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Way of the Magi
What do you do when the path disappears?
A friend though she knew where she was headed, and went forward eagerly. Suddenly, the path seemed to stop, leaving her who knows where, in a fog of disappointed hopes and with a lost sense of direction. I thought of Fr. Luigi Giussani’s discussion of the way we move toward our destiny through ‘lenses’. What we see ahead, what we want, what we love, what we hope for, draws us on and forward. At some point, we are ‘there,’ where we aimed to go, but it’s much different than we expected. The task now is to relinquish what we came for , and to wait on the Lord for a glimpse of the path, a new lens to draw us onward, this time purged a bit more, and more clear about what is essential for us, in us.
Into that imagery came the story of the Magi (legendary, perhaps, but it served as ‘seed’ in this ‘ground’), who came, finally, to a place so near Bethlehem that the star they had followed no longer served to lead them. Bereft of its guidance, they waited by a well. As night fell, they beheld their star in the depths of the well-water, and were thus shown the direction their next steps should take them.
It’s reflection, deep within, seemed to me what my waiting friend needed to seek in her own being. Deep within her, if she could wait in the darkness a while, could trust in God, could look closely to see, would be the reflection of that image of a possible future which had drawn her forward. There, inside, though, it would point more clearly to the destiny she was really seeking through that lens. Then, she’d simply follow again, relinquishing her demand for the previous Good.
Way of the Magi
Traveling toward my destiny
I follow, follow a star I see.
As I approach – the goal is near –
my sense of direction disappears.
Aimless, I wander, searching for
the certainty, the open door.
But now the star’s withdrawn its light
and I am stranded in a night
that mocks and questions my desire,
that quenches every spark of fire.
Then, in the dark, bereft and blind,
I stop, I yield, give up, and find
I sit beside a well that holds
not only water, but the star of old,
reflected there before the dawn
quickened to life, leading me on.
A song, a spring from deep within
now bids me to begin again:
“If you will hunger, I will feed.
If you yearn I supply that need.
Thirst, and a wellspring will supply
water, fresh and alive with light.
Search for yourself within true friends.
Begin in hope, I am your end.”
Black mirror, star-kissed, trembling,
my soul this faint light harboring,
deep calls to deep, I rise, I stand
and run in the path of Love’s command.
All the poems are now in one volume, and I’d love for you to have a copy! Click on the cover to buy it, and click here for the recordings of all the poems.
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