By Sr. Mary Mc Cormick
Epiphany, season of journeys, offers starlight as guide for the yet uncharted paths of our own interior life. With the Magi and Elizabeth Ann, we ‘walk by faith and not by sight.’
Leader: Star of Bethlehem, you were sent to guide the Magi who
searched for truth and found Jesus, the morning star that never sets.
Their place at the table of welcome acts as assurance for all who
come to Jesus looking for light, looking for a place to call home.
Response: “You will come at last to know the truth, and the truth
will make you free.” (Jn 8:32)
L.: Elizabeth, you risked everything to follow your own star, hoping
against hope that it would lead you into a larger truth about home,
presence, belonging.
R.: “O my God!… your word is truth and without contradiction
wherever it is! One faith, one hope, one Baptism I look for
wherever it is, and I often think my sins, my miseries, hide the
light. Yet will I cling and hold to my God to the last gasp, begging
for that light, and never change until I find it.” (Journal to Amabilia
Filicchi, July 19, 1804)
L.: Elizabeth, rebel that you were, once convinced of the truth of your
new-found belief, you let nothing stand in your way. Sailing on the high
seas, confronted by danger on all sides, you plotted your own course to
the Church, your ‘ark of refuge’.
R.: “…we will go to judgment together, and present Our Lord (with)
His own words; and if He says,…“I did not mean that,” we will say,
“ Since You said You would be always, even to the end of ages, with
this church you built with your blood– if you ever left it, it is your
Word which misled us. Therefore, please…pardon (us) for your own
Word’s sake.” (Journal to Amabilia Filicchi, January 1805)
L.: Elizabeth, like the Magi, you allowed yourself to be open to the surprises
of the God who cannot be contained in the ordinary and predictable. You
walked in darkness, and found yourself transformed by the light.
R.: “Is it nothing to sleep serene under his guardian wing, to awake to
the brightness of the glorious sun with renewed strength and renewed
blessings – to be blessed with the power of instant communion with
the Father of our spirits, the sense of his presence, the influences of
his love?” (May, 1802)
Quiet time
Reflection: What have been the – perhaps surprising – ways in which I have
been led by the star of my truth? How did it bring me to a place where I
knew ‘the sense of God’s presence, the influence of God’s love’?
Intercessions: Let us pray for those who:
- Seek fulfillment in all the wrong places
- Cannot seem to find their way to peace or reconciliation
- Are caught in the grip of poverty, homelessness, war
- Fall through the cracks of our economic, health and judicial ‘systems’
- Are neither wanted nor loved
- And who… (add your own intentions)
Let us pray: As we celebrate your feast today, Elizabeth, we rejoice in your
courage, fidelity, integrity. When the shadows of the night threaten to
overwhelm us, let us remember that darkness is the pre-requisite for seeing
starlight. May the star that guided your journey be with us to enlighten ours.
We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen
