Think about how pale stars appear during the daylight, how hard, even impossible, they are to see. How often did the Magi wander around, lost and disoriented, during the daylight? How often do we wander around, lost and disoriented, during days that glitter and beckon us to the worlds' priorities and pleasures, so that we temporarily lose sight of God's Star?
Our lives of prayer and disciplined discipleship can certainly pale in comparison to the sparkle and searchlight glow exhibited by society's heroes and role models: the business titans, the academic moguls, the entertainment giants who have their stars in the sidewalks of the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California. Certainly many of these people are admirable. But we can't judge our lives as successes or failures by the world's standards. God has called us to the often-unheralded, sometimes lonely life of traveling uncertain, often unmarked paths, following, then losing, then searching again for God's Star to guide us to holiness.
And - imagine how often the Magi stumbled around in the darkness of cloudy or stormy nights! Where was the Star? How could they find it?
Recently I was talking with a woman whose relative has just completed a brutal regimen of chemo. This relative became terribly weakened, violently ill. And, in the darkness of this Perfect Storm, she temporarily lost her faith.
The woman I was speaking with told me that she reassured her relative. "Don't blame yourself! God understands!"
How right she is! Isaiah reminds us "See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the Lord shines, and over you appears His glory." The thick clouds of illness, dying, grief, questioning, and despair will often temporarily hide God's Star from us. But the Star is still there, shining upon us, and will still be there, waiting for us to see its glory once more as soon as the clouds lift.
What's more, God's Star still guides us, even when we don't see it. God's light shines warmly and faithfully in our souls even if our eyes are blinded by tears and anger over the tragedies in our lives, and our hearts feel dark, empty, and cold. We don't have to see God's Star to know it's there. We don't have to feel God's Presence to know He will never abandon us. We don't always have to be on the path to trust that He's guiding us. We may temporarily forget Him or scream at Him or turn away from Him. His Star shines on above us.
In the deepest, darkest, most solemn and sacred Night of all, the Night which comes after the three nights the Son of God and Man has lain in the tomb, we hear the singing of these glorious words near the shining Easter Candle:
"O truly blessed night,
when things of heaven are wed to those of earth,
and divine to the human....
Therefore O Lord,
we pray you that this candle,
hallowed to the honor of Your name,
may persevere undimmed,
to overcome the darkness of this night....
May this flame be found still burning
by the Morning Star who never sets,
Christ your Son,
who, coming back from death's dark domain,
has shed his peaceful light on humanity,
and lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen."
Oh, what wonder! God's Star whom we follow is Jesus the Christ himself, the Morning Star who never sets. May our faith, ignited by the Easter Candle, remain still burning during our long journeys following Him, until He rescues us from the darkness of death and brings us home to Him - where it is endless, achingly beautiful Day. Amen. Let it be so.