Leaving It All At The Feet Of Jesus

Dr. Antonio Oriente is a gynecologist in Italy. Early in his career, he decided to focus his practice on performing abortions. Since many doctors in Italy refuse to do abortions for moral reasons,  he saw it as a way of building up his practice. 

However, he began to have a change of heart when he and his wife were struggling to conceive their first child. The contradiction of dealing with the pain of infertility himself and, at the same time, ending the pregnancies of mothers who had conceived weighed heavily on his conscience.

He shared his struggle with friends of his who then invited him to attend a prayer group. There he finally found the peace of mind that had been eluding him. Sitting before the crucifix, he wrote a letter to Jesus in which he said, “What kind of son am I that I am a killer to the children of others? I abandon the culture of death and embrace life.”At that moment, he decided that he could no longer perform abortions.

After giving up his abortion practice, another thought crossed his mind. He wanted to take the instruments he had used to perform abortions and give them to the Pope. Though it seemed impossible, he could not get the desire to hand them personally to the Pope out of his heart.

Deciding to finally give it a try, he booked a flight to Rome in hopes of gaining an audience with Pope Francis. At first, he couldn’t get the sharp metal instruments through airport security. However, when he told the agents what he was planning to do, they agreed to make an exception.

Once in Rome, he was unable to get a private audience with Pope Francis. Instead he decided to go to the general audience held every Wednesday in the Vatican. However, several thousand other people also attend that audience. Nonetheless, he was determined to somehow reach the Holy Father.

When Pope Francis had finished his remarks, Dr Oriente noticed a bishop standing nearby him. Running up to him and getting his attention, he told the bishop his story. As it turns out, that bishop was Archbishop Georg Ganswein, who is the personal secretary to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Moved by his story, the archbishop personally brought him to Pope Francis.

Finally his dream of being able to give the Pope those instruments of death was realized. Pope Francis said to him in reply, “You are blessed. Fight for life!” Speaking of that encounter, Dr. Oriente said,  “The instruments of death were abandoned at the foot of the successor of Peter, as death is put at the feet of Jesus in favor of life.”

Dr. Oriente made a long, improbable journey to Rome to lay his instruments of death at the feet of Pope Francis. In today’s gospel, Magi from the East arrive in Bethlehem after a long, improbable journey to meet the Christ child.

Like Dr. Oriente, their journey was not just a physical one but a spiritual one. They were on a quest to find something more in life. As men who dedicated their lives to studying the stars, they must have reached the conclusion that, for all their learning and erudition, there were still questions that remained unanswered. They must have realized that those questions would not be answered by scanning the heavens but by having a personal encounter with the One who created the stars.

So, they were willing to make a long, treacherous journey. They were willing to set aside everything they were familiar and comfortable with to seek out a King. And just as Dr. Oriente laid his instruments of death at the feet of Pope Francis so they laid gold, frankincense and myrrh at the feet of the child Jesus.

In these gifts we see not only presents fit for a King. In a real way, the Magi were abandoning to Jesus their wealth,their power and their great learning. Seeing that the newborn Savior of the World was poor, they must have come to realize how insignificant their wealth was. Seeing how helpless the King of the Jews was, they must have realized just how ineffective their power was. And seeing Truth Himself in the form of baby who cannot yet speak, they must have realized just how little they really knew.

We are also on a spiritual journey. None of us can claim to be totally satisfied with our lives. We are always yearning for more. Can we admit that this world cannot satisfy our heart’s desire? And, doing so, can we lay our sinfulness and pride at the feet of the baby Jesus? Can we entrust to Him our weakness and brokenness? Can we say to Him that we want to find another way? Can we take Him into our arms and promise Him that we will work with Him to make this world a more welcoming place for those who, like Him, are poor?

On this feast of the Epiphany, Jesus reveals Himself to be not only the King of the Jews but the Savior of the World. He is born for the salvation of every single person. He is born to save you and to save me. What is keeping us from following Him with an undivided heart? Do we have the courage to lay it at Jesus’ feet so that we can continue on our journey with fewer burdens? If so, we will know peace - the peace that only Jesus, the Prince of Peace can give. And our minds will be filled with light - not the light of a distant star but the light of Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Free from our burden, we will be able to lead  others. Armed with His truth, we will be able to light the way.