12 January 2018
Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
The feast of Epiphany recalls for us the image of wise men following a star. Various fictional accounts and pious elaborations have described the travails of the wise men as the traversed “moor and mountain” to get to their goal. Some medieval mystery plays even have them stopping at a neighborhood inn for a quick pint. What drives these men is the desire to fulfill a goal, to find the king identified by the star. Ignatius establishes a similar setting in the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises when in his first Principle and Foundation he identifies the goal of human endeavors as union with God and creation as the possible means to attain this value. As we conclude the octave of the Epiphany we should reflect on the stars we follow, and, as part of our New Year examine, ask what it is that guides our decisions and our resources.