(Image courtesy of Unsplash Aziz Acharki)

“We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.”

Matthew 2:2

When the pandemic hit, I wasn’t paying attention to stars, I was focused on a way of escaping the circumstances that had suddenly unfolded in my life. I begged God daily to do something, to remove the evil that was surrounding me. I persisted in prayer and believed that God would intervene. I just didn’t realize that His intervention meant that I would have to leave.

Being taken away from the world I knew around me, the world I had known for over a decade, I had no idea where I was going. Everything suddenly seemed dark and unmanageable and all the people I became accustomed to seeing every day were no longer. I couldn’t understand why God had removed me for doing exactly what I was told by Him to do. Why was I suffering when the ones who had perpetrated these evils were still there? How could I sit by and watch so many of the people I cared about continue to suffer?

I looked for answers in many things. During mass, my rosary, and in my daily scripture reading. In my visits to the Blessed Sacrament and in talks with trusted friends. And in everything, I seemed to find no answers. I was devastated, exhausted, and confused.

Where was God?

Have you been there? Evil, betrayal and darkness are all real symptoms of the brokenness in our world, the ability of man to cause chaos and destruction without a care in the world for its repercussions, the collateral damage that is left behind. How many of us have been hurt, devastated and used? How many of us have been that collateral damage?

Where are you Lord? Don’t you see what’s going on?

But have we ever considered looking up? Continuing to follow that star, that light that leads to Christ? Could it be that simple?

On this Sunday as we celebrate the Epiphany of our Lord, consider its meaning in our own lives. The revealing of God incarnate as Jesus Christ.

With the revelation of Christ comes meaning.

Where is God trying to reveal himself to you?

If we look to anything other than Christ, we soon become lost. Our suffering becomes meaningless. We are free to search the four corners of the earth for answers, but our free-roaming will only result in God saying, “Look up.”

The revelation of God becoming man, of Christ, is the shining of light, is the truth, is the glory God chose to bring down to us. This realization alone should bring us back to why we signed up to be Catholics in the first place.

I have come to realize in my searching for answers that checking off boxes is not worship and simply being present is not praise. I should have looked up at the crucifix and stayed there, keeping our Lord company. Because one glance and I would have been reminded of what the world did to Him. A disciple that He chose betrayed Him, His own people rejected Him, and ultimately the truth of who He was landed Him on that cross.

Today if you are looking for answers to whatever you may be going through, go back to the simple truth of Christ. And instead of looking around, look up.