Do you ever wonder if life just kind of happens? Maybe it’s the time of year; the excitement of Christmas and New Years is past, the prospects of three or four months of dark and cold, can make us sad or depressed. Maybe its just watching the news. This past week, seeing the conviction of Bishop Lahey, the tragedy of more violence and genocide in Sudan, it can make us wonder… ‘is God at work? God, are you the orchestra director in all of this, and if so exactly what kind of music are you trying to play anyways?’ Well, in the midst of this ‘darkness’ we hear a passage of scripture that seems to speak of this as well: “ See, darkness covers the earth,
and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the LORD shines, and over you appears his glory.” In the midst of the darkness of this world, God’s light is breaking in. Maybe, just maybe there is some kind of Divine Conspiracy at work. Sometimes I wonder.
Sometimes the Lord gives me a little light. Once in a while I receive a little ‘epiphany’. The other day I was a little worried, a little stressed about decisions needing to be made in the parish, and in my own life. I plopped down in the chapel and asked the Lord, ‘ so what about it, anyways?’. It was like the Lord said, ‘ Randy, my love is not conditional on you getting it right all the time. Whatever decisions you make, I’ll be in your corner’. Ahhh, what a relief! What ever decisions I make, good or bad, God’s love is constant. That’s good news for me! Something I already know, but a reminder nonetheless. A little light and consolation.
Now, I wonder, how was that able to happen for me… how does one come to an epiphany anyways? Some will say that these moments of insight can just come to people ‘out of the blue’. Imagine for a second Isaac Newton. Sitting under the tree, an apple falls on his head and, eureka, he thinks GRAVITY! Ben Franklyn is out flying his kite. Lightning strikes and, eureka, he thinks , ELECTRICITY! Mark Zuckerberg is thinking, ‘hmmm how could I become a billionaire’ and, eureka, he thinks, FACEBOOK! If we were to reflect on these men’s lives we’d probably see that these weren’t just one off occurrences but they led lives reflecting, and wondering, which led up to these moments. Maybe it was the same for myself. I had put myself in a space to ‘hear from the Lord’ when I went to the chapel to pray.
And what about the Magi in today’s Gospel? In a similar way they had to respond to the circumstances that were presented before them. They saw a star arise. They made a decision to follow it. But even in doing so they may not have been aware of the whole ‘Divine Conspiracy’ taking place that was bigger than themselves. One that involved a whole group of people… Mary and Joseph, Shepherds, Angels, all playing a part, which could lead to these Magi, these outsiders encountering Christ.
Kind of reminds me of our Christmas celebrations here at the parish: decorators, readers, servers, sacristans, children in the pagent, singers and more. All playing a part in the ‘Divine Conspiracy’. All to create the circumstances that maybe a person comes to mass ‘out of the blue’ on Christmas Eve and experiences love, grace, peace, a sense of God’s presence. Isn’t it amazing that God trusts us… you and I with being a part of his plans and work in people’s lives!
Now, I think we can all use those little or big epiphanies in our lives, but we can’t ‘make’ them happen. The best we can do is set up the circumstances for God’s light and grace to come to us. Let me reflect for a moment on three ways we can make that happen in our own life.
1. Ask
The first is to ask for it. Knock and the door will be opened, seek and you will find, ask and it will be granted to you, give us this day our daily bread. In God’s word we’re reminded over and over, ASK! God’s word either is true or it isn’t. If we believing its true… then lets ask. Make it a big ask. Share with the Lord the desire of your heart, the hope and dream of your heart.
2. Make Space
If we’re asking then we’ve got to make some space to hear an answer. This might mean making some prayer space. Taking some time of quiet to hear from God. It might meaning making some headspace. Keeping an open mind that God might be able to work, and speak through a particular person or situation. Maybe in making some heartspace, that we can observe the different feelings and emotions that are moving within us, and understand what God might be saying through them.
3. Act.
Its all well and good to receive an epiphany from the Lord, but are we ready to act on it? Think of the stories of God’s calling people in the Bible: Abraham and Moses, Joseph and Mary, Peter and Paul. They all heard from the Lord and acted on what God was saying to them. We see this in 20th Century Saints Like Mother Theresa or John Paul II. Now sometimes acting on the call can be messy, or we can get it ‘wrong’. This can freeze us, make us scared to act. Fr. Bob Bedard would often tell us priests, “don’t be afraid to do foolish things for the Lord”. We are invited to believe that as we step out in faith, and act on God’s word, whether we’ve gotten it quite right or not, he will bless us, and care for us.
Maybe a final reminder. God can work through the broken conspiracies of life as well. He worked through Herod’s greed to point the Magi in the right direction. He can work through the broken circumstances of our lives to bring about good , and that is Good News!
So, in the midst of long dark days, without much sun, and spring a distant reality, we can ask the Lord in this new year, ‘Entrust to me oh Lord, a fresh word, a new insight, a greater understanding’. We can trust that God will also be at work through us, to be a part of his Divine Conspiracy bringing light hope and grace to our world in such great need of it.
