This December, I was planning on going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land: I was to be accompanied by, in addition to Fr. Vincent, many friends, some who were celebrating an anniversary, some who were to entrust a particular intention, some who wanted simply to visit, at least once in their life, the places where Jesus lived in his time on earth.
However, the war intervened and made these plans impossible to carry out, at least for now. The cancellation of our trip was not but the last in a series of problems: it was clear that the tragedy that was happening in those places was something much bigger, and for this reason, among those of us who were supposed to depart together, the most repeated word among us was “pray.” Pray for the Holy Land, pray for peace, pray for the innocent victims, for the hostages. Pray so that something change in the minds of those people and of their leaders.
Prayer: how often are we plagued by the doubt that praying serves no purpose?
Prayer: how often are we plagued by the doubt that praying serves no purpose? How often do the people we meet, whether children or adults, ask us the same question based on the fact that their requests are not granted? And, what’s more, how could I think that my prayer could possibly change the decisions of those who lead nations and armies?
The time of Christmas is always one of the most fascinating and content-rich parts of the year. Among the figures that emerge from the Liturgy of these days, the Magi are certainly among the most mysterious and attractive. Popular tradition speaks of three wise men who come from the East: actually, we don’t know exactly how many there were. Almost certainly they came from Persia, modern day Iran, where the term “Magi” meant members of the imperial court, experts of astrology and religion. They incarnate that desire, that need to know the truth that is proper to every man, of every epoch and culture, who seeks in reality the signs of the deep meaning of history, personal history and that of the world. The Magi reached that land, today rocked by war, and asked for guidance from the wrong person, Herod, who himself is the symbol of the man who has no questions, attached as he is to his own power and terrified of potentially losing what he has. But those men proceed on their search and when they see the star that indicates the place where Jesus had been placed, they experience a great joy and can finally bow down before Him and place their gifts. Fr. Lepori has written about how the great questions of man are contained in those gifts: incense is the symbol of the question about God, gold of the question regarding the value of man and of history, and myrrh represents the question about the meaning of death. Therein lie the riches of the Wise Men, therein lie our own riches: above all, of the questions that we have and that we bring to the presence of the only One who can respond to them. And this is what causes the joy of the Magi: having found Someone to whom they can entrust the deep questions of their hearts.
And this is what causes the joy of the Magi: having found Someone to whom they can entrust the deep questions of their hearts.
“You just need faith to ask, you only need great courage to ask”: these are the words taken from a song of our Anas, The Beggar, which it is possible to listen to thanks to the beautiful interpretation of our friends, Greta, Walter, Carlo and Ermens. You need courage to do what the Magi did: leave everything and embark on a months-long journey, to reach a remote place such as Bethlehem and stop in front of a manger to adore a baby who was just born. You need courage to make yourself a beggar in front of the most pitiful scene of history and recognize in it He who gives meaning to all things, the Lord of the universe who alone can give order and peace to the entire world.
This is why it still makes sense to pray: it is like retracing that journey of those wise men, who left everything to go looking for Him to whom they could pose their own questions. The alternative is that of he who believes that he can find the response to his own needs in himself and ends up enacting justice for himself: it is this attitude that unleashes terror and violence, just like Herod did in his own time. The Magi went back by another way, a way that was different from that of terror and war, a way for those who are not afraid to entrust themselves and to beg. Because you just need faith to ask, you only need great courage to ask.
