Deacon Mike Meyer / Sunday, January 7, 2024 / Categories: Blog, Homilies Superstar! Homily for the Epiphany of the Lord, 2024 Several recent surveys prove what I’ve thought for many years—most of us want to be like Mary Katherine Gallagher from Saturday Night Live. We want to be a “Superstar!” According to the surveys, 30 to 40 percent of adults want to be really famous, and 50 percent of adults want to be “a little famous.”[1] That’s a lot of people, but the numbers shouldn’t surprise us in light of our growing fondness for Selfies, Tik Tok, and YouTube and our near obsession with racking up “followers” on social media. Whether as successful actors, musicians, athletes, or the latest phenom, we want to be noticed; we want to attract and influence others. So, I’ll let you in on a little secret—God created us to do just that; he destined every one of us to be a Superstar. Our readings help us understand why and how. Today’s responsorial psalm makes the destination for all God’s creation clear—the day when every nation on earth will adore God and live in his justice and peace forever. To achieve this goal, God first called the children of Abraham, our Jewish brothers and sisters, to be a light to the nations, the shining example of a people who believe in the one God. Our first reading from Isaiah prophesizes about that day, telling us that the Jewish people will become “the embodiment of God’s glory, . . . an alluring presence, a leader of nations and rulers, . . . and . . . a beacon, banner, and signal of hope for all peoples.”[2] It tells us about the day when the people of Jerusalem will become God’s Superstar! We Christians believe that that day began on Christmas morning, when Jesus, the son of Mary, the long-anticipated Jewish Messiah, and God’s Word incarnate made his dwelling among us. Our Gospel reflects the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy as we hear how the nations, embodied in the magi from the east, come to pay Jesus homage, prostrating themselves before him and bringing him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Our Gospel tells us of the Epiphany of the Lord, the feast we celebrate today, the day when Jesus Christ was shown to the world. As I’ve said, the story features the magi, wise men who may have been Persian priests, astrologers, or even kings, but it also features a pretty remarkable star. Many scholars have stretched their brain cells over two millennia trying to figure out what this unusual star was. Some surmise that it was Halley’s Comet, and others the convergence of Jupiter and Saturn. None of that matters, though, because what makes this star so remarkable and important to us today isn’t what it was but what it did. You see, in Jesus’ time, people believed that stars announced extraordinary events, like a royal birth,[3] and that’s exactly what the star in our Gospel does. It proclaims the birth of the King of the Universe, but that’s not all this star does. It also leads the magi to him. “It was like a word written in the sky, a ‘word of God’ in nature that led them to the one who is the eternal Word of God in person.”[4] This star was attractive, alluring, and influential. It drew the magi from a far-off land and persuaded them to follow it, preceding them and guiding them to the child. This star brought the magi overwhelming joy. In every sense of the word, it was . . . a Superstar! When Jesus was born, God used a star to lead the magi to Christ, and roughly 2.4 billion Christians have followed since. But what did they follow? I haven’t heard of any other miraculous celestial bodies that guided people to Jesus during the past 2 millennia, and I haven’t seen an unusual star hanging out above Saint Catherine’s. What has led so many people to Jesus for 2,000 years? What’s so attractive, alluring, and influential that it continues to draw people to Jesus today? It’s the Christian Superstars of history and right here in our midst. It’s all of us. God destined every one of us to be his Superstars. When we were baptized, Jesus “poured into us his light unshadowed,” “a light that renders the night as light as day.” When we received that light in the form of a candle, our parents and godparents were charged to keep it burning brightly within us so that enlightened by Christ, “we may walk always as children of the light.” Christ’s light burning within us doesn’t just make us stars; it makes us Superstars as long as we hover close by him and follow his ways. And there’s our challenge. If we want to be Jesus’ Superstars, we need to stick by him like the star did. We need to align ourselves with him, serving as he served, consoling as he consoled, and loving as he loved. How do we do that? We learn as much as we can about him in Scripture. We pay homage to him at Mass and spend time with him in prayer and Eucharistic Adoration. We return to him every time we stray from his ways through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and we welcome him into our very selves and carry him out into the world through Holy Communion. If we do these things, we’ll conform our lives to his. We’ll be noticed, attractive, alluring, and influential, and we’ll point others not to ourselves but to him. If we do these things, people will look at us and ask, “If such is the servant, what must the master be like?” If there’s one message to carry home from our readings today, it’s that there’s no need for us to hide our inner Mary Katherine Gallagher anymore. God has given every one of us the opportunity to be a star. We may never be a famous actor, musician, athlete, or the latest phenom, but we’ll be a star, nonetheless—the only kind of star that matters: the kind of star that aligns with Jesus and hovers close by him; the kind of star that lets the light of Christ shine through it as a beacon of hope for all people; the kind of star that’s so attractive, alluring, and influential that it draws others to him. God created us to do just that. God destined every one of us to be a Superstar! Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72; Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12 [1] Sheridan Voysey, “Polls Say That We’re a Generation Seeking Fame. Here’s Where That Will Lead Us,” Sheridan Voysey (February 18, 2020), https://sheridanvoysey.com/the-polls-say-were-a-generation-looking-for-fame-thats-a-problem/. [2] John J. Collins et al., eds., The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century, 3d ed. (London: T&T Clark, 2022), 868. [3] Barbara Reid, “The Gospel According to Matthew,” New Collegeville Bible Commentary: New Testament, ed. Daniel Durken (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2009), 11. [4] Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings (Cycle B) (Elk Grove Village, IL: Word on Fire, 2023), 175-176. God Loves Us! Imitate Christ Print 915 Tags:Homily Deacon Mike Meyer Deacon Michael A. Meyer Epiphany Please login or register to post comments.