January 6th ~ The Epiphany

A new born baby usually tends to attract visitors and gifts. The Magi are described as wise men from the east. They may have been astronomers or philosophers but most definitely they were people who had their eyes, ears and minds open to the events going on around them, to the signs of their times. We see in today’s Gospel, how God is working through the people that we least expect. The wise men were not considered to be ‘religious’, or ‘the people of God’. Yet, God is working through them in lots of different ways. They may not have been considered ‘righteous’ in their time, but they are certainly people who have come to bow down and worship God. This story has a clear message: that Jesus has come for all people, not just a select few. Today, perhaps we can think about times when we found God in unexpected places. How did we react? What star, what guidance had brought us there? What gifts did we leave there? What gifts were we given there?

“Whenever the Christ in one of us meets the Christ in another, there will be an exchange of gifts. Let this thought protect us from the patronising attitude that we must ‘convert’ the other to our own way of living the Christ-life” Margaret Silf. Jane Mellett Intercom 2013.