S1 E5: Why Do You Do The Things You Do?

Transcript

Carol Vassar:
 

From SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut, I'm Carol Vassar, and this is Living in Faith, Hope, and Love. Each week, our Pastor, Father Mark Suslenko, delves into Scripture, shares insights from the saints, prophets, and theologians, and discusses practical ways to cultivate faith, strengthen hope, and embody love in the world around us. Through his reflections and spiritual encouragement, this podcast aims to inspire you to live your Catholic faith with joy and purpose. Welcome.  

Across a lifetime, we make thousands of decisions. Some are mundane: what to eat, what to wear, how to spend our day. Others are of greater import and impact: who to marry or what career to pursue. Yet it’s the motivations of our decision-making that Father Mark focuses on today, using as his example the divergent paths taken by the Magi and by King Herod, as told in in the Gospel reading for the Epiphany of the Lord for January 5, 2025. It’s from Matthew, Chapter 2, verses 1 – 12: 

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet:

And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.”
 

Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.”

After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.

The Gospel of the Lord

"Why Do You Do The Things You Do?” by Father Mark S. Suslenko, Pastor, SS. Isidore and Maria Parish, Glastonbury, Connecticut

Father Mark Suslenko:

As we gather on this very beautiful feast of the Epiphany, and also at the beginning of yet a new year, there's an important question that we can ask and address again, a question that should often be in our minds for reflection and prayer. And it's this: why do you do the things you do? Why do you do the things you do? 

It may seem like a very simple and somewhat unimportant question, but when you think about it a bit, it's extremely important as it gets at the motivation for our behaviors and then the integrity, or lack thereof, we bring to our decisions. Our motivations for doing things reveal our character as a person.  Maybe we do things out of fear. Maybe we do things out of obligation. Maybe we do things out of respect and social protocols. Maybe I do things to seek pleasure or satisfaction of my own desires and needs. Maybe I do things purely out of self-interest to achieve a goal.  

Let's face it: some of the decisions we make are integral and good in and of themselves. Others are not. And sometimes we do things simply to obtain something we want and no more, regardless of the cost we have to pay.  Why do you do the things you do?  

As you begin to reflect upon that question a bit, it brings us yet to another place, and it's the place whom we consult when we need to make a decision.  Do we listen purely to what we want and what we desire? Or do we seek input from another source, perhaps a source of wisdom, a source greater than ourselves?  

Today's feast day features two different sets of characters. On the one hand, we have the Magi, three men who have heard that the king of the Jews was to be born. Three men who wanted to go and pay him homage. Let's assume that the motivation behind their decision was one of self-interest. Maybe they wanted to be the first on the scene to welcome this new king so that they could receive some earthly status and privilege down the road. Maybe their intentions and motivations were suspect for other reasons, but nonetheless, they set out on this journey of investigation.  

And then we have Herod. We know pure well that Herod's intentions were very sinister and self-serving. Basically, he wanted to know where the king of the Jews was born so that he could eradicate the problem and eliminate the competition. After all, Herod perceived a great threat in this new ruler of the Jews. 

As you look at how they played out, Herod, because he was filled with self-interest and, as with many of our decisions that are focused purely on ourselves, fizzled out. He got nowhere with his request.  But the Magi having searched and having been brought to the manger bed, discovered something different. They were changed. And the question then becomes why? What's the difference between the self-interest of the Magi and the self-interest of King Herod? And the answer to that is God's revelation.  

You see the gift of the Epiphany...the word "epiphany" means God manifesting himself. God showing himself to us. God revealing himself to us, revealing his plan of salvation in Jesus Christ. But it's a salvation not just to come in the future, but it's a salvation we can grab hold of now, an experience of God that we can embrace now.  

When we look at the power behind this feast of the Epiphany, it truly is amazing that God, who for centuries was thought to exist off in the heavens somewhere, now gets born as a child in a manger taking on flesh and human form just like ours. And the message that God is sending to humanity is that he's not just out there, but I am here. I am here among you. I chose to become visible to you because I want you to know that I am with you and that you need to do nothing to have my presence united with yours.  

You see, many of us, we go through life believing that there's this huge separation between us and God, and I have to find the magical solution to bridge that gap, to discover my way there so that that gap is lessened, and I can participate more in the life of God. So we look for different prayers and different spiritual practices and pursue different avenues in pursuit of a reality that is basically an illusion. It's an illusion because the beauty of the Epiphany tells us that we're not separated from God at all. He's very present to us, and by extension, through the Eucharist, where God continues to take on flesh and feed us with his body and blood every time we celebrate that wonderful gift, God is with us.  

And so, in that dream that the Magi had, God's revelation was dawning, and they may not have fully understood what was going on, but the power of that moment caused them to change.  And that's what the Epiphany does. It offers us two things. New direction and new horizon. New direction and new horizon.  

When we face up against a brick wall, if we listen only to what is going on inside of us, we are going to definitely fall. But if we seek a wisdom higher than ours to make the decision that we have to make, to choose between A or B, God is saying, I am here. And all we have to do, and it's so very simple, is to do exactly what those Magi did, and that was to show up, express our faith, do homage, and then listen. Show up, express our faith, do homage, and listen.  

And when we do that when we believe that God is among us, that God is alive and present and a part of who I am and a part of our world and not out there at all, then as we're working through our difficulties, as we're working through our decision making, we will get inspiration. We will get a revelation of what we need to do in this moment to bring us where God needs us to be because that's the beauty of the celebration we have today. There's no dead end.  There's always a new horizon and always a new direction, even when we're facing our very mortality.  

And so the difference is if the Magi did not listen to that revelation that came to them if they disregarded what was said to them in that dream and returned back to Herod, following their own self-invested ways, this story would've ended much differently. And that's how it is with ours. As we go through the business of our lives, as we make those very difficult decisions that are often before us, if we listen to our own voice and go with our own needs and the needs of those around us, our story will end one way. If you listen to where God is leading us and the possibility of new horizons and new adventures, and new surprises, and new journeys and new directions, and new hope, our stories will end another way, and that way is the way of peace.

Carol Vassar:

Father Mark Suslenko is the pastor of SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut. If you like what you've heard today, please subscribe to Living in Faith, Hope, and Love on your favorite podcast app, and take a moment to leave a review.

SS. Isidore and Maria is an active parish community, so whether you’re a long-time parishioner or are just getting to know us through this podcast, we welcome you to join us at Masses or any of our other community events and services. Visit our parish website - isidoreandmaria.org - for a full schedule of Masses, services and other happenings. That's isidoreandmaria.org. We're also active on Facebook and Instagram.

On behalf of Father Mark, I'm Carol Vassar, and we thank you for listening to this episode of Living in Faith, Hope, and Love.