Who led the Magi by a star

Who led the Magi by a star

On this feast of The Epiphany we remember especially the Magi.

The Magi followed a star all the way to where the Christ-child was, and were able to bring him gifts and worship him. They saw something that was to them an unmistakeable sign. If only it were always so obvious which was the correct way to follow God’s will for our lives. But many of us never really have that sense of absolute certainty that the Magi had.

A star to follow would certainly make our journey of faith easier. Or anything else that gave us a definite path to follow — a huge arrow in the sky labelled, “This way Paul!”, for instance, would be helpful. Although, even with something so clear, I know I would still manage to get things wrong.

The discernment process is something that I imagine people have agonized over for many years. And there’s probably as many different methods as there are people; what is helpful to one person may not be helpful to another.

I think of my own method as, “trying the doors”. I’ll keep trying to open doors and pray that God will allow to open the ones I need to step through, and keep closed those that I should be avoiding. It helps me. I don’t always get it right, far from it in fact, but I suspect that’s down to me and not God — I probably don’t push so hard on doors that I’d prefer not to go through, and take a battering ram to those that look appealing. Looking back on life I can see times, though, where it has worked, and I’ve been guided into doing what God wants of me.

How about you? What helps you discern the right course for your journey of faith?

Creator of the heavens,
who led the Magi by a star
to worship the Christ-child:
guide and sustain us,
that we may find our journey’s end
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Additional Collect for The Epiphany
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council