Since time immemorial, man has always been fascinated by stars. And why not? First, the stars are bigger and brighter than our sun. Second, although the night can be filled with stars, our eyes can only see 2500 max. Third, while they seem to twinkle, it is only due to the gasses in the air. In the Gospel, we hear of Magi being guided by a star that led them to Jesus Christ.

Speaking of stars, we remember the saying, “It is when it is darkest, the stars shine brightest.” In a popular first reading, the Prophet Isaiah describes their situation: “Darkness covers the earth and thick clouds over the people.” Twenty-one centuries later, aren’t we in the same situation, if not worse? Dark night covers the earth and thick clouds over the people?

Hence, like the magi, three things we can do to be a star that brings people to Jesus:

1. They searched for God. Life is a journey and we are always searching. At the start of the year, we asked ourselves for this year, what are we searching for? The magi search for Jesus and may we too search for Jesus in all experiences of life, whether good or difficult, joy or pain, gain or loss.
2. They knew their scriptures. Just look at the history of websites visited of a person or the books in the house and one would realize what is the interest of the person. The bible is the best selling book of all time but it can also be the least read. If God is the author of life, his words are the instruction for life.
3. They honored God. We live now in a society that thinks we can do without God. It starts with marriage. 50 years ago, 1 out of 10 children was born out of wedlock in the U.S. Now it is 4 out of 10. In France, which claims to be the least religious, although was once the first daughter of the Church, it is 6 out of 10. The very first commandment is about honoring God.

In this Mass, we pray that we may realize:

• First, there are so many stars in this world
• Second, we pray that we follow the ones that lead us to God.
• Third, we too may bring people to God especially those who are have lost their way and lost their hope. This can happen if, like the magi, we search for God constantly in our lives; we study and live out our scriptures, and we honor God in our lives.