Mud or Stars
Fr. George Smiga
January 2-3, 2010
Matthew 2: 1 - 12
I entered the seminary when I was in the 9th grade. That might seem premature and perhaps even reckless by today’s standards, but the 1960’s were a very different age. I decided I wanted to be a priest, and so I threw myself into preparation at the seminary with all the confidence and bravado that only a 15 year old could muster. It was not long however, that I began to have doubts. The seminary was not what I thought it would be. I missed my family. The studies were much harder than I anticipated. The food, well the food was terrible. I began to wonder whether this was the right choice, whether this is what I really should do. Now it those days, we could not have visitors, and we were only allowed one phone call home a week. So I ended up writing lots of letters. I remember writing to a friend and saying that I was thinking of leaving the seminary. I received a letter back encouraging me to stay. It included in it a little poem which I still remember it. It goes like this: “Two men looked out of their prison bars. One saw mud, the other stars.”
Now the poem is very simplistic, and maybe even a little corny. But it got me thinking. I new what the issues were in the seminary and what I didn’t like. But I had not focused on what might be good in my situation. If I could find the good things in the seminary, focus on the stars rather than the mud, perhaps it would make a difference. I followed that advice, and here I am today.
I thought of this poem on the feast of the Epiphany because it is certainly true that the wise men had all kinds of reasons to stay at home. If they would have chosen to focus on how difficult the journey would be, how others might make fun of them because they were dreamers, or the possibility that the Christ Child would not accept their gifts, they would have stayed where they were in the East. But the Magi set their sights higher than their fears and their doubts. They looked to the star, and the star led them to the Christ Child. These strangers from the East became among the first ones to worship the Jewish Messiah.
Now the point of this homily is not simply we should be positive thinkers. That is much too simplistic. There are bad things in this world and sometimes those bad things happen to us. At times there is no amount of perspective or attitude that can protect us from evil. Yet having said that, it is also true that we usually see the things upon which we focus. We usually find the things that we are looking for. So why not look for the things that are good rather then the things that are bad? Rather then centering on all the things that are wrong, why not look and search out those things for which to be thankful, for which to be joyful.
I think we all know people who are examples of this kind of living. I remember a man from our parish, an elderly man but full of life and energy. He was always the center of the fun, always the one who would make others laugh. One day he came and shared with me that his health was failing and he would need to check himself into a retirement home. For many people moving into that kind of facility would have been the end of life, a reason to give up, a reason to despair. But not this man. He told me, “Father, it’s going to be good. I am going to meet some new people and I am going to have some new opportunities.” I watched him as the months passed by. It was good. He made new friends. He became involved in new activities. He came to that situation expecting goodness and he found it. He brought joy, and the joy be brought he shared with others.
On this feast of the Epiphany the Gospel challenges us to look for the positive things in our life. Where should we look for goodness? Who are the people, the situations, the issues that are pulling us down? Can we not ask God to help us see them differently? Is there the possibility that there might be some goodness that we are overlooking? Yes, there are things that discourage us, but are there not also reasons for hope? On this feast of the Epiphany let’s pray that God will guide us to what is good, that God will give us the light that we need. God led the Magi to the Christ Child. God did not lead them astray. I believe there is every reason to trust that God will do the same thing for us. But first, we need to move our eyes off of the mud and onto the stars.
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