(Feast of the Epiphany, January 5, 1997--This homily was given by Fr. Raymond Suriani at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. Read Matthew 2:1-12)

"In the midst of a storm-tossed ocean, would you rather be clinging to a huge rock or a small piece of driftwood?"

In the midst of a storm-tossed ocean, would you rather be clinging to a huge rock or a small piece of driftwood? Personally, I would take the rock--any day of the week. That’s because clinging to the rock would give me the stability and the security I would need to ride out the storm. Clinging to the piece of driftwood, on the other hand, would give me little or no security at all. The water would continue to toss me about, and I probably would eventually drown.

This, I think, is a very appropriate metaphor for the world in which we now live. You see, in the midst of the many "storms" of life, there is a Rock to which we can and should cling--the Rock is Jesus Christ. The Rock is his gospel. The Rock is his Church which proclaims the gospel message in it’s fullness. But sadly there are many people, even many professed Christians, who make the choice to cling to something other than this Rock. They may not make the choice consciously or deliberately--in fact they may still come to church and practice their faith externally. But practically speaking they look to something other than the gospel of Jesus Christ for guidance, direction and security. All of these things, however, are just like little pieces of driftwood--in the end they do nothing to save us. And yet, in spite of their ineffectiveness, many individuals still refuse to let go of them and go to Jesus the Rock. I would say that this gives us an important insight as to why occult practices have become so popular in our modern world. The Psychic Hotline, guided writing, palm reading, ouija boards, astrology, channeling--all of this is extremely popular these days. And isn’t it interesting? We supposedly live in a highly scientific, rational age of human history. Yet so many--even many rationalistic atheists--are involved on some level in the world of the occult. Actually, this phenomenon should not really surprise us. You see, every human person has a spiritual dimension--even atheists do. As Augustine once said, "Oh Lord, you made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in YOU."

This means that every human person needs the Rock in his life, whether he realizes it or not. In the midst of the storms, everyone needs to cling to Christ, his gospel and his church. But some, as I said a few moments ago, reject that Rock. So what do they do? They grab hold of whatever driftwood they can find. Which is why even some rationalistic atheists will be very open to the occult. They’re open to it because they realize they have a spiritual need within themselves. (That much they understand.) The problem is they try to satisfy that need in the wrong way and in the wrong place.

This morning I want to deal with one occult practice in particular--astrology. Since we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany this weekend, it seems like a very appropriate topic to discuss. Now I dare say, this is an idea that bothers many people--calling astrology "an occult practice." They’ll say, "You’ve got to be kidding! What’s wrong with astrology? What’s wrong with reading my horoscope? It’s not like I’m having a seance or playing with a ouija board. I just read my horoscope to get a little thought for the day. I really don’t take it very seriously."

Well, if we want a little thought for the day, we should read a verse from the Book of Proverbs every morning! We should satisfy our desire in that location, because the author of the Book of Proverbs is almighty God, whereas the author of astrology is not God.

Now some might object, "But Fr. Ray, what about that star the magi saw? That star led them to Christ. And besides, these so-called magi, they were astrologers themselves."

Well, it’s true. The magi were more than likely astrologers. But we need to understand: the term "astrology" back then had a much wider meaning than it does today. Back then, astrology also referred to the legitimate study of the heavens that we would now call "astronomy." Furthermore, we need to remember that the magi were pagans. They didn’t know God’s revealed truth to the extent that we know it today. So they had an excuse for believing some false ideas. We don’t. Finally there is a difference--a very big difference--between God giving an occasional sign in the heavens, and looking to the heavens as your god, which is precisely what people do in modern astrology. We know that at various points in history God has given special signs in the sky--the rainbow that Noah saw after the flood; the star that the magi followed; the eclipse on good Friday; and more recently the miracle of the sun at Fatima. But recognizing these as signs from God is very different from looking to the stars to guide your life, which is what modern astrology is all about. I recently read about an English astrologer who said that the sun is god and the planets are angels, and therefore we should reverence and worship them all. That idea, my brothers and sisters, is in direct conflict with the truth of Sacred Scripture.

The dangers of getting caught up in astrology really became clear to me a couple of years ago. As some of you will recall, when I was first ordained a priest I was stationed at a parish in North Kingstown--St. Francis de Sales. There I got to know a young woman named Joanna. She was (and is) an intelligent person and a very talented person musically. She played guitar and sang every week at Sunday Mass. But Joanna was also heavily involved in astrology. She even got to the point where she was doing astrological charts for people--supposedly telling them what the stars revealed about their personalities and about their future. I remember talking to Joanna back then, along with my mother and several other people--and we all told her in no uncertain terms that she was making a big mistake. We told her she was opening herself up to evil forces--to demonic spirits--even though she didn’t realize it. Joanna has told her story publicly to a number of groups, and when she tells it she says that her first reaction to me and these other people was, "Oh, these poor souls. Fr. Ray, his mom, Noel, Barbara--they’re nice people, but so unenlightened. Someday they won’t be so ignorant. Someday they’ll understand."

Well, two or three years passed. I got moved to beautiful Westerly, and one night the phone rang. It was Joanna--in a veritable panic! She said, "Fr. Ray, something’s wrong with me and I don’t know what to do. I have this fear that I can’t get rid of. I think I’m going crazy. This has never happened to me before in my life. And please don’t misunderstand. This is not a normal fear. It’s a different kind of fear. It’s a PARALYZING spirit of fear."

I said, "Well, Joanna, quite frankly I’m not at all surprised. This kind of thing was bound to happen sooner or later, because the fact is you’ve been trying to serve two masters--Jesus and Satan, and you can’t serve both! You’ve opened the door to this spirit through your involvement in astrology--I have no doubt about that. Now Jesus can free you from it--no problem--He’s infinitely more powerful than Satan is. But you have got to do your part. In Jesus’ name you’ve got to renounce astrology, and you’ve got to repent of all your past involvement in this evil practice. That will allow the Lord to come in and straighten things out."

Praise God, Joanna did it, and she eventually found God’s peace again. But that incident really made it clear to me--this is very dangerous activity which must be avoided at all costs. And our loving God warns us about this over and over again in his Word. As we are told, for example, in Deuteronomy, chapter 4: "When you look up to the heavens and behold the sun or the moon or any star among the heavenly hosts, do not be led astray into adoring them and serving them."

The Lord’s message to us in this text is clear: looking to the stars and the heavens in that way is like clinging to a little piece of driftwood in the midst of a raging ocean storm.

And so, on this feast of the Epiphany, we pray that we will follow the example of the magi and prostrate ourselves at the feet of Jesus Christ--the Jesus Christ who is the true light of the world--the Jesus Christ who is the Rock that will save us from every storm, and bring us safe someday into the port of heaven.