Father James Behrens is a Trappist monk at Holy Spirit Monastery in Conyers, Georgia. He is also an author and photographer. His writings on simple ordinary events of life reflect God's unfailing love and beauty in our lives.

 

Richie in the Gas Station 
 

We are nearing the Feast of the Epiphany, a feast with a beautiful and moving story with rich symbolism. It is the story of the Magi. They move across desert sands. A Star moves above them. The Star settles over Bethlehem and the Magi are moved to worship the Child Jesus and offer Him precious gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Herod the King is moved by jealousy and fear and summons the Magi, who are moved by an angel to make no mention of the Child, and to move out of the area as soon as possible. They recede back to where they came from, never to be heard from again across their own sands or the sands of time. 

There is lots of movement in the story. And right up to this very day, we too look for movements in out lives to give us some assurance that we are heading in the right direction, toward God, toward what is really good. 

It is not always easy to find. The stars above twinkle in their stillness. An occasional shiny tiny thing makes its way across the night sky, but those things are satellites, some of which beam movies. There are shooting stars and the occasional comet, but we know what they are as they streak across the night sky. They are not meant to be followed. They vanish real fast and we are left looking about us for guidance. Anne Landers is in heaven. Tarot readings may cost more than we can afford in these hard economic times. People normally do not read animal entrails anymore. Astrology may have suffered a major setback with Nancy Reagan and her starry-eyed celestial readings. Palm readings, fortune telling, tea leaf readings, Ouija boards and the like are all out there but I have never heard of anyone who beat the odds in Vegas by checking out tea leaves or seeking the future on their palms. 

I was thinking about these things this morning. It was very early and I was sitting in the back of the church in the darkness. To my left was our big Christmas crèche, surrounded by little lights. The Kings are on their way….the statues will be placed there when the Kings are carried tenderly from one of our storage rooms to their special places near the manger.

I was thinking about how stars do not move anymore and yet how we yearn for what the Kings found and how they found it (Him). 

Are we to be left bereft of whatever sure goodness lay ahead? We have, in Mr.Bob Dylan’s words, and the Martin Scorsese documentary “No Direction Home” yet we have to move ahead somehow. What is that song by U2? Something like “And I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” I have seen the video. Since then, they have found millions of dollars and fans. Maybe they cannot write a song like that anymore. 

Anyway, if the lights of the stars cannot be trusted to move us along, we have to look somewhere and maybe that is what the story of the Magi is really all about. In short, the Child they adored had already gifted them with the very love within them, but of course they did not know that yet. It would take smart theologians to figure it out and the Kings were already under the sands by then.But it takes time to figure things out. Especially things that have to do with human destiny and the divine movements within its flesh and blood framework. 
So, we are left to look about us and I think that is the right place to look.Stars above have given way to stars below. And there are many of them. 

I must give George H. W. Bush his due here. 

"I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good. I will go to the people and the programs that are the brighter points of light,and I will ask every member of my government to become involved. The old ideas are new again because they are not old, they are timeless: duty, sacrifice,commitment, and a patriotism that finds its expression in taking part and pitching in." —George H. W. Bush, 1988 

There. 

Richie owned a gas station. I met him many years ago, through a friend of mine who was a friend of his. My friend’s name is Frank. One day Franks said to me “Let’s go see Richie” and we drove to the gas station, parked the car on the street and walked into the gas station office. Richie sat behind the desk and smiled at me and rose and shook my hand in a warm welcoming way and then sat down. We chatted about all kinds of things – for he was very, very easy to chat with. And he was funny….had some of the best one-liners which I ever heard but which are unprintable here.

 
After a while I noticed something. Richie sat there and we chatted away for over an hour and during all that time the only time he left his chair was to get us coffee. There was a kid he had hired who pumped the gas when customers drove in. And now that I think of it, New Jersey is the only state in the United States where there are no self-serve gas stations. You have to be attended, or tended to, waited upon. And that kid did that many times while Richie entertained us with one story after another. I asked my friend much later if Richie ever really worked and my friend said no…he pays the kid to pump the gas and sits there all day chatting with friends and giving them free coffee. I did find out later that he will work on certain cars for free….but he did not advertise that. 

He was a real nice guy and a very kind one. He stands out for me when I think back on my past and people who have lit the way for me. His goodness was attractive and attracting…there was a daily parade of fans and friends who found their way to that small office and whiled away the hours. 

The Epiphany nears and the Kings will make their way up from our basement, with the kindness of human help. And they will find their right and proper place, with the kindness of human help. They are quite portable and move easily, unlike their long ago true life forebears.

 

Desert crossing is tough, star or no star. 

I will look at them week and, in a sense, they will be looking back at me across the, uh, sands of time.. Maybe Richie will come to mind again. A star that burned bright and even served free coffee. The Kings will offer fabulous gifts to the Child and the Child will offer even more fabulous gifts to them….the gifts of human kindness, love, hope and the capacity to offer these to each other every day and night of our lives. It makes the crossing wondrously easy, all these stars that have traveled from afar and come to rest below, one of which is sitting in a gas station waiting for his friends to come. 
 
-- James Stephen Behrens, O.C.S.O. 
Monastery of the Holy Spirit