitating Jesus we have to get to grips with our own power, our divine calling, and the reality of our human existence. Ignoring any of these aspects of our own life means that we are somehow diminished. Likewise, if we over-emphasise any one of these three we are also not complete. Finally, we know that it is not in possessing the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh that Jesus is Kingly, divine and human, but rather that the three gifts symbolise and recognise these qualities of the Christ-child.
If we are to light up our lives today with the light of faith, then we must be willing to discover anew what our real power is as persons, what the divine is actually calling us to do, and what human life is really all about.
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