Matthew 2:1-12: Leaving by Another Road Friday, July 18, 2025
Written on June 7 and posted as a favorite today . . .
I love this portion of the Christmas story. The wise men are so wise that they are able to read Herod’s secret intent. Nothing can be hidden from the wise because they are so connected to the creator that they appear to have special insight. What they really have is patience, serenity, and a finely tuned ear for God’s word. And so the magi left for their own country by another road.
I am thinking about the number of times I have averted disaster because that calm, strong voice within indicated that I was to stay put. We notice that an attitude of patience and a willingness to obey always accompanies the wise. The wise are not brash or excitable. They do not speak harshly, nor are they silenced. Like the Persistent Widow, they know when to persevere in speaking God’s word. And like the Three Magi, they know when to stand down and melt away into God’s protecting presence.
The wise know when to stand and witness . . . and when to leave quietly by another road.
Read the parable of The Persistent Widow in Luke 18:1-8.
In days when we experience doubt and uncertainty, we return to a Favorite from October 17, 2010.
Teresa of Ávila and Catherine of Siena
I cannot understand what it is that makes people afraid of setting out on the road to perfection. May the Lord, because of who he is, give us understanding of how wretched is the security that lies in such manifest dangers as following the crowd and how true security lies in striving to make progress on the road of God. Let them turn their eyes to him and not fear the setting of this Sun of Justice, nor, if we don’t first abandon him, will he allow us to walk at night and go astray. Teresa of Ávila, MAGNIFICAT Meditation for October 15, 2010.
This past Friday was the feast day of Teresa of Ávila and on that day the readings focused on the fact that we are chosen by God, that God loves us more than we can imagine, and that nothing we think or say or do is secret from him. Today’s readings are about how we are to be persistent in prayer, just as were Teresa of Ávila and Catherine of Siena, two women who have been named Doctors of the Church, two women who did not let their fear of anything earthly keep them from doing as God asked them – even when it involved great risk to themselves and to all they struggled to do in God’s name.
Following is an excerpt from today’s MAGNIFICAT Day by Day reflection taken from one of Catherine of Siena’s letters.You know full well, most holy Father, that when you accepted holy Church as your bride you agreed also to work hard for her. You expected all these contrary winds of pain and difficulty to confront you in battle over her. So confront these dangerous winds like a brave man, with strength and patience and enduring perseverance. Never turn back because of pain or discouragement or slavish fear, but persevere, and rejoice in the storms and struggles. Let your heart rejoice, for in the many contrary things that have happened or will yet happen the deeds of God are surely being done, nor have they ever been done in any other way.
Catherine of Siena
Both of these women remind us that we are called to perfection and that perfection lies in our persistence to do God’s will despite the inconveniences and risks we meet along the way because God will never let God’s work go undone. In today’s Noontime we read that woe befalls those who plot iniquity, those who lie on ivory couches to lay schemes and plots, those who covet what others have and are, those who cheat others out of what they are due.
Today’s readings (Exodus 17:8-13, Psalm 121, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2, and Luke 18:1-8) remind us that Moses and the Israelites, Paul, Timothy, the nameless Persistent Widow, and Jesus himself did not abandon the work given them by God – even in the face of great odds and overwhelming fear. All of this reminds us that when we are doing the work of the Gospel we will encounter unforgiving and dangerous head winds. We will experience great darkness and be tempted to undo our walk of perfection and persistence. All of this reminds us that in the midst of the greatest suffering and distress we do not find agony alone, there also do we find our God, and other who would do God’s will.
God’s patience is seen through the way in which God persists in loving us even when we turn from away. God wishes for each and all of us to be saved and to come to understand truth. (1 Timothy 2:3-4) God is forbearing toward us and does not want us to perish. (2 Peter 3:9 and Matthew 18:14) We are to love one another even as God has loved us. (John 13:34, 1 John 3:4; and Luke 10:25-37) (See CCC 2822)
Imagine the life we might lead if we were patient with one another as God is patient with us.
Imagine the world we might have if we might love one another as God loves us.
Indeed we are blessed who have persevered. You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord . . . See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm [and] do not complain.
Humility, gentleness, understanding, persistence and seeking – these are the tools we employ to gain patience. This is way to God’s loving heart. This is the path to a serenity which conquers all anxiety.
Tomorrow, a prayer for patience.
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 2nd ed. Vatican: Libreria Editice Vaticana. Print.
The Noontimes 