My Star, My GPS

(My Spiritual Compass)

If Jesus is born in this modern world, will the magi use GPS (Global Positioning System), and know where the location and where we are going?

Every year, we, Christians around the world celebrate Epiphany. The word “epiphany” comes from the Greek word epiphaneia, meaning “reveal”, “manifest” or “appear”. The holiday is also known as the Feast of the Three Kings or Three Wise Men, as it commemorates the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. The gospel of Matthew says they merely report that they had taken the new king’s star “in the east” which is why they came to Jerusalem.

What did that star mean to them? Some question whether the star was a natural phenomenon pointing out that it seems to have led to Jerusalem. In the darkness of the night, the three magi were guided by the star. Matthew 2: 10-12, says, “When the wise men saw a star, they were filled with joy. They came to the house where the child was and saw him with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their gifts and gave him treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

The magi experienced the darkness of the night in their traveling, they had only the “star” in the person of Jesus as the source of joy. In our life especially in our moments of darkness and being lost in search of the true meaning of life, do we recognize our REAL guiding star? As pilgrims on a “long and winding road” of life and darkness of materialism and consumerism, do we have JESUS as life’s GPS, in the right direction? May Jesus be our spiritual compass and our TRUE guiding star to authentic and lasting joy not only for Christmas season but for the entire year, 2024. In the end, may we constantly hold on to our spiritual compass that leads us back to the heart and light of Jesus.